There are many factors to consider when choosing your boat …and often the boat you’re interested in isn’t local to where you are. Our boat was built in England, shipped to Maryland where she spent most of her life (we presume), and then we had her trucked to Vermont where we have been restoring and sailing her.
We were recently asked about our experiences with having our boat trucked up to us. Below is the information I sent …perhaps others will find it useful as well.
- We had never done anything like this before …so lots of anxiety.
- We needed the specifications of the boat. Beam is important, as different states have different rules regarding transport of ‘wide’ loads. The weight of the boat as equipped should also be known or at least conservatively estimated. The hardest specification is the one that you probably won’t find an answer to unless you measure it yourself, or ask someone to. You will need to know the height of the boat (hopefully mast down if it’s a sailboat) when filling out a shipping request.
- We looked online to see who was in the business of moving boats, read reviews, got a couple of quotes, and took the plunge. Although our boat came from the Chesapeake and I assumed there would be many local companies, that did not seem to be the case. I got the impression that as the drivers/trucks move around you can get better quotes when someone is in the vicinity of your boat. If you have a range of dates for transport that may help you get the best rate.
- We did not need to be present when the boat was picked up, but we did need to go down ahead of time to demast her, remove and stow everything securely, and wrap up all of the rigging tightly to the mast which we left beside the boat on sawhorses. I’m sure a shipyard could also handle these things, but it was a fun (and exhausting) process for us, and most things shipyards do, we can’t afford. We brought lots of tools with us, some bits of lumber, and a good amount of tape and rolls of the stretch film plastic wrap (like tough saran wrap) movers use. The plastic wrap worked great for securing everything to the mast. If the boat has a rigid roller furler on the foresail (as many boats do) this will be longer than the mast. Be sure to secure it to the mast well and potentially wrap a small board in with it to protect the part that extends beyond the mast. The truck that hauled our boat had crutches beside the boat cradle to transport the mast. I’d recommend that over trying to build crutches on the boat and trying to secure it there. As a reference, doing everything ourselves, this was a long day for us even with a 26′ boat (~11hrs).
- We confirmed with the shipyards on both ends of the transport on the day/time so they were ready to help load/unload. In my experience, moving companies and shipyards are not always the best communicators. I felt I asked an annoying amount of questions, but in the end I felt confident that everything was in order.
- Visit her when she arrives!