LAKE DELTON -- Boaters usually remove boats from a lake by driving them onto trailers, but at Lake Delton, boat owners have had to hire cranes and skid loaders to get their boats out of the lake.

When Lake Delton breached its shoreline, leaving the lake bed dry, the boats that local and summer residents use were left high and dry. And Kathy Zowin of Lake Delton Watersports said that given the uncertainty of when the road and dam will be fixed, boaters are deciding to remove their boats from the lake.

"It 's better to get them out," she said, although there is no hurry. The lake might start to be filled in the fall or winter and if the boats were left in, they might be damaged by ice expanding or heaving.

The Zowins' business has removed 45 boats so far from the lake, Steve Zowin said. Of those, two had to be removed with cranes and about 38 required a backhoe. Steve Zowin said the business normally uses a crane to unload new boats, but this year that crane was used to lift boats from the lake.

The company has been able to remove some boats with a truck, but parts of the lake bed are too soft for it, he said.

Steve Zowin said he has four more boats to remove and then 90 percent of their customers will have their boats off the lake.