Wow, lots of information, thanks to all of you.
Here are some replies:
1- The buttom is soft mud.
2- I got the boat at very low cost, and relied on my home owner's insurance to cover it, and I am still waiting for them to respond. I didn't buy insurance out of laziness and not realizing that the boat itself may be cheap, but getting it out of water certainly is not.
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And some questions:
3- The boat has been in brackish water for a couple of months now. Do you think the engine is worth salvaging, or has it rusted already?
4- There was a suggestion about filling the boat with beach balls. I have read in other places that filling inside the cabin with inflatable objects (such as inner tubes) could cause the cabin top to pop-off the boat. How do these two add up?
5- How about this idea: Can I anchor a come-along type winch to a pilon, pass a wide strap under the boat, and raise it slowly while pumping it? I know that a boat full of water is very heavy, but so long as the boat is in the water, the only weight I am lifting is that of the boat. As it comes up inch by inch the water starts to get out of the same holes where it got in, until we get to a point where water is trapped in, and that point the pump starts to kick in. So the weight that the winch and the pilon need to withstand is partial weight of the boat (some of the boat's weight is on the pier). Note that there will be a 45 degree angle push on the pilon.
5-1 Can the pilon withstand the horizontal push?
5-2 Is there equipment that can do this?
6- I attached a picture to the original post. Did it show?
Thanks for all the advice.
Masoud