Shipping a Boat to the Caribbean?

[Roniszoro]

Does anyone know what company or companies ship boats from the NE USA to the Caribbean? Thank you for your response.

[Orion Jim]

Here’s one https://www.yacht-transport.com/schedules/
Normally this service is used by the very well heeled. Average “well-to-do” folks hire a Captain and perhaps a crew member to deliver her on her keel. That presumes she is seaworthy.

[Roniszoro]

They only leave from Ft Lauderdale, but thank you none-the-less.

[Afrinus]

I can vouch for this. [emoji848]
Looking at a boat in South Africa to be delivered to East coast USA

Crewed delivery on her own bottom is in the region of $20k to 25k, shipping nearly $40k, and that doesn't even include the cradle they need.

There's lots of good delivery skippers that will just love to work with you to deliver the boat...

Pieter

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

Here’s one https://www.yacht-transport.com/schedules/
Normally this service is used by the very well heeled. Average “well-to-do” folks hire a Captain and perhaps a crew member to deliver her on her keel. That presumes she is seaworthy.

[Roniszoro]

This is for a friend's boat that will be fine sailing from island to island in the Caribbean but is a real strech for sailing for New England to Antigua.

[rockDAWG]

The distance from NE of USA to Caribbean is relatively short, not sure if it is worth it to go thru the trouble shopping in a big-ass boat.

[Vingt-Knots]

I used SevenStar to take my new Moody 45DS from Antwerp to Bonaire this last spring. The cost was about $30K USD. Due to all the Covid-19 lock downs I had to also hire local folks at either end to drop off the 45 and then meet her in Bonaire. The attached picture is how she looked just before the onboard cranes placed her in the sea at the harbour in Bonaire.

Sorry it seems the picture is rotated 90 Degrees

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Roniszoro

This is for a friend's boat that will be fine sailing from island to island in the Caribbean but is a real strech for sailing for New England to Antigua.

If this is a island hopping boat is it worth it to ship it to the Caribbean? How big is the boat? Last I checked shipping even a smallish boat would be well north of $10,000 and likely over $20,000. But again, depends a lot on the boat.

If it's a 25' power boat then it would be a lot less. 45-50' sport fisherman then a lot more.

[Roniszoro]

It is 30 foot cat. The owner has thousands of offshore miles but doesn't have the time to sail her south from Newport in the November window. Plus it is not an ideal offshore vessel. He is very attached to the boat, and I don't think that $10K+ would be a big issue. Dead is forever as we regreatably know more than ever these days.

[Roniszoro]

Unfortunately, Seven-Star only ships for Ft. Lauderdale.

[knotnline]

Peters and May out of Newport Oct 27ish, Should be about 15k but you might negotiate a late date price?
Google them

[sv_pelagia]

We booked/paid for shipping by Sevenstar from La Paz, BCS to British Columbia. Sevenstar delayed and delay and finally subcontracted to Raven Marine Shipping. We were not at all happy with Sevenstar

Once Raven took over, everything went very smoothly. On the day of loading/shipping, both owners of Raven (1 from Fort Lauderdale and 1 from BC) were there in person making sure all went well.

https://www.ravenmarine.ca/new-index-1

Raven used to be jointly in BC and in Florida. Not sure if this is still the case, but they'll be able to tell you. Andrew (in BC) is great.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Roniszoro

Unfortunately, Seven-Star only ships for Ft. Lauderdale.

Looked at their website and it showed Newport on the schedules.

[Cheechako]

You'll probably be far better off to pay a skipper to take it down for that distance. Less wear and tear, de rigging , potential problems, timing etc.

[Vingt-Knots]

I had no problems at all with SevenStar, but the Antwerp to Bonaire route is a regular scheduled monthly route. It does not just service Bonaire, which is a very small place, but also goes onto Curacao and Aruba, and then onto South and Central America, as required. Very good communications from the lady I was dealing with in the Netherlands. Even with a series of delays caused by the various Covid-19 lock downs in Europe. I was amazed at how smoothly it all went in the end without me at either location. Perhaps I was just lucky?? But there are indeed options, just keep looking and asking.

There is no need to de-rig, as this type of shipping allows the masts to stay in place. You have the crane on/off type of vessels, as I did, and then the float on/off type.