Hatteras 42 LRC removing fly-bridge?

Hi
We are looking at Hatteras 42 LRC. There are a few of them for sale but we would have to truck them to the PNW, which means removing the fly-bridge. Does anybody have any experience with this project?
thanks

Not on a Hatt...but have seen many others done. Taken off a few RADAR arches and a bridge or two in my time when working for a dealership/marine electronics company.

The best figure out all the electronic and engine wiring and disassemble it by unplugging or from connection points and label everything clearly.

Takes more time but the guys who just indiscriminately cut wires causes more work and expense at the other end. This of course is assuming a rewire/new electronics suite isn't waiting at the other end.

The other gotcha is if the flybridge doesn't fit on the same truck. Some have reported having to pay for another truck and safety vehicles just for the flybridge. Check on the item if nothing else....

Advise posting this on the Hatteras Owner's Forum (Sam's Marine). There are a few people on there who have taken the FB off various Hatts. I am not sure if the separate LRC owner's site still is around. The FBs of that vintage are designed to come off, as almost all were trucked from an inland factory in High Point, NC. It's a fairly big project and re-installation must be one very carefully or a lifetime of leaks and deck rot await you.

The FB of the 42LRC would fit on the trunk cabin. I had the pleasure of cruising the Canadian Maritimes on a freind's for a couple of weeks. Great boat and the one that attracted me to the idea of buying a Hatt, which I eventually did (56MY); and we were so glad we did.

X2 on Sam's Marine Forum. Anything about Hatts will be known there: Sam's Marine International

EDIT: Just saw you already landed there LOL

bcarli said:

Hi
We are looking at Hatteras 42 LRC. There are a few of them for sale but we would have to truck them to the PNW, which means removing the fly-bridge. Does anybody have any experience with this project?
thanks

Click to expand...

Why not just buy the 48 LRC that's for sale in the PNW?

Possible but not an easy task

Looking at my 48LRC it doesn't look like an easy task. If you have pilot house air it is housed in the brow and would require removal as well. I would find out if it in fact could not be shipped overland. I have seen some very tall house boats shipped to the west coast by road. There must be others for sale on the west coast. They are powered by the 453 Detroits as the 48LRC which offers more boat for similar running costs.

Good question about the options to buy in the PNW, however there are few Hatts of any kind up here let alone a LRC. I do see only 7 listed on YW but two of which are Southern California.
Bcarli, I can imagine that you have already considered the west coast options and some of us would be interested in your opinion and choice of going east to get an LRC.
I'm interested in these models after reading plenty of stories and reviews, it is a model that is on my list.
Thanks
Graham

My key word of advice is have the same people do it at both ends or at the very least those who are going to reattach it present for it's removal. A couple of the higher end transport companies also have a lot of experience doing this.

Boats cost less in Florida than the Pacific North West. When considering buying here do some extensive research in the costs. Freight on board a ship might be around $1,000 per foot. Paying a technician to fly to the East Coast and paying for a rental car and hotel to watch and assist in the removal of the flybridge may be worth while.
Flying here to look at the boat and flying back for the survey, along with hotels, rental cars, cost of moving to a ship if loaded on board or moving to a yard for FB removal should all be considered when comparing to a West Coast boat.

I have investigated shipping by sea from FL to Victoria. Total costs may be less than all in to ship by truck and remove & redo fly bridge. Less problems too if wiring all torn up and reinstalled by a different guy.

Very common to do this yacht/sea trip and quick delivery if you plan it well in advance to match the sailing times.

coast1 said:

Good question about the options to buy in the PNW, however there are few Hatts of any kind up here let alone a LRC.

Click to expand...

There's a 1977 48 LRC in Bellingham for $229,00. It's been listed for a long time so perhaps the price is soft. Thruster, stabilizers, hydronic furnace, updated galley but otherwise unmolested...I'd take this any day of the week and twice on Sundays over a remote vessel.

I had to remove the fly bridge on my boat when I bought it in the Detroit area and had it shipped to Portland, OR.


The yard that was the seller did a good job with it, but only because I was there watching. They wanted to stick the forks of that forklift under the fiberglass and lift it that way. Here are some shots of how they did it.

















