Moving Catalina 30 on trailer

whatfiero · Jan 7, 2014

Moving

So ya need to move your boat 1 time or more often. If just once. And ya don't own trailer or truck then I would just pay some one to do

bschram · Feb 2, 2014

Move Catalina 30

I successfully moved my Catalina 30 from Northern Cal to Colorado. I bought a Loadmaster triple axle trailer (not cheap, and takes a while to get, but an excellent trailer). I don't regret it. It was a long trip, and I burned a lot of diesel, but I have great memories too. My 11 year old son joined me and has great memories too. I rented a F350 from Enterprise which was absolutely up to the task. You have to pull permits since it's an oversized load, and you'll have curfews and road restrictions to contend with. One thing to consider, you technically might need a CDL depending on whether the states you're going through consider a boat to be an RV or not. You'll probably be over 26,000 lb GVWR.

PM me with your contact info and I'll tell you more.

cadams said:
I will soon need to move my 1988 Catalina 30 standard rig fin keel using a trailer. The boat is currently in Colorado. Most of the distance will be interstate (but not all). My marina does not have lifts, etc., so everyone uses trailers to move their boats to the marina, and launch and store their boats on the hard in winter (even up to Catalina 36, etc).

I expect I will need to buy a new trailer because there aren't many used ones available. (Anyone know of a good used trailer available?) I've gotten three quotes for a new trailer in the $6.5k to $8k range.

I am interested in any suggestions as to good trailer manufacturer for a 10,500(+) pound Catalina 30. It will need to be a triple axle with electric brakes I believe.

I am also interested in comments on doing the move myself by renting an appropriate truck (e.g, 1-ton pickup, etc). I am a pretty capable guy, and have hauled various trailers, etc.. I have hauled an Oday 26 easily, but it had half the displacement.

Thoughts or comments? Thanks in advance.

longterm · Feb 9, 2014

When I bought my boat, the transport company I used here in Nashville (Leslie Transport, highly recommended) used a specially-rigged truck that did all the work for them.

You're going to need to get the mast down; he has a crane built onto the back of his 5th-wheel truck; once he gets the boat up on the trailer, he simply uses the crane to take down the mast and then lower it for storage.

There's no way that I would consider pulling an 11,000 pound boat unless I had some experience with it. I spent $1900 having my boat moved; buying a trailer and a truck strong enough to pull it seems a bit crazy, in my opinion, not to mention having to get the mast down and then back up again in relatively the same condition that it was in before. My mover took careful measurements to ensure that when he put the mast back, the tension on the stays was the same as it was before he took the mast down.

spagley · Feb 15, 2014

I went on line to UShip. Put it out for bid, $1,650.00 to move a Catalina 30 from Hot Springs Ark. to Wilmington, NC. So you should be able to find someone to move it cheaper then that.

sundaysail · Jun 19, 2014

We bought a 30 Catalina in 2011. My wife found a trailer in Tenn. for $4300.
We drove from CA and picked it up. As we got back to CA I needed to rebuild the main center structure of the trailer. I used a 8in x 3in tube. Works great.

Alansails · Jun 20, 2014

When we bought our 310, we bought her in Kentucky Lake and had her shipped to Lake Eri, we and a friend who bought his boat in S.C., also had it shipped to Lake Erie, We both used Derek Leslie-Sailer moving Sailers, We found him to be professional, and honest. There were No damages to either boat and he arrived when he said he was going to! As Longterm said-Highly recommended! No Worrys!

Sanfelice · Jun 22, 2014

FYI, When they craned my 30 last fall, they weighed the boat. It read 13500 lbs.on the crane scale which was somewhat surprising since the stated displacement was 10300 lbs.. I suspect that displacement is based upon a formula which does not include various interior parts , hardware etc..

Bracketboy · Sep 2, 2014

bschram said:
I successfully moved my Catalina 30 from Northern Cal to Colorado. I bought a Loadmaster triple axle trailer (not cheap, and takes a while to get, but an excellent trailer). I don't regret it. It was a long trip, and I burned a lot of diesel, but I have great memories too. My 11 year old son joined me and has great memories too. I rented a F350 from Enterprise which was absolutely up to the task. You have to pull permits since it's an oversized load, and you'll have curfews and road restrictions to contend with. One thing to consider, you technically might need a CDL depending on whether the states you're going through consider a boat to be an RV or not. You'll probably be over 26,000 lb GVWR.

PM me with your contact info and I'll tell you more.

Cost for the Loadmaster triple axle trailer?

Doug4bass · Sep 2, 2014

FYI. Might be a big problem trying to get a fin keel 30 onto a trailer if you dont have a lift. Alot depends on the ramp, trailer, etc.
I never could get my wing C270 onto my trailer, (although I didnt have a tongue extension). Used a travelift. Floated off though.

knotoldyet · Sep 2, 2015

=spagley;1093622]I went on line to UShip. Put it out for bid, $1,650.00 to move a Catalina 30 from Hot Springs Ark. to Wilmington, NC. So you should be able to find someone to move it cheaper then that.[/QUOTE]