cavalamb himself wrote:
RichH wrote:
On Feb 8, 1:40 am, cavalamb himself wrote:

I've never done this before, so I feel pretty clewless (clueless for
lubbers).

Has anybody had to move a fairly big boat overland?

I need to move a Hunter 38 - in Washington state,
down to Houston (texas).

I've googled up some boat movers - but -

what to look for?

Maximum height and width - varies by trailer configuration .... if
oversize (as it sits on a trailer) may cost double If an escort
vehicle (with 'pole') has to be used ... sometimes you have to
remove bow pulpits, etc. to be less than the 'on the trailer'
required clearances. The clearances arent usually a problem when on
Interstate Highways .... its all the damn small roads at the origin
and the destination that have the most clearance restrictions, etc.



Beam is easy - 12'11"

18,000 pounds displacement.

The mast is probably about 50 feet long!?!

Height - I'd have to guesstimate - 5' draft + 6'6 headroom + ?
probably 15 or 16 feet from bottom of keel to the top of the arch.
Add 3 or 4 feet for the trailer and we are looking at nearly 20 feet
height!

Well, Hunter shipped the thing up here (from Florida!) some how!



what to watch out for?

Reputation of the carrier, that the 'carrier' doesnt 'sub-let' to
other carriers, insurance - yours and theirs.

Didn't know about the sub-let question.
Thanks, Rich.


What extra expenses to plan on?

hauling, mast removal and prep. including 'complete winterizing' ..
especially if the route is going 'high' through the mountains. Prep
includes mast mounting/bubble-wrapping to the trailer (yard charges)
so the transport doesnt rub the anodizing off the mast, sealing the
boat from road grime (at windspeeds of 70+mph for days on end), etc.
etc.



Is there a better way?


Sail it around if you have the time.

Or sail it to So. Cal and truck from there ... less *total* $$$ per
mile charges.
That looks like about 1500 miles straight across verses 2300 from
Washington. But all the other fixed expenses would still apply.


As for the Sail-It option:

I was told by the people at the marina up there that the Columbia
River
is navigable (via locks) all the way to the Pacific (Astoria, Oregon).
But I haven't been able to confirm that yet.
I haven't got the charts yet.
I was hoping someone here on the list might know?


I have the time to sail it around.
But not that much blue water experience.
I've been out in the Gulf a few times is all.
This would be - by far - my longest voyage so far.

But then - that was the idea after all - go cruise for a while...

Well, we'll know more in just a few weeks.

Faced with a similar problem when we bought a 50-foot yacht in Croatia (we
live in Scotland) a few years ago, we looked at the distance (about the same
as UK-US) and the problems of crewing right round Italy and Spain,
air-fares, lack of available insurance in the winter months, cost of fuel,
difficulty of crew arrangements etc., etc., and decided to move the boat
overland through Europe and across the Channel

As Croatia was still classed as a "war zone", and no haulage firm would go
there, we had to sail her through the Adriatic a short distance to Slovenia,
where a German trucking company picked her up and delivered her to Scotland
in 3 days, arriving Christmas Eve!

Although expensive, we reckoned we saved around £3000 and 4-5 weeks time.

Go for it! A 38-footer is small fry compared to our yacht, and she presented
no problems to the right contractor with the right equipent.

Dennis.