Help needed [Shipping a Boat from Mexico]

[CopaCabana]

Hi everybody,

My friend and I are looking to buy an Ericson 29 in Mexico and transport to the south of country on land. We are trying to figure out the transport, and it's quiet a challenge in the region. There are very few trailers in the area, the transporters would modify one that used for a different boat (approximately same size but heavier) in order for it to fit.
We are both sailors but none of us has ever preped a boat for transport, taken a mast out, rigging, etc... And the lack of skilled people in the area is a bit stressful. We found a qualified rigger, on the departing end but on the other side the transporter told that he knew someone that could put the mast back on with the help of 6/7 people but we haven't met him yet and the confidence we have in him is little.

If anybody has any recommendations/experiences, pictures, videos for prepping the boat, especially for the mast, anything to look out for or specific details about this boat, it would be of great help.

Many thanks and safe sailing

 

[toddster]

The E29 is not so big that you need to diassemble much for transport - unless maybe it has added stuff like a solar arch or tall dodger. And the mast isn't so tall that you cant just lay it across the pulpit and pushpit. Some support is needed in the middle - I put blocks or jack stands under the spreaders to keep it stable. If you dont remove all the rigging, it needs to be coiled or bundled neatly. If there is a lot of delicate stuff on the mast (windex, antennas, etc.) it might be safer to remove them for transport. If a roller furler is pesent, it'll be longer than the mast and might need to be disassembled to avoid damage. I made a cradle for my boat and just chained the cradle onto a generic flatbed trailer of adequate load capacity.

Both times I moved the boat, I hired a crane to step the mast (it was there anyway, to lift the boat.) The mast is not so heavy that two sturdy guys can't carry it. So it ought to be possible for a crew with a gin pole to step it. Moving the mast from on top of the boat to the ground and back, at home, without breaking or scratching anything is a bit of a rodeo - but I foolishly did that by myself both times.

Maybe also worth noting that the "book weight" of the E29 is 8500 lbs. but one lift operator said he thought it was closer to 10,000, even with all the "cargo" cleared out of it. A second lift operator said that on his gauge, there's no real difference between 8500 and 10000. But it might make a difference to the trailer.

I have no idea about the problems of transporting internationally.

 

[Martin King]

Mexico is a big place and you did not mention where this particular boat is located. We found our current E31 in La Paz and managed to bring her back to the states. The year was 2001 and hurricane Juliette had swept the baja peninsula in late September. Just prior to this, we had entered into negotiations with her owners who had cruised her around baja for a couple of years and had decided to sell. Glyn Judson had graciously taken us out for a day sail on his 31 and we were excited about the boat. Glyn is the guru for all things E31. Excited as we were, life gets in the way sometimes and we decided to wait a while before pulling the trigger on another boat. Then Juliette hit baja with category 4 winds doing extensive damage. My wife and her sister were traveling to Ireland and ran into the owner at LAX who was on his way down to La Paz to check on his boat. What are the chances? The word was out that the boats parked on the hard at the yard had not fared well. We got word later that the boat next to the 31 had fallen over, taking out the mast, mast step, rigging etc. I saw photos later that showed boats on their sides strewn all over that yard. Undaunted, I flew down to La Paz for the day to inspect her for myself and felt that it was all repairable if we could get her back to the States and so began our adventure. Glyn offered to fly down to La Paz and help my wife and I prep the boat and I am forever grateful to him. Our plan was to harbor hop the boat up baja, cross the Sea of Cortez at Conception Bay and land at San Carlos. There we load on to a Mexican truck and drive to a crane yard in Yuma where we would transfer the boat on to an American truck and head for Long Beach. Gaffer tape plugged the hole in the deck where the mast step was ripped off, 5 jerry cans of diesel were strapped amidships, and our old trusty 9.9 two stroke was manhandled below and strapped down. The outboard was the last resort if the diesel engine quit. And so my wife and I set off in a foreign country, in a strange new sailboat, missing a mast, heading north on a hope and a prayer....

 

[CopaCabana]

Thanks for the replies!

I wasn't precise enough sorry, when I said south of the country I meant south of Mexico, the boat would be going from Merida, south to the lagoon of Bacalar, close to Chetumal, and there is not much skilled people around, so we have to plan for every detail ourselves. As well as no cranes on the arrival end, we would have to put the trailer in the water.

 

[Christian Williams]

Crossing Yucatan, about 200 miles, no? A rigger at the north end and a big trailer modified for your boat sounds OK.

At the launch end it sounds like you're on your own. You'd need access to a crane, but I think with study you could direct workers and crane operator to successfully reinstall the mast. Lots of videos on YouTube about that procedure.

Prepping the boat for transport is discussed here, and that also is a topic on YouTube.

Land transport makes sense, although complicated. A delivery voyage on an unknown boat is risky, although if you are able to work on the boat for a few months before departure, and have sea trials, sailing it there might be an alternative.