The load broker lost his butt on this haul. He based his charges on the fly bridge being able to be loaded on the bow of the boat and riding there for the trip to PDX. It wouldn't work so they had to make a cradle for the bridge and that had to come with its own truck pulling it and its own wide load permits (the bridge is 12'x24').


The load broker tried to get me to pay the extra but we had a signed contract where he agreed to transport the boat from DTW to PDX. He told me before we signed the contract that he'd shipped several of these 550's and knew what he was doing. Can ya believe he lied to me?


The smartest thing I did was fly the technician who was going to reassemble the boat from PDX to DTW to supervise the tear down. The selling broker would have just snipped wires without marking them. The technician marked ever wire then cut them. He knew he was going to have to put it back together so he made sure it was done right.


The load broker also lost $$$ because he miscalculated the weight of the loads. He figured it would go across the scales as a "max load" and bought permits based on that. It went as a "Supermax load" and the permits cost him a lot more than he'd planned.


"The Devil's in the details"

I've twice had boats trucked cross country which required removing and then reassembling the flybridge.

In both cases, it was a major headache. Both times, the removal of the flybridge caused more damage to the surrounding fiberglass than expected. The longer the bridge has been on the boat, the more headaches you could expect. Both times, the reassembly process was much more complicated and vastly more expensive than expected.

With enough money, anything is possible, and anything can be fixed. But, I personally will never again transport a boat if the flybridge needs to be removed.

If you are interested in shipping as deck cargo. contact Peters & May (just Google them). This is what they do, shipping boats worldwide. They did an excellent job for us from S Fla to Vancouver. Cost on a 58' was just over $50K, that included everything, loading, unloading, prep. cradle, and insurance.

THD said:

Cost on a 58' was just over $50K, that included everything, loading, unloading, prep. cradle, and insurance.

Click to expand...

One year ago we got a firm estimate of $35K one way for our 48 footer, BC to FL.

I have a recent quote for one way on our 53' OAL boat from Vancouver BC to FL from United for $40K. No work involved. Just pull up beside the ship and meet up in FL to do the reverse.

Also have a recent quote from associated trucking from Anacortes to Houston for $25K. My part in this would be to drop the arch, remove the dash, and pull the props.

Personally if we get serious we'll do the ship thing. I would love to do the trip on our own bottom but I do not think the admiral will go for it.

Cool thing is I got a ballpark from Fl to Italy I think and it was only $30K. Sure makes a guy with a boat that can't cross the Atlantic dream.

Shipped two big boats across the country now. We had to take the flybridge off the last one but happily the marinas did a great job on both ends (Coeymans on the Hudson, and Lewis & Clark in South Dakota) but we were lucky. Cost about $3000 on each end for breakdown, loading, unloading, and reassembly on a 37 footer (that wasn't the trucking itself, just the costs on each end). The fact that Mainship built the thing to be taken off relatively easily helped a lot, could have been far, far more complicated and expensive. We got such an incredible price on the boat that it was worth it, but that's the key -- it's an overall cost calculation to see if buying a boat in the "wrong" place and shipping it home makes sense. My advice echoes a lot of others on threads like this, don't fall in love with one boat in the wrong place. Be patient grasshopper and you'll snag a really good deal eventually.

Well, here, perfect example coincidentally -- I'm hunting for a small, very inexpensive classic-style sailboat to keep around the CT River for summer weekends on LI Sound when we go out to visit my mother. Kenner Privateers from the late 60's, early 70's really caught my eye about six or eight months ago. There are some out there with asking prices of $14,000, $25,000. I want to pay a small fraction of that so I've just been patient, waiting in the weeds. Found one in Michigan for $5K, but then I'd have to move it all the way to CT. Just found one on Ebay in beautiful shape with an opening bid of $1,000. We'll see how the auction goes, but my point is, patience pays off.

(Hey, don't anybody scoop that auction on eBay, I want that Kenner, back off! I should keep my mouth shut, now it'll probably go for 52 million bucks and I'll have to keep looking.)

thank you all for your comments and input.