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Transport a sailboat by land.

35K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  Rodz47 
#1 ·
I want to transport a keel stepped sailing boat (Caliber 33) by land.
Has anybody some experience with land transport within the US?
A company able to transport the boat without taking out the mast maybe?

Pls help.
Thanks
 
#3 ·
Just had one shipped

I just had a 35 ft. boat shipped, the broker said to figure $2.85 per mile plus 20% of the total. Turned out to be a good estimate. Of course that doesn't include haulout, loading on the truck, decommissioning, crane rental for mast unstepping, etc.

Gary
 
#6 ·
When I had my boat shipped about 700 miles it cost $2800.00 plus tolls, both ways ! They had to remove the bow spirt because it wouldn't fit under the overpasses.
 
#8 ·
eitan44 said:
I want to transport a keel stepped sailing boat (Caliber 33) by land.
Has anybody some experience with land transport within the US?
A company able to transport the boat without taking out the mast maybe?

Pls help.
Thanks
Exactly how is the boat supposed to get under bridges, overpasses and power lines if the mast is still up? A Caliber 33 probably has a 38-40' mast, and very few roads have a vertical clearance of 50'+ for their entire length.

Brownell and several others can transport your boat for you, and you can e-mail or call them for price quotes. Being flexible on the pickup/delivery dates can often save you some money on the transport... You will probably need to pay for escort vehicles as your boat probably qualifies as a wide load in most states.
 
#9 ·
sailingfool said:
Max height for anything carried on the trailer is 13.5 feet.
Not true... but 13.5' is important since that is the minimum height required without a posted sign by the Interstate Highway System. Bridges and tunnels with a clearance less than 13.5' have to have a sign posted stating the maximum clearance. You can have taller loads on a trailer, but you have to be much more careful about where you travel.
 
#10 ·
I trucked a 32 foot boat from Dana Point California to Newburyport Massachusetts for $4,600 plus the crane haul out etc. That is about as far as you can drive going across the US so you can figure on your haul falling somewhere under that figure. Yachtworld.com has great links to transporters.
 
#11 ·
sailingdog said:
Not true... but 13.5' is important since that is the minimum height required without a posted sign by the Interstate Highway System. Bridges and tunnels with a clearance less than 13.5' have to have a sign posted stating the maximum clearance. You can have taller loads on a trailer, but you have to be much more careful about where you travel.
ummm...:confused: I think the standard height though is 14', not to say that they aren't usually higher...we can look it up if it's important...(I am also a retired CDL instructor):rolleyes:
 
#13 ·
You can transport the boat with the mast in place, but that's gonna mean you use a SkyCrane instead of a truck. Something like $1500? $2000? per hour in flight, from base to return base. Plus rigging time to rig the hoist.

But, if you really don't want to take the mast out like everyone else does...that's your option.
 
#16 ·
:confused: Ah..here, this explains it all...:D

Not so long ago in simpler days, the maximum width for all vehicles on
all roads in the USA was 8 feet (96 inches.) If a truck was hauling a
load wider than that, it required a special permit, and sometimes an
escort vehicle. Then a few years ago the federal government passed a law
mandating the maximum width for all vehicles on Interstate highways at
8.5 feet (102 inches.) Gradually, states began to "designate" certain
other roads as legal for 102-inch vehicles, until today nearly all
states permit them on at least some of their four-lane and even two-lane
roads. The trucking industry saw this as an opportunity to haul bigger
loads in wider trucks. According to Utility, a major truck trailer
manufacturer, orders for new 102-inch wide truck trailers now account
for over 90% of their business. Buses, even local transit buses and
school buses, are now being built on the 102-inch platform.

The RV industry, too, jumped in with both feet. At first, a few began
showing up at RV shows, and when they did, they came with considerable
fanfare with huge banners advertising: "New Wide Body!" The extra width
makes for some really interesting floor plans, including forward-facing
couches giving passengers in a motorhome a view of the road through the
windshield. If you were to visit an RV show today you might have trouble
finding a 96-inch wide unit, even if you wanted one. I would bet that
90% of people buying an RV (or renting one) don't even know how wide it
is, and they never question which roads they can or cannot drive.

The federal law only governs Interstate highways, but also mandates that
wide vehicles must have "reasonable access" to the Interstate highways.
That means that it is legal to exit the Interstate highways, and drive
on local roads for a mile or two. In Maryland, it's not to exceed one
mile, by the shortest distance possible. In Louisiana, a 102-wide
vehicle has "reasonable access, not to exceed ten (10) miles, from
designated highways or the Interstate System, to be allowed to
facilities for food, fuel, repairs, and rest, unless otherwise prohibited."

But what if you wanted to drive your 102-inch wide rig from coast to
coast on US 30 or US 50? In many of the states along the way, it may or
may not be legal, depending on the width of the pavement.

Who sets the rules?

The state agency which governs this is usually the Department of
Transportation (DOT.) Here's the deal in Alabama, Arizona, Delaware,
D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland,
Michigan, North Carolina, and West Virginia: "102 inch permitted on
Interstates and designated routes only. 96 inch limit on all other
roads." (Roads which would not be "designated routes" in these states
are generally roads with "lane widths of under 12 feet.")

