Moving my boat--Looking for a mover and any advice

[Larry Kay Hardesty]

I'm moving my boat soon, by fall I hope, and would like to hear from any sailors who have any experience in this. I'd especially welcome any recommendations on safe and reliable professional boat haulers. Please let me hear from you. Either reply on these pages, or I can be reached at kayhardesty@hotmail.comThanks.

 

[Bob O'Brien]

Larry

I moved my old Hunter 25.5 from Chicago to Connecticut when I was relocated two years ago. I used a company called Auto & Boat Relocation Services (1 800 215 1867) to arrange the shipping of my boat (I believe they are based in New Britain, CT, and they arranged for a trucking company from Florida to move her). Based on my experience and discussions with others, the most important thing in moving a sailboat is to have it packed up very well to minimize damage to equipment from road vibration - which is very different from the vibration she experiences on the water. My shipper did not take responsibility for packing my boat, and I understand most shippers will not - it was up to me and my boatyard, and lucky enough we did a good job. The second key area is re-rigging the boat when it arrives, and unfortunately my new boatyard did not do as good a job at that as I had hoped. I spent the firat half of the summer re-tuning my rig and making other necessary adjustments to equipment.

 

[Craig Coffman]

agree with Larry... pack it up well

I moved my boat last year. I thinks any reputable, insured boat moving company would probably be about the same... but Larry is right in that the trick is in the de-commissioning & packing it up for the road. I had the yard where the boat was at do the decommissioning (As I live about 600 miles from where it was at & had to have them to drop the mast anyway.. it's a 40.5).They did a great job decommissioning & packing it up... used carpet duct-taped around any metal that might bang on the deck or the sole below (bimini bows, radar pole). I only had one or two places where there was any chafe or scuffing from stuff rubbing or bouncing around on the road. It would have been a lot worse if I had done it. A professional knows all the tricks.Even if you do the decommissiong yourself, you might talk to a professional at a yard to find out what they would do.--Craig Coffman

 

[Bill Saint]

Deep Water Transport

I just used Deep Water transport to bring my 310 from MS to NC, great job, very professional and very reasonable price. Contact them at 800 382-2628

 

[Guest]

Take it off!

Larry, take everything off that you can, especially things on the outside like turnbuckles, as retracing your steps for a few hundred miles looking for boat parts is troublesome.Try to wrapping your mast and boom with Saran wrap as it will keep road dust and truckers duct tape at bay.Remove all fragile items from below and pack everything that can move or rattle. A shackle resting on the hull will leave quite a stain and possibly even damage the gelcoat.Be there when it is placed on the truck and leave nothing to chance cuzz if you do, you will pay the price.Not sure where your pount of departure or your destination are, but I have used a couple of companies in southern Ontario that I was very satisfied with and I found the Canadian rates cheaper than those in the US.