Can this sailboat be trailered towed?

[Hesti]

Fair winds and godspeed. May the force be with you.


Looking back at the last year, our project was ambitious. Bought the boat in December without a test sail, mast lying on deck, set of in May (later than intended), did around 2.000 Nm. Completely silly, stupid, great!

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by CF32907

Hi All, CaptVR here, Retired marine surveyor.
You guys have the wrong idea of the hydraulic trailers. They cannot pick a boat up off the ground nor set one up on the ground. What is hydraulic is the articulating arms that hold the boat in the upright location. The trailers have a large flat shoe down the center of the trailer that the keel sits on top of. You have two ways to load. Most use the travelift in the yard. It picks the boat up and runs it over the trailer at which time it is lowered and sits the keel on the trailer shoe. Then the hydraulic arms are brought up to secure the boat in a level position, travellift straps are then removed and the vessel strapped down.
The other way is a crane is hired to do the lifting and setting..
The trucking companies normally give you about an hour of time for loading. About the same for removing the boat. In a boat yard, not much of a problem with a travelift at the ready. 15 years ago when I was in the business, most of the transporter firms charged about $100 an hour for longer waits.
Back to the trailers, guys think about this. The boat is on the hard. The keel is sitting on blocking about every 6-8 feet. There are 5-7 jack stands down each side of the vessel about 5-6' out from the keel. Measurement to out side of stands is 10-12'. You can not back a trailer under a boat on the hard, they have to be lifted. Most trailers are set so they can pull directly straight out of the yard, the travel lift then moves the boat over the trailer. Unless you have a commercial tractor, you are not going to pull that boat with any pick up, not even a F350 diesel tandom, I owned one. With that boats beam and weight, you will need over wide permits in every state your going through, you will need a chase care following and you, you will only be able to travel during daylight hours, boat delivery rigs can be 65', no problem there. Total height from road to highest point is 13'6", that may pose a problem. The hydraulic trailers made for boats, that bottom trailer support is about 10": off the ground from what I remember, although that will very with who made the trailer. Hope this took some of the supposition out of it, now you have some facts to work with. Capt. Vince Rakstis, Ret.

Listen to this. All the hydraulic trailers do is to provide varying hull support for different hulls. No way they can load or unload a boat. Be prepared to have the boat loaded and unloaded. I had a 48' transported from NJ to SC. When it showed up the boat yard owner said I can't lift that. He did after he recalled our previous conversation and his commitment. I think it cost him travel lift straps.
You would be lucky today to find someone that honored their word.

[Calif.Ted]

Originally Posted by Dxm1

I have not yet purchased the boat. I have been lurking on the forums here for a long time, so I know what a great resource it is and how much cumulative knowledge you guys have about boats.


Given that I know that there is a lot that I do not know, I thought it prudent to ask for opinions first.


Goal is not to save money, but rather to have fun working on the boat for years and bringing her back to former glory. Basically to have a hobby project. I won't be able to sail for a while anyway, and this hobby seems more worthwhile than sitting on the couch watching TV. Also, I want things a certain way, and would end up replacing everything even If I bought a boat in good shape, so for me this actually makes more sense (why pay good money for a boat if you are going to gut most of it anyway?). Might as well start from scratch.

Travel distance is 1200 miles. $$ wise are we talking $5000, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 to move this thing? More?

A hobby that big can quickly become a full time job, I learned as a lifeguard and ski patrol that a fun hobby becomes work when you HAVE to do it every day.

[mghorton]

My 32 ft Dufour weighs 12,000 lbs. I suggest you get quotes from experienced companies for the whole moving operation before you make any decisions. You will also have to get the boat out of there sometime in the future. Might be better to do a deal with the place where it is now.

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by Dxm1

length :46 feet
weight: 11,500lbs
beam: 13 ft 6 in.


boat is in horrendous shape and would require a multi year refit. goal of towing would be to bring it home to work on it until refit is done then bring to water. Rather than pay marina fees for 5 years.

any thoughts?

While our trimaran was not as large, we did have it "shipped" from British Columbia to Maryland on a low boy tractor trailer. You need to make some calls. They hire a service that will map the route, and you will most likely have to pay for an escort service.

[GBR134]

Originally Posted by Dxm1

You are correct, it makes no financial sense whatsoever to do this project. My hourly rate at my job is much higher than 15/ hour, and given the time commitment required, I will end up hundreds of thousands behind, if not more.



But this project is not about money. I used to work in a manual labor job... The satisfaction of doing something with your hands, creating something beautiful, and being able to see the final product is something that I have found to be good for the soul. It can be therapeutic.

