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YouTubers recover houseboat, pull it back into water when it gets stranded in Lake Mead

A houseboat stranded in Lake Mead was recovered by several YouTubers, who brought it to a nearby marina, media outlets in Nevada reported.

Water levels in the southern Nevada lake have experienced unexpectedly steep declines over the last several years, NBC News reported. According to data from the Bureau of Reclamation, the lake’s elevation was about 1,047 feet in May.

The declining water levels also left Craig Miller’s houseboat stranded, 8 News Now reported. Miller brought his boat to shore to repair his engine on June 4, but as he waited for the repair, water levels dropped so sharply that the boat was left stuck on land, the outlet reported.

The news about Miller’s houseboat caught the attention of YouTubers Adrian Jr. and Adrian Sr., who run the channel Sin City Outdoors. In a video that now has over 2 million views, the father and son find Miller on the shore, trying to figure out what to do with his boat.

In the duo’s initial video, one of the men says that Miller’s boat appears to be about 30 yards from the shore, making it difficult to get the boat back in the water. Miller tells them that it could cost up to $20,000 to get professional help, and the two men behind Sin City Outdoors can be heard asking their audience if they have any resources that could help.

That video was seen by a Utah-based YouTuber, Dave Sparks, who runs the channel HeavyDSparks. Sparks commented on Sin City Outdoors’ video, asking if they could give him Miller’s contact information.

Within a day, Sparks was on his way to Lake Mead from Salt Lake City to try and help Miller, 8 News Now reported.

Sparks, who has previous experience with recovering vehicles, received permission from the National Park Service to remove Miller’s boat, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Otherwise, a salvage company would retrieve the boat by cutting it into pieces and removing them from the area, Sparks said.

In a 45-minute video, Sparks showed the process of rescuing the boat, which Miller lives in full-time. After several hours, Sparks and his team were finally able to get the boat into the water by mounting it to a powerful boat and using it to pull Miller’s boat off the shore.

The rescue wrapped up hours after sunset, the video shows.

“The old Craig Express is floating, baby,” Sparks says in the video once the boat is back in the water. “Oh man, that is gratifying. The relief that we feel is probably nothing compared to the relief [Miller] is feeling right now.”

In another video, the pair behind Sin City Outdoors also details the recovery of the boat, including their correspondence with Sparks and the several different attempts the team made to pull the boat back into the water.

“I’ve never seen anything like that, that’s for sure,” Adrian Jr. says in the video. “I’m just at a loss for words, that was crazy.”

The boat was towed to Callville Bay, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

The two YouTube channels both plan to post additional videos about the boat’s recovery on July 2, 8 News Now reported.

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