Kinda Sorta
Does anyone have experience having a sailboat shipped by truck? The wife and I are interested in a couple of boats that would need to be delivered to be shipped to Olympia or Tacoma, WA by truck. No time, and wouldn't trust a new/used boat to sail until I had thoroughly been through it. My decision will hinge on the cost of transporting the boat to its destination.
Any thoughts?
Sounds somewhat familiar. When we bought our "fixer upper" O-34 back in '94, there was no possible discussion of sailing it north.
From Alameda to PDX there were (and probably are) several good boat hauling companies to choose from.
Pricing was sort inversely related to time and (in)convenience.
I can recall the approx $$ amounts, but they are not meaningful now without factoring in inflation and of course the increased cost of fuel these days.
I got a quote of about $2500. for a delivery upon my time table, i.e. the truck would pretty well haul it when I asked.
For about $1900, they would sched it as close as possible, but still make it fit around their needs, i.e. avoiding an empty backhaul.
I opted for the lower number and notified the yard approx. when a truck might show up...
So of course the actual haul was different from both scenerios.
I get another call from the boat hauler dispatch about a week before the expected time window and she wants to know if that boat can be lifted and prepped for travel in a couple of days! They suddenly have an empty backhaul from the Bay area to Tacoma. Price suddenly is about $1300. (!)
I say yes, provisionally, and quickly phone the yard owner I had met only once before when it was surveyed.... He audibly sighed on the phone and said he would get it ready and this kind on thing happens all too regularly. I thanked him profusely.
Boat was prepped very well, mast wrapped with copious amounts of carpet scrap and plastic.
Trucker got here with no problems and I paid him Cash -- only thing acceptable to his company-- and away he went to Tacoma on a hot Sept. day.
Sidebar: the yard only had to deal with the spar and the boat. I and a friend with a pickup truck had already driven back to PDX with sails, boom, spinn pole, radar pole, and about everything else we could jam inside the shell or put on the rack.
Quite an Adventure, all in all.
Loren