Moving A Large Boat ?

[Lady Captin]

Quick Question ...

Does anyone have a clue at the cost of having say a 34-38 foot boat moved from Say the US ( florida ) - Ontario across land! Is there some formula per kilometer, or more a flat rate? I guess there would be some insurance and added cost on top of the rate to move the boat?

Would love to hear from fellow Canadians who have done this from any state to anywhere in Canada.

Any thoughts or experience would be great !

Thanks

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Lady Captin

Quick Question ...

Does anyone have a clue at the cost of having say a 34-38 foot boat moved from Say the US ( florida ) - Ontario across land! Is there some formula per kilometer, or more a flat rate? I guess there would be some insurance and added cost on top of the rate to move the boat?

Would love to hear from fellow Canadians who have done this from any state to anywhere in Canada.

Any thoughts or experience would be great !

Thanks

Need the width and height from keel to top most point.

If the beam is under 8.5ft and the overall height is below 11.5ft (have to add a couple feet for the trailer so you stay under 13.5ft), it's a standard load and no permits or chase vehicles required.

We have friends who haul RVs from the manufacturer to dealers and they are getting $2.50/mile but RVs don't require permits or chase vehicles. They also are using a 1 ton dually pickup.

Not many 34-38ft boats will be under 11ft beam, so you are well into oversize loads. The specific requirements will vary by state.

We had our 34ft x 14ft Gemini Catamaran (pretty short with the mast down) towed twice. The second time from western Kentucky to Detroit was $5k. Dropping and raising the mast was separate. For the route, the 14ft was critical. Any wider and we needed chase cars as a significant cost increase.

If the boat is functional and in good operating condition? If you have 3-4 weeks, running up the east coast is viable. With the ICW, the weather is less critical except in a few key spots. Even if you come up a bit short, you are probably up on the Erie Canal. From there, you could put her in a slip and come back on weekends to keep moving her closer to home.

What type of boat and how fast does she cruise?

[Barkingmad]

Mine was by the mile, size and weight made no difference, can only fit one boat on a conolift trailer at a time.....I know 100% the driver didn't had the load scaled, I followed him the entire trip.

About 2 grand for the length of Lk Ontario with no load for the return trip.
Where it changes is if you need lead and follow escort vehicles for an oversize load etc.
This was a few years ago, I would expect it to be more in covid times.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Barkingmad

Mine was by the mile, size and weight made no difference, can only fit one boat on a conolift trailer at a time.....I know 100% the driver didn't had the load scaled, I followed him the entire trip.

About 2 grand for the length of Lk Ontario with no load for the return trip.
Where it changes is if you need lead and follow escort vehicles for an oversize load etc.
This was a few years ago, I would expect it to be more in covid times.

Weight, probably didn't impact anything (assuming it didn't push him into an overweight permit) but size certainly does. He may not have given you a separate cost for being wider than 8.5ft but I'm sure it factored into the price.

[Barkingmad]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Weight, probably didn't impact anything (assuming it didn't push him into an overweight permit) but size certainly does. He may not have given you a separate cost for being wider than 8.5ft but I'm sure it factored into the price.

Nope, gave me a price per mile over the phone with no boat details provided.
Whole conversation was pretty much "I want to move my boat from Kitchener to Brighton". His answer was " Under 60' and 60 000 pounds? X$ per mile". Conversation done.
Taylors who run the yard where I'm at now are 125$/hr for highway travel, 100$/hr to wait/non travel time.
12.50$ a linear foot for local.

Up to max length and trailer weight.

[Lady Captin]

Thanks folks for the insight. The plan to sail it backs sounds more financially affordable when on a tighter budget. How difficult do you feel that would be ? Would it be something more inexperienced sailers could take on?

The boat would be a slower full keel heavy boat , in the 30-34 foot range.

[Barkingmad]

Coastal day/harbour hopping up the coast plan on about 50 miles a day average.
Some days more some days less, pay attention to wind/current and distance between safe anchorages and harbours.

