shipping a boat. how much?

[oops!]

im looking to purchase a cuddy 25-31 foot.
most aval are in flor/tex/ or the eastern sea board.
has any one ever shipped a boat really long distances?
ive seen quotes from a buck fifty- to two fifty.
thats truck. (dont know about hot shot, pilot car)
i was thinking train.
florida-seattle?

i just had a drive come from. minn- that was 300 bucks, but this is a whole new ball game

thanks

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

i would guess $2-4,000. Fl to BC. would have to be semi trailer. then cost of loading blocking, and unloading,. the carrier does not ususally load. there are companies that specialize in boat freight.

 

[oops!]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

thanks tash.
whats the possibility of train.
if i go truck. ill need a hot shot.

if i buy, ill use it as an excuse to fly there and supervise the load.

 

[Bondo]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

Most boats that big are Oversized loads,.....

I really doubt it would fit on a Train...........

 

[45Auto]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

Put it out on U-ship (kind of like ebay for shippers) for bids. If you're flexible on pick-up and delivery dates you might catch somebody willing to give you a deal to keep from running empty.

I had a 22' shipped from Pennsylvania to New Orleans (1300 miles) for just over $900 this last summer.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

the Beam(width) of the boat is going to be the deciding factor, regular or oversized load. over 101 inches in a lot of states is oversize. some states require escort (lead and chase) vehicles.

 

[dirtyoldman]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

a train is a very good idea.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

few marina's are located new a siding, boat would have to be loaded, trucked to siding, crane to load on flat car, crane to unload, truck to marina. and all the cradle charges. probably double of triple the cost.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

102" wide on Federal highways.
And yes, train would be out cause they do not have that much clearance when passing another train.
Can you say clip. YIKES!!!

 

[Pursuit2150]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

I ship a 30' Black-Fin, NJ to Cape Coral Fl. @ $1900.00 each way.

 

[dmcb]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

If I may offer a suggestion.
You would be well advised to do a search on the Great Lakes.
Specifically the Detroit, Cleveland, Toledo area.
Several reasons I suggest this.
The areas I mentioned are auto mfg country. They fell on hard times and a lot of people in good paying jobs have lost them.
Homes and toys are at depressed prices.
The boats for the most part are fresh water boats.
You cannot imagine the difference that makes.
For example manifolds will last 40 or more years in fresh water.
I have boated in Michigan for over 50 years and I have never heard of a fuel tank corroding.
Everything lasts longer.
I also live and boat in Florida and I see the difference.
The seasons are short thus less hours would be expected.
I don't know the size you are thinking but it might be possible to trailer if it isn't to wide.
US 2 goes from Upper Michigan to Washington and it is a good road with low mountain passes. I just took it this fall. When you get to Washington state you want to use the expressways as Hwy 2 in Washington is scenic but mountainous.
Your shipping distance would be less also.
Here is a link to a Great Lakes magazine that lists a lot of boats.
It is better to look earlier as boats are now in storage.
http://www.lakelandboating.com/boat... far have not had a second look by cops. Doug

 

[oops!]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

tash, spinner, bond-o
you have no idea of the high reguards i hold your opinonis!
dmcb,45,mgrave, and pursuit,
thank you for the great input !!!

i will weigh the odds.
salt vs fresh. i am only looking at self cooling.
yup the wear and tear is more, but thats asthetics and can be fixed.
here in canada, an oversized load needs a "hot shot" or "pilot car" in front, bearing the "wide load" markers.
permits would be a must.
i would jump in my semi tractor and drive there if it was feasable.
at this point i would rather pay some guy a back haul or train it to canada.

man the stuff about the great lakes is fantistic!
as tash said, im expecting 4, but every penny counts

if this is feasible, i would ship on an ongoing basis.

as far as loading, its just a few airmiles down there. a perfect excuse to see the east coast! and im sure i could find a few shortcuts!!!
please ....
keep the suggestions coming.. as there is great potential there

thanks guys

 

[Blue Water Runner]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

I have actually thought about getting into the boat shipping business on a part time basis locally. Any ideal what the rate per mile is here in the southeast? I would only to boats with a beam of 102" or less though. That would probably limit me to a 26' boat for the most part. There are plenty of boat owners here in central NC that have their boat towed to the coast and back annually. That would be a fun weekend job for me. I need to start socking some extra money away for retirement.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

Better have good insurance company that know's what you are going to do.
Now at the prices of gas/diesel, 1.50 to 2.00 a mile would be common.

