Yeehaa I got me a mast.

[Benny]

Wheels - sorry about your location - for some reason I thought you were in OZ - heaven forbid I call a Kiwi an Assie!

I can't believe a trucking company who is hauling a load anyway would charge that much to add your mast to a load. It should fit inside a long box trailer and 2 men would have no problem lifting it.

You might try a boat hauling company that may have to pick up a boat in Auckland to bring back to Malrborough - you may have to wait until they have a trip for there but they could easily load your mast on their trailer too.

[hellosailor]

The fifty feet part is probably the problem. Here in the US, standard cargo cubes are 20 or 40 feet, and once you hit 45 feet you need oversize load permits in some states to put it on a truck--which can also mean a chase car is required.

Masts are often cut in two and then sleeved during assembly, because shipping them overland is SO damned expensive once you exceed conventional truck bed lengths.

[MikeNZ]

Hi Wheels

Good deal on the new mast!

My last yacht had a new mast built by Fosters in Auckland.
Got Geoff at Waikawa to do all the rigging.
My base is Mana.
Found a trucking company who brought the mast from Fosters to Mana marina as a back-load. Mast was 50 feet. Cost me about $400.

Unloaded the mast onto the deck and motored across the Strait to Waikawa.


Worked like a dream.

Mike

[seafox]

Hey Wheels, maybe not such a bargin afterall if you need to pay for transport. You really only have two options. One is to sail up there and grab it. Rig it in Auckland and then sail home. Will still cost you around $1000 in diesel if you have to motor though.
Maybe a better option would be to ring the boat transport companies in Auck (in the boating mag I saw you reading the other day) and Peter Jacob in Levin. I see them dropping off Auckland boats at mana all the time. You could pay the owner part of his haulage costs from Auck to mana to hitch a ride with his boat. Then just a quick sail to mana and back. The Auckland brokers could also tell you what boats are waiting to come down. Contact the owners and do a deal.

[Alan Wheeler]

Interesting you say that Darryl, I just discovered last night that the mast is in the yard of "Boat Haulage". I have been given their number and will phone them today. Even if they can get it to Mana or Wellington, I can come across your way and pick it up. Although if I am going to attempt your bar, I think I need you onboard to navigate in for me. As you know, I don't have a lot of depth under me to go getting it wrong. But hey, I am jumping the gun, I need to find out what the haulage company can do.

[southernman]

Wheels, your best option may be Dimond Industries. They run trucks from auckland to christchurch with 17m loads quite a bit. They manufacture some of their range of steel perlins in Auckland and freight em down. They have a driver called Ken who for the right money and liquid refreshment may be able to drop it in Picton (or shall I say let the mast fall off) at Picton. The guy who owns the business used to be called Ross and they contract to Dimond Industries.

So you were the cunning fella who bought that eh? Good on you. I saw the stick as my yacht is not far from the yard.

[seafox]

that sounds like the key

[Alan Wheeler]

Cunning??? Well we'll see if I can get it here first, then you can call me cunning. :-)
I talked to Boat haulage this morning and they said they could bring it down especially for me but the cost woudl be $2500 +GST. They may be able to get it under a yacht when they bring one down to Mana, but they woudl most likely charge $600+GST. The only yacht booked at the mo is in July. The mast is incurring $100+GST storage fee per month. Boy these guy's know how to charge don't they.
Thanks for the lead, Darryl has given me some more to follow up on and I am awaiting another about a ship to Nelson.

[44'cruisingcat]

Maybe if you promise to buy all the gear, such as spreaders etc from them, a mast or rigging co would lend or hire you a mast trailer.

OR you could hire a large car trailer, and set it up so the mast is over the roof of your car. Most car trailers go close to 10 metres long, including drawbar, your car, (a Commodore if remember right?) would be nearly 6 metres long, so that would only leave a 1/2 metre overhang at each end, more or less.

I carried a 7 metre ( around 23 feet) forebeam in an 8x5 foot box trailer like that.

[Alan Wheeler]

Maybe if you promise to buy all the gear, such as spreaders etc from them, a mast or rigging co would lend or hire you a mast trailer.

It's an insurance job. The spreaders and gear don't exist. It is just the extrusion and the mast is in a transport yard.

I did think of doing that to get the mast to the marina from here. But I don't think I could do it traveling the country. Taking a corner, I would have 7m of mast out over the other side of the road. We have tight winding roads here in NZ. Plus the big hurdle is getting across the straight. When I had my own 10m truck, it was $2K to put it on the ferry.

[hellosailor]

Wheels, sure and you must have some Scotsmen down in NZ, don't you?

So you advertise for the 2008 Olympics NZ Caber Toss Team, and get them liquored up good and tell them "Now lads, if you can't toss this caber all the way home before tomorrow, you won't make the team."

In the US, I could get FoxTV to televise the event and probably collect some good sponsorship money too. < g >

[44'cruisingcat]

From what you're saying, it sounds like the best option is to take the boat to the mast.

[seafox]

Or plead poverty and pull out of the deal....

[Alan Wheeler]

Can't pull out, the things paid for and the insurance company has washed their hands of me. So I'm on my own. Haven't exhausted all avenues yet.
And actually, I am kinda thinking a sail to Auckland could be fun.
Hey Darryl, whadaya reckon. Would you be game??

[NoTies]

Have you tried SeaTow Alan? They have barges up & down the country all the time and could certainly get it closer for you if not right into Picton. How close to the waterfront is it located?