Trucking a Mainship 390 800 miles

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Capt.Sam

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Considering a Mainship 390, as much as I would like to bring it home on it's bottom, distance approximately 2,300 miles and time is a bit of a consideration, has anyone ever had one trucked? How did you get the overall height to 12.75 feet? Did it cause any problems with the boat? Costs either per mile or for a specific distance? Any recommendations for haulers to use/ not use? Most importantly, would you do it again?
Cheers,
Capt. Sam
 
Mine was purchased new from the factory and was shipped from the factory in FL to a dealer in NJ. The fly bridge was sitting on the front cabin and the mast was down. Not sure about the back FB railing, but probably that too. The keel was maybe only a foot off the ground on the trailer, and it was a wide load.
 
Considering a Mainship 390, as much as I would like to bring it home on it's bottom, distance approximately 2,300 miles and time is a bit of a consideration, has anyone ever had one trucked? How did you get the overall height to 12.75 feet? Did it cause any problems with the boat? Costs either per mile or for a specific distance? Any recommendations for haulers to use/ not use? Most importantly, would you do it again?
Cheers,
Capt. Sam

Probably useful if you include some where-to-where info....

Its not uncommon to remove flybridges for truck transport. That also means disconnecting a boatload of wiring. I've read it's useful to have the same guy who dismantles it come to you to remantle (?) it.

-Chris
 
I know a guy that shipped a Viking from Michigan to New England via truck. He had to remove the flybridge and crib and lash it on the front deck. He shrinkwrapped the entire thing.

They are extremely common. I'd find one close enough to relocate onits hull.
 
Whenever I read a post on trucking, I'm reminded of a buyer of a Willard 30 Searcher who had it trucked from PNW to midwest somwhere. He drove to where it was supposed to be offloaded and was informed the truck was delayed by traffic so he got a hotel room for the night.

That evening in his hotel room, lead story on evening news was a massive traffic jam so he figures that's why the truck was late. As the helicopter news-cam zooms in, he can see the cause of the backup......the truck with his boat was too tall to go under an overpass and demolished the flybridge and was toppled on the side of the trailer.

Boat was repaired without the flybridge. Looked pretty good.

Peter
Moderator, Willard Boat Owners forum since 1998
 
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If you do it be prepared for leaks and electrical problems. Had a friend that trucked his 38 Californian from San Diego to Houston. Said he had both type of problems for several years. Leaks that he never had in 20 years of living aboard. He had one yard remove the bridge and a different yard reinstall it. He said he would never do it again but if he did he would have the same guy remove it and reinstall it. I have done two long delivery trips, one 1,400 miles and another about 2,100 miles. Both were great times.
 
Give JC a call...tell him the 'Stamas' guy referred you
 
I trucked a Maxum 4100 from Wisconsin to Marina Del Rey, Calif. I had several issues.
1). First, they took the flybridge down and built some protective bunks on the bow and strapped it tight (that was fine) but the issue was they cut the radar cable in half because they couldn't pull the cable thru the tight fiberglass top. I then had to wire the cable back together which wasn't ideal.
2). They put shrink wrap on in April to truck it but it was a bit too cold so the shrink wrap failed while trucking it. The shrink wrap literally flew off the boat. Some parts of the boat flew off the truck and were ruined. I had to buy those parts to replace them.
3). Other damage occurred to the boat due to it being trucked that far without shrink wrap. When I went to make a claim against the trucking company, the insurance was NOT valid because the company "subcontracted" the trucking job to some other guy. There was a clause in the companies insurance policy which negated coverage in this situation. I then went against my yacht insurance and was denied because "the primary insurance must pay first". I ended up having to pay for the repairs myself. I even contacted a marine attorney and didn't get squat out of it. The very valuable lesson I learned was to make sure the trucking company has your cargo insured and they don't subcontract the job. Second, make sure your shrink wrap is done right. Third, you may want to be there when they break your boat down so you know its done correctly.
 
Regarding trucking a Mainship 390:
MAKE SURE it is shipped with the bow UP.
2 were shipped from the factory to California (hull numbers 198 and 199 IIRC) with the bow down and they both got exhaust water into the engine and were hydro locked when they arrived.
Don't let that happen to you.
IF it has to be loaded bow down, make sure all of the exhaust water is vacuumed out. Simply draining the system while on the travel lift won't get all the water out.
Other than that, best of luck.
 
I hope the OP's object is to get from Sioux City, IA to Lewiston, ID. I've always been fascinated by that route to the west coast.
 
Sioux City? There's a 390 in Sioux City? If so I'll take a drive down and try to find it, I want to see that.

