Skipper Peter Leask told the Otago Daily Times yesterday progress had been slow to fully refloat the 23m boat which had hit an uncharted rock near Ruapuke Island on Friday.
Mr Leask and 12 boat crew and divers from New Zealand Diving and Salvage have placed air bags under the boat to lift it.
However, team principal Dougal Fergus said the shallow waters near Ruapuke Island had made that difficult.
The salvage team had used 20 tonnes of lift to try to stand the vessel upright, but this effort proved inadequate.
Yesterday, extra divers arrived to help put another 20 tonnes of lift under the vessel.
However, that was hampered by the vessel settling into the soft sand, making it difficult to place lift bags under the hull.
The diving team inspected the boat early on Saturday morning and found the bow had been extensively damaged and there were several small holes evident in the bottom of the hull.
Mr Leask, a boat builder by trade, said it was unclear how much it would cost to repair, but was relieved this could be done once the boat was returned to shore.
"That's a start. It's a bit depressing looking at it on its side," Mr Leask said.
The skipper yesterday had lost track of what day it was after spending three days in the strait and conceded time was "getting on".
His wife, Estelle, said Mr Leask was now running on adrenaline trying to save his boat - which was more than 100 years old - from ruin.
"He's lost his mistress and now he's stuck with his wife," she said.
Divers from the salvage team successfully plugged air vents into the fuel tanks of the boat to contain any potential oil spill on Saturday.
The damage occurred when Mr Leask hit a rock when on a chartered fishing trip with 20 passengers and three crew, including himself, on board.
The passengers and crew used the boat's emergency dinghy to get to Ruapuke Island where the coastguard, and fishing vessels Takitimu II and Provider, were used to bring them and their gear back to Bluff.
