Looking for shipping ideas

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NbyNW

Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2019
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20
Location
USA
Hi All,

Looking for shipping options/ideas. I've decided I want a Marinette 37 SB. Most examples are in the midwest/east/gulf coasts. I will be looking at 1 in the gulf coast area later in the week.

My ideas at this point are 1) ship across the US to Wa. state; 2) lock through the canal and up the west coast or 3) navigate to a Mexican port on the Gulf side->ship to Ensenada for bottom painting and any required repairs, then on to Seattle.

I like the 2nd option but this might be beyond my current skills. No. 3 seems a little more doable if I can convince the current owner to help getting to Mx.

I guess a 4th option would be spending the summer getting comfortable with the boat(assuming this is the one) at the current location and then ?

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Mike
 
Maybe start by determining if trucking it is an option, if the height of the boat with and without the fly bridge work. Boat hauling companies would tell you the route and cost. Or you could load it on a ship. I did this 20 years ago with Yacht Path, no longer in business, but other companies are. This isn't cheap and at that time, Ensenada to Nanaimo BC was $14k, probably more than double that now.
 
"probably more than double that now"

Thanks for the info. I think for that kind of $ I would spend the effort and $ to learn how to "captain" it myself.:thumb:
 
One note is that if you are from the PNW, you might not enjoy spending the summer on the Gulf Coast getting to know a boat. It's quite hot and muggy. Of course people live there, and there is AC; but I'm from up north and I know it would be rough on me.

OTOH, I think it could be a good plan in general concept.
 
Lol, you would be correct, sir! Although I've been in Tacoma for 30+ years, I was raised about 90 miles from the gulf. I discovered that unless I got an early start on anything outside, forget about it. Kind of like the frog in the pot of water. OTOH, I did drink a lot of cold beer to moderate body temps.:)
 
I think option 1 or 4 would be the safest. Buying a boat and then take a trip like option 2 and 3, I’m not sure I would. I think the stock boat has a 300 gallon fuel capacity and displaces 11,000 lbs with twin engines. The boat”s more of a coastal cruiser imho. Going up the outside of the Pacific in Central America, doable but you have to be in season and plan your fuel stops at a minimum.

I think she’d be a great boat for the PNW.
 
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"I think she’d be a great boat for the PNW"

I think so too. Plus I like the open layout-walk from the helm/salon to the aft deck. Kind of like a back porch.

Thanks for your input!
 
I don't mean to be rude but there are all kinds of great boats in the Washington, BC area. I'm not sure why you want to move something from over there to here. No matter your option it will be expensive.

One option you have mentioned is to have your boat put on a ship that sinks, picks up the boats then goes through the canal to our area. I used to live in Deep Cove in North Vancouver and that ship would stop in our area to let the boats off the ship [it sinks and they just motor off].
 
"I don't mean to be rude"

No offense taken. I'm on a couple of sports and political boards. Now, that's some rudeness!

As for great boats in the NW, you are right. I'm still kicking myself over missing out on a Tolley earlier this year. And, there is a Uniflite locally that I'm resisting the urge to look at. As a matter of fact, I've even got a name for it, "Steetgang"! At any rate, until I sign on the dotted line, everything is still in the air.

Your transport suggestion has been mentioned before. I do like the simplicity of it, but the cost seems to be up there.

Thanks for your response!

Mike
 
Does the Marinette have the legs to make that run up the Baja coast?
 
Good question. As to range, I'll have to ask the owner. As to seakeeping ability, I was told, "I'm not afraid to take it anywhere in the gulf". I understand different areas and may not be comparable.

I do know what it's like bobbing around like a cork in a blow off cape Hatteras. On an aircraft carrier!

Are these your concerns? Thanks for replying!
 
Don't take a"estimate" from here. He may be dead on but unless YOU actually find out from the shipping Co's you may write an otherwise good plan off the map.

Same goes for trucking.

Phone them and find out.
 
Marinettes are nice boats. They have not been built for a long time, hence any you will find will be older, maybe needing work, maybe have a lot of hours on the engines (which will almost certainly be Chrysler gassers)

I don't want to rain on your parade but the chances of 50 year old gassers pushing that boat through the canal and up the coast without major breakdowns are nill. That scratches options #1 and #3.

Unless the boat you find is plated in Gold you will be very hard pressed to have to spend over $40,000 for one that size, probably more like $20,000. Does it make any sense to spend about the cost of the boat to have it shipped? Not to me.. Scratch option #2

I'll offer you three new options to consider:
#1 Look closer to home. Just because they are not plentiful in your area does not mean they will never become available.
#2 Move to the East coast or Great Lakes area.
#3 Change the type of boat you will accept. The Marinette is a 40 year old Chris Craft Look Alike. There are lots of similar boats available everywhere. Sure the Aluminum Marinette is nice but Chris Craft made many aluminum Roamers of the same vintage as the Marinette.

pete
 
Instead of spending money shipping it, add the shipping money to your original planned outlay and buy a more modern boat near you.
No hassle + more modern boat = happy sailor.
 
