Moving by Land or Sea - The Pros and. ons
Mike,
Late last summer, I purchased a 42 Nordic Tug in South Florida and was faced with the same question of how to get the boat to the PNW.
Below is a brief summary of what I learned:
Land Transport
The Pros:
Shorter time enroute. With land transport, the trip will take around a week or so depending on where you buy the boat, and where the carrier happens to have a empty rig to use. In my case, The boat was located about as far from the PNW as it could be and still be in the US.
Pickup and drop off can be anywhere that the truck can access, not just main ports
The Cons:
depending on the height and width of the boat, some disassembly of rails, cranes, fly bridge, etc. maybe required, which will involve additional cost and some disruption of the vessel, as well as re-assembly at its destination.
This results in additional expense, unless you are prepared to DYI the work.
Sea Transport
The Pros
- depending on the time of year, pick-up location, and status of the space available on a given ship, I found transport by ship to be slightly less expensive than shipping by land, when one takes into account the possible R & R of rigging, rails, etc if going by land.
The Cons
Time- the typical boat transport ship takes 30-35 days to go from Ft. Lauderdale Florida to Victoria/Vancouver, via the Canal, with stops in Panama, Costa Rica, La Paz, and Ensenada. In addition, you are at the mercy of the ship’s REAL schedule, which often is delayed. In my case, the nominal load date was the first week of the month and the ACTUAL load date ended up being 3 weeks later.
Exposure to Elements - the boat will be loaded alongside and onto the deck and strapped down, and unless you have it well waxed, or can arrange for a shrink wrap and hoisting from a dock rather than from the water, you may end up with a bunch of microscopic rust stains all over the boat, which is generated from the “dandruff” that the cargo ships often shed during their month-long voyage.
Shrink wrapping is generally not an option unless the cargo vessel can load the boat from the dock. Lots of new boats are wrapped, but it is not feasible with boats being loaded from water. The cargo ship crew only loads , straps down and goes....they don’t have the facilities or time to shrink wrap once the boat is loaded.
Shrink wrapping a boat being moved by truck is quite common.
Limited Pick-Up and Drop Off Choices. Typically, the boat transport ships have set routes (as mentioned above), and because of the federal law (the Jones Act), unless the cargo ship is US flagged (not likely), you will need to go to Victoria/Vancouver or Ensenada to pick the boat up. With land transport, the boat can be dropped wherever the truck can get to.
CONCLUSION
After much angst and deliberation, I chose to have my boat transported by cargo ship. In hindsight, had I known about the delays in the load schedule, and the adverse effect the rust dandruff had on my boat, I would have probably gone with land transport. I would have gotten the boat in time to use it in the Fall and not spent and extra $5000 getting all the rust stains off of it.
The overall cost of moving my boat was roughly $30K, when taking into consideration the expense incurred restoring the gelcoat. That was about the same cost as I would have incurred had I moved the boat by truck. By truck, I would have had the boat in the PNW in about 2 weeks after closing on the deal, not the two months I ended up waiting for it to finally get to Victoria.
In closing, regardless of which option you choose, be sure to do your due diligence and select based on reputation, not price.
I used United Yacht Transport in Ft. Lauderdale, and with the exception of delays and rust dandruff, I was satisfied with their professionalism and service.
If you decide to move your boat by truck, be particularly cautious in your selection. There are lots of independent truckers in an essentially unregulated business who know nothing about moving boats, but will still try to get the business. I would suggest using an established company which owns its owns trucks and trailers and employs its own full time drivers.
Make sure you have property insurance to cover the loss or damage to the boat during shipment. Most boat policies DO NOT cover the boat or you when they are aboard a cargo ship or on a truck. Get a specific rider from your boat insurer, or make sure you get coverage from the carrier moving the boat.
Associated Boat Transport, based in Marysville WA has been the principle transporter of Nordic Tugs for a long time, and has an excellent reputation. Although I chose to transport by ship, in hindsight, I should have used Associated. Go to their website and Call Dennis or Kimberly at 360-651-1300. Associatedboat.com
Hope this helps!
Steve