In New Jersey, copy that except replace "under 12 feet" with "under 11
feet."

In New York and Pennsylvania, replace "under 12 feet" with "under 10
feet." In Oklahoma, replace "lane width of under 12 feet" with "surface
width of under 20 feet." (Which is essentially the same as lane width of
10 feet.) I wish they could all be a straightforward as Nebraska: "96
inches where posted."

Massachusetts and New Hampshire are the toughest, permitting 102" on
Interstates only. On all other roads the limit is 102" but including all
safety equipment (mirrors, for example.) If the body of your rig is 102
inches, then the total width with mirrors makes it unlawful to drive
except on Interstates.

It should be no surprise that the toughest laws are in the East, where
many roadways were laid out 200 years ago. You may have noticed that
with the exception of Arizona, all of the Western states permit 102"
wide vehicles on all roads. Hawaii permits vehicles of 108" on all
roads, the widest of any state.

In Louisiana, buses are specifically exempted, permitting them to be
102" wide on all roads. But I couldn't find ANY states which have an
exception for recreational vehicles.

But wait - it gets more confusing. I contacted the Florida Department of
Transportation, who told me that the DOT has jurisdiction only on
highways maintained by the state; saying, "There are no roads on the
[Florida] state highway system that have lanes less than 11 feet wide.
RVs with 102-inch bodies do not need an 'oversized vehicle' permit to
travel on those roads." So that's good news, right? Except the Florida
DOT continues, "You will need to contact the individual counties to
obtain lane widths and applicable restrictions for roads in their
jurisdictions." In other words, 102-inch wide vehicles are permitted on
all US-numbered highways and all state-numbered highways in Florida, but
not necessarily all county roads.

I contacted the DOT in all the restricted states asking for input for
this article. A few responded with similar opinions - it's highly
unusual to have a state highway with lanes less than 12 feet wide.

All of the states assured me that RVs ARE REQUIRED to follow the same
rules as trucks! Maryland sent me a booklet listing all the "designated"
wide body routes. In the entire state of Maryland, there are only a
dozen or so two-lane routes where wide bodies ARE permitted!

So how are you going to know which highways have lanes of less than 12
feet? Will you take out your tape measure? I think not! And how come we
have never heard of a RVer being stopped by police, who measured the
width of his rig, and wrote out a ticket? Since RVs don't stop at weigh
stations as trucks do, it is unlikely that an RVer will ever be ticketed
for unlawfully driving on a narrow road. His problems will begin only
after he's involved in a collision, and it is determined that the
unlawful width contributed to the accident.

What's the big deal, you are asking? 102 wide is only 6 inches more than
96. That's 3 inches more on the shoulder side, and 3 inches more on the
centerline side. All I need to do is drive 3 inches closer to the
shoulder, and I'm not in any more danger of a head-on crash than I would
be with a 96-wide vehicle. True, until you approach one of those old
narrow steel bridges. What if two vehicles meet on a narrow bridge, and
both are 102 inches wide? You can't pull over 3 inches; you'd hit the
guardrail. Between the two of you, you are now a full 12 inches wider
than the vehicles the bridge was designed to handle. Now, take a
102-inch vehicle and hang 4 inches of awning to the right, and maybe a
folding boat on the left, and you may be tempting a disaster!

And that's a fact, Jack :eek:
 
#17 ·
When I was bringing my boat up from Annapolis, I was told by a friend it was 13' 6". My boat on the trailer is 8' 6" wide when the amas are folded completely, since it was designed to be street legal trailerable without permits in most states.
 
#19 ·
Vertical clearance. Minimum vertical clearance under overhead structures (including over the paved shoulders) of 16 ft (4.9 m) in rural areas and 14 ft (4.3 m) in urban areas, with allowance for extra layers of pavement. Through urban areas at least one routing should have 16 ft (4.9 m) clearances. Sign supports and pedestrian overpasses must be at least 17 ft (5.1 m) above the road, except on urban routes with lesser clearance, where they should be at least 1 ft (0.3 m) higher than other objects. Vertical clearance on through truss bridges is to be at least 17 ft (5.1 m).
 
#20 ·
Standards for Interstate Highways in the United States are defined by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in the publication A Policy on Design Standards - Interstate System. For a certain highway to be considered an Interstate, it must meet these construction requirements or obtain a waiver from the Federal Highway Administration.
 
#21 ·
Alden68 said:
I trucked a 32 foot boat from Dana Point California to Newburyport Massachusetts for $4,600 plus the crane haul out etc. That is about as far as you can drive going across the US so you can figure on your haul falling somewhere under that figure. Yachtworld.com has great links to transporters.
It's the - plus the crane haul out ect..$..$..$..$..$..$...... that gets ya :( It cost me well over $5,000 to have Brownell transport my c320 from Mass to Maryland for trade in, and I put in a full day of setup in at their lot in Mass :eek:
 
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