If you run UP to lake Superior and go west , the truck ride to a river going west to the coast would be short , and road size limits are kinder in the west.
 
Don't take a"estimate" from here. He may be dead on but unless YOU actually find out from the shipping Co's you may write an otherwise good plan off the map.

Same goes for trucking.

Phone them and find out.

Always good advice. In a previous life I was an estimator. Get the quote, negotiate any terms and conditions, sign the contract.

Thanks!
 
Marinettes are nice boats. They have not been built for a long time, hence any you will find will be older, maybe needing work, maybe have a lot of hours on the engines (which will almost certainly be Chrysler gassers)

Wow, in total, quite the analysis! Thanks for taking the time to do so. You are right on all the above. However, the owner(#2) has said it was repowered in '97 with 2 Chevy 350s; fuel-injected no less. I'm very familiar with this platform so the learning curve is minimal. Plus I already have all the tools to work on them.

I don't want to rain on your parade but the chances of 50 year old gassers pushing that boat through the canal and up the coast without major breakdowns are nill. That scratches options #1 and #3.

Well, I do live in W. Wa. so I'm used to rainy parades.

Unless the boat you find is plated in Gold you will be very hard pressed to have to spend over $40,000 for one that size, probably more like $20,000. Does it make any sense to spend about the cost of the boat to have it shipped? Not to me.. Scratch option #2

$20K is the "firm" asking price. Are you related to the Great Carnak? There is probably some wiggle room on that but I don't think a lot.

I'll offer you three new options to consider:
#1 Look closer to home. Just because they are not plentiful in your area does not mean they will never become available.

:thumb:

#2 Move to the East coast or Great Lakes area.

Been there done that! Visits only now.

#3 Change the type of boat you will accept. The Marinette is a 40 year old Chris Craft Look Alike. There are lots of similar boats available everywhere. Sure the Aluminum Marinette is nice but Chris Craft made many aluminum Roamers of the same vintage as the Marinette.

Well I started out looking at houseboats, so I've already gone down this road. Thanks for the CC suggestion. Nice looking boats with similar lines. Models older than the '76 I'm looking at are 2-3 times more $. Maybe this is where the gold plating is?

pete

You raise several valid points. Sometimes in the heat of the hunt it's good to review them.:thumb:

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Mike
 
Instead of spending money shipping it, add the shipping money to your original planned outlay and buy a more modern boat near you.
No hassle + more modern boat = happy sailor.

Trust me, needlessly spending money is very much a concern Especially after reading the recent threads on electronics. I'm still searching. This is just the latest target.

Thanks for your response!
 
If you run UP to lake Superior and go west , the truck ride to a river going west to the coast would be short , and road size limits are kinder in the west.

Interesting. Haven't considered this as an option. When I talk to the shippers, I'll throw this out as an option.

Thanks!
 
I would say for me any boat with a diesel over gas is the way to go . i look at project boats all the time and as soon as i see the gas motor. I go on and keep looking . the fuel in a diesel you will use is nothing like the gas you will use i is like money in the bank. I not here to make members up set that is just me there are a lot of nice gas boats . BUt after my diesel i will not look back . Captain BR rrrrrr
 
Going northbound up the Pacific Coast with both wind and current against you, few hidey holes to duck into, some with a bar and a lee shore besides in a boat that you really don't know well. What could possibly go wrong?
I certainly wouldn't do it but as Clint Eastwood said, "A man must know his limitations".
 
I have not run uphill on the west coast but I have gone downhill. We had anything from less than a foot to 18’ers. It was quite sporty at times. Going uphill would have been much more difficult. Personally I would not want to take a Marinette up the west coast. The 46’ trawler that I had at the time we went down the coast was a much more seaworthy boat than a planning light cruiser. What is the fuel capacity of the boat? I ask because sometimes you can not enter a bar due to conditions and you may have to wait for a long time for the bar to lay down.
 
the best advice you are getting IMHO is find a boat in the PNW and take the money and time and invest it in your PNW boat.
I have shipped a True North 38 (no flybridge) cross country, an antique car twice cross country and two boats, a Mainship 30 and an Albin 28 up and down the West Coast and
in retrospect, it was always a goat rodeo prepping the boat, getting schedules together, and paying for it. I had a Sabre 42 with flybridge i briefly considered moving to our home in Maine but when I thought about someone taking apart the 20 year old 3M 5200 bonding and they wiring at $100.00 per hour plus and a $25k minimum trucking charge, I sold the boat.
There a many many nice boat in PNW. I would spend my energy finding the best one for me up there and save your time and money.
 
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
 
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Steve,

Welcome aboard. You should post an introduction. Glad your boat move ended up ok.
 
I don't get it. What makes a Marinette so unique that any form of relocation makes sense? I've never heard of the brand. What makes it special and worthy of a delivery greater than across the puget sound?
 

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