 

[45Auto]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

There's a bunch of Federal and probably state (depending on your home state) hoops to jump through to legally tow things. I know there's a bunch of weekend haulers out there, but I wouldn't want my boat caught up in a legal battle if something happened while it was being towed.

I think this is the basic procedure:

Go to the FMCSA website at www.fmcsa.dot.gov and apply for your DOT/MC number. They offer assisted registration online that will answer any of your questions. You must have these numbers in order to transport anything for hire. The consequences are very steep if you do not do this. This will cost you about $300 for the registration. Then, you need to look into commercial insurance. The minimum requirements are based on what you plan to haul. For me, I haul motorcycles, and I must carry $750,000 in liability and $50,000 in cargo insurance, and the premium is around $4,000/year. You must have this insurance to be able to transport legally. You will also have to file a BOC-3 form, which you will receive phone calls for as soon as you apply for your authority. That will run you around $70 or so. Then you have to file your UCR registration (google it, there's a website), which is $43 after their taxes/fees.

 

[dmcb]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

Just a fyi.
Used fresh water boats can have fresh water cooling added without a problem. You will likely not find many with this feature on the Great Lakes unless they are diesel.
As I understand it you cannot add it to salt water boats (used) as the rust process never stops once started and it will clog the cooling system.
Can you tell us a little more about what you are seeking? Size, model type.
You mentioned cuddy cabin but in the size boat you mention, I am wondering if Cuddy means the same to all of us.
Anything can be trailered. I know a guy who lives in Wyoming and trailers his 3870 Bayliner to the PNW and takes it to Alaska every other year.
That boat is over 13' wide and high. I have one also and I thought I trailered big.
He has his own semi to haul it and a custom trailer also.
A 10' wide boat will cause little problem trailering in the states. You can get permits and it will require an oversize sign but no chase car.
I believe a chase is required at 12 feet in most states.
The real world is most cops won't bother a private owner towing his 10' wide boat. When I towed mine from Mich. a Georgia DOT followed me for a while.
These are the guys that inforce this kind of thing. He passed me without a look.
From talking to guys in Ontario where I boat when in Michigan, they tell me the same thing. Other areas may not be the same.
Don't know where you are located in BC but one other possibility would be trailer to the Washington border area and take it on its own bottom in BC.
Doug

 

[erikgreen]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

This reminds me of something I ran across last summer when I was talking to a boat shipper in Duluth.

Since you're in BC, you're going to be paying through the nose to export a boat from the US to Canada - you're going to be paying an import duty on top of transport fees that's going to be impressively large (I forget... I think 20% is not unheard of?). You may also have to do lots of extra paperwork to get the boat out of the US. Our current government is wild about paperwork.

The boat I saw being shipped last summer was about 40' or so, and was on a semi type trailer. It was going from the west side of canada to the east side, and it turned out the cheapest way was through the US! I don't recall the exact reason that it was cheaper, maybe due to the route to be taken, but the only way the shipper avoided paying tons of taxes and doing papework to export and re-import was because the boat was originally manufactured in the US. They used a loophole in the US import laws to basically claim the boat was just "coming home" temporarily.

Anyway, good luck with buying that boat.

Erik

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

It would be cheaper to buy enough fuel for the boat and run it up the Atlantic coast . You would get a nice long vacation and get a feel for the boat at the same time. Plus depending on what stops you make along the coast you would have some nice scenery.

P.S. I would cross my fingers and hope that I wouldn't half to rebuild the motor on the boat when I arrived home with it.

 

[dmcb]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

Be a nice ride but isn't BC on the Pacific?

 

[tcfishing]

Re: shipping a boat. how much?

I just shipped a 22' boat from the Florida Keys to Hawaii. It was around $2,800 to Calif. Everything to Hawaii was $8,000. I used a company called loadaboat.com Don't know if this helps? Company was good for me...