Save-A-Boat - The Forum for Plastic Classic Rebuilds!

I'm not sure this really qualifies as a ramble, but I wasn't sure where else to put it. These are just a few photos of my friend's Westsail 32 that was moved out of the yard my boat arrived at -- I thought you all might like to see them. This boat took me a long way at one point in time, and I'm glad to see it going back "home" to be with its owner again.

We'd arranged the transport with the same company. My boat arrived at about 9:30 a.m. and was on the ground less than an hour later. The W-32 was on the truck shortly thereafter, but then we (the truck driver and I) spent most of the rest of the day tying it down (and I re-arranged some things below and on deck to be better secured).



This boat - with an ~11' beam - is a wide load, but not so wide that it requires escort vehicles. The truck only had to have orange flags roughly on the four corners, "over-sized load" placards fore and aft, and a yellow flashing light on the back end.

The trucker also had to get permits for all the states along the route, and cannot start driving until a half-hour after sunrise. He also has to stop before sunset (so it's like scouting for an anchorage when he starts thinking ahead to where he can stop before dark, yet not too soon).

Most states do not allow driving on Sunday with such a load (which seems a bit backwards to me, but...). Arkansas does, however, so the driver was hoping to make it to the Arkansas/Tennesee border by Saturday night. He also has to stop for at least one 34-hour consectutive period (if I remember that number correctly). He left Virginia first thing Friday morning, and figured he'd make SF Bay by Thursday in a best-case scenario.

My boat didn't have most of these special restrictions, being much smaller.



The bow pulpit, boom gallows, and wind vane had to be removed to make height restrictions (although with them off, there was a foot to spare), so it looks pretty bare up on deck. They're tied onto the truck beneath the bow.



I had wondered how they were going to support the boat, since it doesn't have a cradle and there were no visible supports on the truck when my boat was on it. These supports fit into holes in the trailer edge.

Alright, everyone is wondering, how much does it cost to move a boat coast to coast

Here's another one at my boatyard:

Duncan,

I wonder if that is a Westsail 28 --- it looks a bit different but also has a familial resemblance. Sure looks well kept.

JP,

I thought maybe I should ask my friend before divulging figures, but then I decided to go ahead -- I mean it's not like anyone couldn't call a trucking company and find out.

So... let me start by saying that we didn't shop mercilessly for the best price -- actually, we didn't shop much at all. I've worked with the company we used before (i.e. they've picked up and dropped of boats at the yard when I was there), and also a friend had a boat trucked by them in the 1980s and was very happy with the service. In addition, a friend who works in a yard in Florida felt they did a good job. And to top it off, they're based in Minnesota, so I knew they'd be able to drive in wintery weather if necessary.

Basically, I had a rough idea of what it would cost (for my boat), and I knew that unless their quote was totally outrageous, we would go with them.

I could actually have had my boat moved a bit cheaper by a local Michigan fellow with a dualie pickup truck and a flatbed (he races J-boats and moved them around himself). Depending on when I went, that would have been around $1400 - but he couldn't do it at all until the end of February. I wanted my boat as soon as possible, of course, and my friend had to have his boat in the slip by February 15, or he would lose the rights to it.

Because we arranged the moves as a package, we were both able to get a slightly better price. If we'd had someone who wanted to move a boat from California to Minnesota, it would have been even better (15% better, approximately). Also, they were able to move the boats right away (i.e. in two weeks, as they were busy with the Minneapolis boat show).

My boat cost $1800 (original quote, $2500), and the W-32 was $9500 (it was never quoted separately, but would have been in the neighborhood of $11,500). That does not include the mast unstepping or the loading and unloading (you arrange that with the yards involved - or at least we did as the boats had yards at both ends), or the packing (I did that on my boat, and I did some of it on the W-32).

Again, we didn't ruthlessly price shop, so perhaps we could have paid a lot less - I don't know. But we both trusted the company we used (Cross Country Boat Transport), and that was worth a lot. That being said, it still pays to be on hand during the process: I wasn't happy with the initial proposed placement of the bow straps on my boat, but since I was there we were able to work out something I liked better.

If I hadn't been able to use Cross Country for some reason (or if I'd found a boat in the NE), I was going to contact "Catamount" to see who he'd used. Any driver who could get up his driveway was obviously good!

If anyone else wants to chip in with their data, please do.

--- Rachel

As an aside, fwiw, I'm pretty sure that the "third" boat involved in the near disaster at Pulpit Harbor last summer was a Westsail 32...

Don't chide yourself too much for not shopping around. $2.75/mile for a 10,000# load doesn't leave much after overhead. That has to be a "midwinter rate"!
Not too shabby.

I hadn't read about that Nathan - sounds harrowing! Good on you for getting out of the way so quickly, and in such difficult weather too.

I think $1800, and even $2500, seems perfectly reasonable for a professional and safe transport from MI to VA.

I paid $1800 to have my T27 hauled from NJ (Raritan Bay) to Jacksonville, FL. It went on a huge boat-specific flatbed like the Westsail, but shared the space with a small powerboat--still on its trailer! Those trucks are indeed pretty cool. The trucker basically let me set up the stands to my liking and he did a nice job of strapping it down, running the straps through the bow & stern chocks.
Turns out I found him through a trucking broker (thought it was the trucking company's dispatcher when I called). The smaller-scale guys with the dualies and glorified powerboat trailers were quoting in the range of 2300-2800. One went down to 2000 since it was his slow season, but he didn't sound to confident in dealing with sailboats.
As Rachel points out, the costs of getting the boat onto and off the trailer can add quite a variable amount to the whole deal. It's been pleasantly less expensive in FL versus the northeast.

You know, maybe I gave the wrong impression -- that I was unhappy with the final cost of the boat move(s), when I really wasn't. I just wanted folks to be aware that we really didn't shop around or bargain too hard (I did bargain a wee bit, when I introduced the second boat to the mix).

I was very happy with Cross Country. My friend's boat is probably travelling through Arkansas right now on the same truck.