On the hard-unseaworthy & eviction notice from marina

Situation: 60' boat on the hard in Central Florida Marina. 1 day before port is closed, marina tells the boat owner the marina is closed, and he can't board his boat to remove some hand tools. There has been no prior written, email, or phone notice. The gate is open, the boat owner goes to boat, recovers his tools, and when he tries to leave, the marina has closed the gate and called the cops.

Two weeks later, the marina engages an attorney who delivers a "Cease & Desist" letter to the boat owner, giving him 30 days to vacate or the marina will start a law suit.

The boat is unseaworthy. The rudders have been removed, and one of the shafts. Time to repair is unknown, but certainly more than 30 days, and probably less than 90 days.

1) Can the marina legally require an unseaworthy boat to be moved? (The contract for the boat in the yard is month-to-month)
Doesn't 46USC10908 preclude that?
§10908. Penalty for sending unseaworthy vessel to sea
A person that knowingly sends or attempts to send, or that is a party to sending or attempting to send, a vessel of the United States to sea, in an unseaworthy state that is likely to endanger the life of an individual, shall be fined not more than $1,000, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.

(Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 577.)

2) The boat owner has been unsuccessful in locating a maritime attorney to represent him, so if anyone has a referral, it would be appreciated.

Thanks.

A little bit of follow up to address some of the questions and observations. Oh and as an aside, it’s not my boat.

Anyhow, I’m sure when the boat owner went to the yard to get his tools, the conversation deteriorated. As previously mentioned the boat owner had been given no prior notice that the yard was closing for the hurricane. And the port did not close until 24 hours afterwards. The yard gate was still open, so he went to recover his tools.

Yes he is current with his payments, so it is not a financial issue, and he hasn’t spent much time up there to be a lousy neighbor/tenant. I wish I could add more to the story, but that’s the basics. I’m sure the marina is totally butt sore that the owner argued with the gatekeeper.

My read on this, is that the marina has cut off negotiations by filing the cease and desist letter which included the verbiage of “non-negotiable. They never went to just a letter giving notice

With a 16' beam, and an air draft in excess of 16'? I'm not an expert in moving boats, but with traffic lanes running 12', and overpasses at 15ish, how would one move the boat by truck without deconstructing the topsides, and using chase vehicles?

I'm seeing serious $$$$ if it can be done.

With all due respect to my colleagues,

Y'know, a lot of feedback, some useful; some not so much. It seems that "there is more to the story" thoughts are prevalent. Perhaps. But at the end of the day, the objective facts are: 1) The owner received no prior notice that the marina was closing for the hurricane. 2) The port didn't close until the next day. 3) The owner arrived at the yard during normal business hours and although the gate was open, the owner was told by yard employees the yard was closed, and that the owner could not go to his boat for a short period to remove some personal belongings. 4) While the owner was on the boat, the police were called and the gate was closed & padlocked. 5) The police arrived and declined to take any action against the boat owner-no arrest & no trespass action was taken. 6) Two weeks later, the marina then took action to evict. 7) The boat owner was current with rent.

Everything else is "background" chatter. It doesn't matter, for example, if the boat owner was having an affair with a marina employee, the marina employee's spouse, or daughter, or all three simultaneously. Hypothetically, that might be a reason for the marina to evict - I get it. So "more to the story" really isn't relevant.

That said, the comments on time to repair the rudders & struts, is helpful; wondering why rudders & shafts are out is not helpful.

So, knowing that 30 days eviction notice, without any reason, is acceptable (and I don't challenge that premise), how can a marina deny access to a renter without prior notice? Put another way; Any marina in the state of FL, is permitted to arbitrarily close his gate and deny access to renters? That seems shocking.

I have learned this, however. I'm not putting my boat in this marina for it's annual!!! No fk'g way. . . Come to think of it, having just found out the Barge Canal Lock is going to be closed for 4 months starting on 01 December, I'll have to make other yard arrangements. CRAP!!

Yeah, and an expensive one, either way. . .