A Tauranga boatie managed to salvage his 16 foot boat after a frightening water ordeal, but thought he wouldn't live to recount the tale.

Keith's salvaged boat, which he will never be able to use again because it was uninsured.

Keith, who only wanted to be known by his first name, was entering Tauranga Harbour after a fishing trip on Sunday afternoon when he struck an object submerged just under the surface of the water.

The object tore a large hole in his boat, sending water gushing through, and giving Keith only enough time to put on his life jacket before it sank.

He was pulled under the water and the strong current began dragging him out to sea.

Keith is thankful for the occupants of a nearby launch who threw him a rope and believes he would have drowned if they were not there.

'It was a pretty close one,” says Keith.

'They threw the rope to me and when I grabbed it, I wrapped it around my hand.”

The water came in so quick that Keith did not have time to use his radio to call for help.

He believes the object he hit was a log or a sunken ship container.

'The boat was fine, it wasn't my driving. I just skipped over a couple of waves and when I skipped over one of them, that's when I came down on it.”

When Keith eventually got onboard the launch, his boat popped back up to the surface and they managed to tie a rope to it.

They towed it to Pilot Bay, where he was assisted by a second boatie who helped him drag it to shore.

When they started dragging it, it overturned.

'It was a bit of team effort from a couple of people. I'm just so thankful to them.”

Keith lost all of the equipment inside the boat, which is now considerably destroyed.

The only items still remaining in the boat were the fish he caught that day.