Actually we shipped our Mainship 37MY (different style I know) from Albany NY to Yankton, SD, 1,400 miles. Had to remove the radar arch, aft deck roof, the helm pod, and the flybridge cowling. It was an excellent boat in fine condition for a fire-sale price or it wouldn't have made sense, but miraculously it all worked out well. Not for the faint of heart though. I remember when the truck arrived in Yankton with everything in pieces on blocks and cradles my first thought was -- that will NEVER all go back together.
 
Bought my MS Pilot 30 little over a year ago and had it shipped down from Vancouver BC to Newport Beach CA. About $14K to ship, with a chunk of that going towards licensing and paperwork for the border crossing. Radar and upper mast was taken off, but obviously not as tall as a 39. No issues from shipping, other than needing a good bath afterwards!
 
Bought my MS Pilot 30 little over a year ago and had it shipped down from Vancouver BC to Newport Beach CA. About $14K to ship, with a chunk of that going towards licensing and paperwork for the border crossing. Radar and upper mast was taken off, but obviously not as tall as a 39. No issues from shipping, other than needing a good bath afterwards!
this is like somebody free ship your boat, only cover expense and fuel .
i have offer for Highfield dingy 3,1 meter long 1 palett from north Germany to Split Croatia 1000€ cheapest 800€.i think before us is expensive for shipping,now I see is cheapest ws EU,lot cheaper
 
With a 'specialized' carrier of boats, expect to pay $8 ish
per mile....does not include loading/unloading, or disassembly/assembly at each end.
Expect to pay more for excess >13'6" routing
Avoid the low bidder
Best to use same guy to disassem as to reassem and to
have him direct boatyard, at your expense.
 
Considering a Mainship 390, as much as I would like to bring it home on it's bottom, distance approximately 2,300 miles and time is a bit of a consideration, has anyone ever had one trucked? How did you get the overall height to 12.75 feet? Did it cause any problems with the boat? Costs either per mile or for a specific distance? Any recommendations for haulers to use/ not use? Most importantly, would you do it again?
Cheers,
Capt. Sam
I am writing this without getting permission from my wife, so I'll stay vague. We had talked about moving boats on their bottom for folks like yourself, but I'm thinking a 2300-mile trip is probably beyond what I had in mind. We have owned a 1997 40' Mainship for 25 years and traveled extensively around Florida and the Bahamas, so my thought is there are others like us, qualified and with the time available, to move the boat for you, especially if it is all or mostly coastal and intercoastal route. We have only moved one boat and struck a deal as to reward, the coast difference between fuel burn at cruise and fuel burn at ~8 knots, my preferred travel speed. You might put up some flyers at a local club as well as the area the boat is coming from. Good luck.
 
Contact Paul Russell. Great guy. Has moved my 1988 GB 36 from Tampa to Dallas, then years later Dallas to Savanah, GA. I removed the roof and rails you see in my profile pic... I don't remember the exact Dims, but we were tall.... That was the PITA factor. I want to say 15' tall and a 12'8" beam...

 
Considering a Mainship 390, as much as I would like to bring it home on it's bottom, distance approximately 2,300 miles and time is a bit of a consideration, has anyone ever had one trucked? How did you get the overall height to 12.75 feet? Did it cause any problems with the boat? Costs either per mile or for a specific distance? Any recommendations for haulers to use/ not use? Most importantly, would you do it again?
Cheers,
Capt. Sam
I think a better and cheaper option would be to hire a captain and crew to deliver it.
 
I’ll move it for you, probably way cheaper than trucking. Very experienced 100 Ton captain. Where is it going from / to?
 
I delivered my own boat 1100 miles after seriously considering a delivery captain. We broke up the trip into 400 mile "cruises", left the boat at a new marina (one that I had never visited) each time and returned home via plane or train. Different crew each time.

This method was good for me due to my work schedule. And breaking the trip in segments allowed my to repair minor mechanical issues along the way.

l
 
Do you mind me asking what is so special about this Mainship that you want to go to the expense of moving it that distance? When we are boat shopping, there were lots of boats that we would've been interested in but the logistics of moving them made them a no-go right away.
 
@Capt.Sam - what did you end up doing? Hard to imagine moving a boat 2300 miles by truck or delivery could be done for under $15k, probably closer to $20k. Delivery might be cheaper but depends on location. Did it pencil-out for you to buy the Mainship?

Peter
 
Do you mind me asking what is so special about this Mainship that you want to go to the expense of moving it that distance? When we are boat shopping, there were lots of boats that we would've been interested in but the logistics of moving them made them a no-go right away.

I was wondering the same thing. We did about 1,500 miles, but it was expensive, time-consuming, took a ton of logistics management and ran the risk of disassembly and reassembly not going well. In the long run it all went well, but the only reason it made sense was because we're about as far from a coast as you can get on the North American continent, the (bigger) boat market is very limited for hundreds of miles, and the sales price was a a huge gift form the seller who just wanted to have it off his hands. Otherwise wouldn't have made any financial sense.
 

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