For what its worth my tiddly 36' cruiser was lovingly built in 1980 and still totally original when i bought her in 2014. The hull and deck were sound despite a 'touch' of osmosis but everything else was pretty 'FCUKed@'. On day a week end for 6 months labour, some expensive materials but an awful lot of ebay/ gumtree (uk equiv craigs list) and a lot of donations it is now sailed round uk and halfway to Greece. Its still an embarrassment to take into 'smart marinas' but I've spent less than £25k on buying and bodging the boat - loved every minute of it!

Best buy - £250 for fully battened main with wheeled batt cars and stackpack in good condition.

Most expensive - set of interior cushions fo £1500 - caravan maker - yachtie suppliers wanted £ 3 1/2 to 5K.

Huge difference in cost between posh boatyard standards and practical functional bodge!

if you enjoy the work - go for it!

[Clivevon]

It's interesting the things that catch your attention on the forum...
What was that film called ? "Boulevard of broken dreams"...??
As a comparison to your suggested project, I wonder if this boat (found on 10 second Google search for brewer 46) is still for sale in Grenada, West Indies: https://www.clarkeandcarter.co.uk/bo...enada-6587262/

Ted Brewer 46 from 1979 going for $59,000 - apparently currently in commission, so maybe not in a horrendous state - but who knows.

By the way, it seems the 11,500 lbs weight you were talking about refers just to the ballast - which looks probably internal encapsulated to me (so not removable). The boats displacement (overall weight) is about 33,500 lbs. The height to the pilothouse top looks about 14 foot - you would have to remove the pulpit most likely.

How you spend your time & money is your business but I would say - do yourself a BIG favour. Don't do it. If you are going to spend that much time, effort, energy & money, with not much of a way out once you commit, surely you want to see some kind of benefit or asset at the end? I appreciate at the moment you think you will enjoy the journey, but the destination has to make some kind of sense ?

Why put in tens of thousands of dollars & thousands of hours to end up with a $60,000 boat??

Maybe spend your spare time, huge effort & energy & money on something that will offer you a reward at the end - like maybe renovating a property - then when you are able to take off, sell it, buy the boat you want - there will be one - & go sailing...

My advice is - dont do it unless you feel you absolutely have to & cant live without it. Then take a cold shower & dont do it anyway...

Be interested to know what you decide. Good luck.

[Danielpalmer0]

Height would be the big issue you can permit up to 14ft wide in most areas, research route, there are a great many routes however where over 13ft 6in height can be a no go especially in the eastern US . It would be advisable to contact a trucking company with a boat that big.

[Danielpalmer0]

Height would be the big issue you can permit up to 14ft wide in most areas, research route, there are a great many routes however where over 13ft 6in height can be a no go especially in the eastern US . It would be advisable to contact a trucking company with a boat that big. I just read the response saying the boats actual weight is over 33000lbs, definatly call a trucking company.

[wannago]

The "moving" part needs to be hired out to professionals, for sure, any requirement of routing, escorts, etc, really just needs to be their responsibility.


You need to have a place to put it and understand access requirement they have for actually putting the boat there. They will not risk getting their truck stuck. It is very likely after paying multiple thousands of dollars they will be on the street in front of your house, shrugging and saying no about backing up onto wet grass to unload it.


Them getting stuck can be absurdly expensive, and it's really not that hard, they aren't going to risk it. And the horror stories I've heard, they will diligently plan and be responsible for everything else, but refuse to show up before hand and inspect where you are assuming they can unload it. (It's very common around my neighborhood to have driver with very routine things like residential moves or delivering furniture refuse to come up driveways because of tree branches hanging out them...)

[ekelly36]

Originally Posted by wannago

The "moving" part needs to be hired out to professionals, for sure, any requirement of routing, escorts, etc, really just needs to be their responsibility.


You need to have a place to put it and understand access requirement they have for actually putting the boat there. They will not risk getting their truck stuck. It is very likely after paying multiple thousands of dollars they will be on the street in front of your house, shrugging and saying no about backing up onto wet grass to unload it.


Them getting stuck can be absurdly expensive, and it's really not that hard, they aren't going to risk it. And the horror stories I've heard, they will diligently plan and be responsible for everything else, but refuse to show up before hand and inspect where you are assuming they can unload it. (It's very common around my neighborhood to have driver with very routine things like residential moves or delivering furniture refuse to come up driveways because of tree branches hanging out them...)

This post was from 5 years ago lol.... but I do wonder how it turned out..... he did say he would work on it for 4-5 years.