Truck Transport Suggestions + Where to look for a boat

[maplemale]

Originally Posted by thruska

Hey maple, did you get a boat?

Yup! Got a 1983 Catalina 27 with a 5411 inboard Diesel!


One popped up here in Yaquina bay. It was priced a little high... thought the engine only had 800 hours and it had fresh bottom paint and a few upgrades on it. All said and done, I ended up at $7500. But, still cheaper than buying a $5k one in San Diego or Seattle and trucking it here. Maybe about the same... but less trouble.


I did find a decent place to rent a boat trailer though thanks to the forum posts here: Underway LLC in Eugene will rent trailers for a decent weekly rate for boats in the low 30ft ranges and under. Fortunately I'm not going to need it.

[thruska]

Hey congrats!
Now cmon and show us a pic at least lol.
Have you had her out for fun yet ?

[maplemale]

Originally Posted by thruska

Hey congrats!
Now cmon and show us a pic at least lol.
Have you had her out for fun yet ?

I have a few small projects... some sheets / halyards to replace... hose clamps... and finally a skipper for a day to get me over the first time out in Yaquina bay and crossing the bar jitters. lol

[valhalla360]

Congrats on the new boat. Just some thoughts:


I think this is part of the reason sub 30' cruising boats go so cheap:
- Pay someone to haul one 1000miles and you will be lucky to get it under $5k by the time you take the whole process into account.
- It sounds good to buy a boat with a trailer but from what I've seen, most people don't use the trailers so they rot out sitting in a back yard. To bring them back up to working condition that I would feel comfortable doing hundreds of miles is likely going to eat up $2-3k plus you still need a truck, fuel and 2-3 days to go haul it yourself. By the time you are done, it's likely going to be close to the $5k range.
- As you've found a new trailer is going to cost more than getting an old trailer up to snuff and you still have the same issues with needing a truck, fuel and time.


If you are talking a 35-40' boat, the shipping costs aren't much different but that $5k might make be 5-15% of the purchase price. Get a good deal and you can make up the difference.


With a 25-28' boat, you are probably looking at 30-70% of the purchase price for shipping. Even if you get a great deal, it's still not likely a good deal when you add the shipping. This snowballs because the low prices tend to draw people (not implying you) who don't have the money to keep up the boat, so they tend to be in worse shape further lowering the prices and making shipping less economical.