How Hard is it to move a boat overland

Hello, This is my first post here. My wife and I have been looking at retirement in about 5 years, and I'm wanting part of our early retirement to include the Great Loop.

I live in SW Missouri, and while there's a lot of boats on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, I often see boats I like on local lakes.

I saw this one: https://springfield.craigslist.org/boa/d/reeds-spring-1986-carver-32ft-mariner/7217698729.html

And was thinking we could spend a few years fixing it up to be our home away from home for the loop, but I am not sure how hard it would be to get it moved to St Louis to get her on the river.

Any info is greatly appreciated!

I realize this is a stupid question if this boat is trailerable; I admit to not knowing what size boat can be towed on a trailer. The question does stand for larger boats that are not easily trailered.

A vessel that size should be able to be trucked fairly easily, there are many marine trucking companies that will give you a quote after an internet search. And since Springfield to St. Louis is not far, the cost should not be as eye-watering. Since that particular boat is still on the water it will introduce a slight logistical complication but it's one that is easily dealt with especially if there is a marina on site with a lift.

As I understand it, some of the thresholds for taking a vessel trucking mission from "typical" to "complicated" is a height (after removing things that can be removed) greater than 12 foot 6 inches (and greater than 15' makes it even more so?), and a weight over 42,000 lbs after liquids removed. A cruiser in that class is much less than either of those.

A few years ago I arranged to ship our 28' cruiser from Michigan to California with Carthage Marine Transport, they were good to deal with though we ended up cancelling the deal and selling the vessel instead, unrelated to anything having to do with CMT.

I moved my trawler, a Prairie 29 with a 14'6" height from Brunswick, GA to New Bern, NC. Cost about $3000

https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s34/prairie-29-ikarus-39281.html

Read about the story here.

Just gives an idea of prices and all.

All things are possible; just how much do you desire to spend.

But buying a boat, learning her, working on her to fix her up to your standards and then moving her to a suitable place to begin the Loop is a good plan!


Tim

Since that boat doesn’t have a flybridge it will be easy to move by road. It will take some money but not staggering. It will be oversize so the mover will have to get permits and depending on the state laws may be restricted in hours and times going through large metro areas, but for a commercial mover it will be a piece of cake. I have moved larger boats without any real problems.

It is a do it yourself job if you are ambitious, have access to a large enough trailer and have or can borrow a one ton truck.

pete

What is the beam? 102" is unrestricted on interstates. up to 120" is a standard "wide load" with banners and a permit. Over that gets interesting depending on state.