[Mike OReilly]

Hmmm, I thought I typed this answer already... maybe having a senior's moment .

I can't answer the Florida to Ontario cost, but as a possible benchmark, I did get official shipping quotes from a number of shippers back in 2014. I wanted to move our 37-foot, 12-foot beam, 30,000# (although this was not a factor) boat from Thunder Bay to Vancouver. The cost came in around $12,000 CND. I assume inflation means this number is now larger.

One point of interest is that my current boat was trucked from Florida to the Great Lakes by the previous owner. I recall seeing the shipping cost invoice. It was around $10,000 USD, and this was back around the year 2000, so again, apply inflation to this number.

[Lady Captin]

Ok Thanks all ....That plan is dead ! Now to the next ! Thank you for all the thoughtful and good feedback

[captlloyd]

Plenty of great boats much closer in the Great Lakes. Great Lakes boats are going to have much less sun damage to begin with.

[Fatbob]

Originally Posted by Lady Captin

Quick Question ...

Does anyone have a clue at the cost of having say a 34-38 foot boat moved from Say the US ( florida ) - Ontario across land! Is there some formula per kilometer, or more a flat rate? I guess there would be some insurance and added cost on top of the rate to move the boat?

Would love to hear from fellow Canadians who have done this from any state to anywhere in Canada.

Any thoughts or experience would be great !

Thanks

I just moved my 35 foot Southern Cross sailboat from Watertown, NY to Southern FL. It cost around $6500. I would highly recommend Eric at Safe Harbor Haulers - https://safeharborhaulers.com - (413)822-2224 - Eric@SafeHarborHaulers.com

Eric is super professional, very responsive and was early and under budget. Great guy.

Drew

[Scaramanga F25]

I just moved my 35 foot Southern Cross sailboat from Watertown, NY to Southern FL. It cost around $6500. I would highly recommend Eric at Safe Harbor Haulers -[/QUOTE]

This sounds about right for a boat under 12 foot beam.
5$ a mile plus cranes at both ends.
If the truck does not deadhead home.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by Lady Captin

Quick Question ...

Does anyone have a clue at the cost of having say a 34-38 foot boat moved from Say the US ( florida ) - Ontario across land! Is there some formula per kilometer, or more a flat rate? I guess there would be some insurance and added cost on top of the rate to move the boat?

Would love to hear from fellow Canadians who have done this from any state to anywhere in Canada.

Any thoughts or experience would be great ! Thanks

Moving a boat, any boat, that large requires many things beyond just the transport truck. Beyond the boat size and route restrictions that exist, it will have to be unrigged/rerigged and prepared before and after the trip; I've done it and its a lot of work.

To get a reasonable estimate call one of the boat hauling companies and get an estimate...you will also learn what they require at that time. Another call to a possible marina asking what they would charge to prep a sailboat for trucking will give you a ballpark figure. You should ask their waiting time for a truck as well.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Lady Captin

Quick Question ...

Does anyone have a clue at the cost of having say a 34-38 foot boat moved from Say the US ( florida ) - Ontario across land! Is there some formula per kilometer, or more a flat rate? I guess there would be some insurance and added cost on top of the rate to move the boat?

Would love to hear from fellow Canadians who have done this from any state to anywhere in Canada.

Any thoughts or experience would be great !

Thanks

Contact a boat hauling Co.. They will give you a price don't rely on opinions here.

[canyonbat]

We went through this same thought process a few years ago, albeit on the opposite coast. We were looking for a boat to keep in the Pacific Northwest. It seemed to us that our choices were limited in the area but that there were a lot more boats in Southern California and they were cheaper. Once we got into it though, we found out that the price difference was easily offset by the cost to get the boat up there plus the cost to upgrade the boat for northern conditions, i.e. heating, radar, upgraded anchor and rode, etc. Once we figured this part out, we patiently searched in the area until the perfect boat fell into our laps.