# The cost of moving a boat



## tuco (Nov 25, 2002)

Does anyone out there know who we should contact to move a boat? We have seen boats less expensive in California, Texas, Florida and other coastal states than we have seen here in Utah. ($5000-$15000 less) What I am wondering is will we end up spending just as much moving the boat to Utah? We would like to contact some boat moving companies to find out. Any help will be greatly appriciated.

Thanks, The Gianfelice''s


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

http://www.boattraderonline.com/services.html?transport

I got a quote from them, seemed very reasonable.
Steve
s/v Barefoot


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I moved a boat last year, and most of the quotes I got were in the same range. Bottom line turned out to be just over a dollar a mile. In fact, when I was thinking about changing my location for delivery down the road a bit more, they said ''no problem, each extra hundred miles is a hundred dollars.''

My boat has an 11'' beam, so they had to pay extra road fees. It''s 34'' long with a 4.2'' draft and runs around 12,000 lbs. The run from north georgia to south florida cost $1,100 for a 900 mile trip.

There''s the extra costs too. For me..., $160 for the haul out, $180 to pay someone to decomission the boat (you can do this yourself if you know what you''re doing, I didn''t have the time to do it by myself, so I paid an experienced rigger to help me out for a few hours). The haul in was $150 and I wasn''t there when the boat was delivered, so I paid a rigger $500 to put the mast back up, tune the rigging and put on the sails and replace all my mast lights. 

I imagine costs are going to vary all over the country, but that was my experience. I found that many folks just run a storefront operation and have a list of boat movers they call for a job. My boat insurance agent said that my policy would cover any damage, fortunately there wasn''t any.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

DonFoley,
Excellent information. Turns out the $1,100 delivery almost doubled when all costs were considered. If you had to pay full fare for decommission, it would have more than doubled. Yachtworld and the like makes it possible to shop all over the country with ease, but full cost must be accounted for. I''m currently shopping for a boat to keep in Florida. There are some nice great lakes boats that I am considering, but will incur $4k to $5k to get them there over land. If I had the time, it would be great to sail one south, but that is not in my schedule.


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

There are a lot of variables. I shipped a 38 footer with a 12 foot beam (no special fees if the beam is 12 feet or less) from Maine to Maryland. I got a lot of prices all over the place. In my case I used a hydraulic trailer that could pick the boat up where she sat and save the loading costs. 

If you can piggy back with another run. It saved about $1200 to have a boat making part of the return trip. I beleive my shipping costs were roughly $2100, which included half of the deadhead. Stepping the mast was roughly $200 but I had did all of the assembly, pinning, tapping, tuning, replacing light bulbs and adding new spreader lights and wiring myself. 

I found that the cost of shipping within the US was not an issue if you were looking for a specific type of boat and you found a good price. Air fare and long distance added up as well ($350).

Jeff


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## harvh (Mar 12, 2001)

I moved a 36'' from Floriday to Seattle for a cost of about $6,300. Figure another $1,500 for decommisioning and recommisioning. I did save allot of money on the purchase price, but I have also had to replace allot of items due to the Florida sun.


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## towboater (Jun 19, 2010)

*boat moving*

I have a question for all of you out there needing to move a boat. Would you be willing or rather pay someone to move your boat by water rather than by land. I'm not talking just any person doing it like maybe a licensed captin or a person with very much knowledge on board those types of boats. I mean not every destination would be reached by water but most can considering the inland rivers run many placses. The cost would be lower than being moved by land and also you would not have to decommission your boat everything would be just as it was when it left the dock when it arrives to the new slip.

Just wanted to get some thoughts on that. I also know and am very capable of moveing large yacht and sail boats by water.


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## tomandchris (Nov 11, 2009)

Towboat,

It really depends on where and where to. From the Great Lakes to Florida at $200 a day plus expenses for one captain makes for a long trip and a overland will be cheaper. 
Add crew, add $$$$. You pay for the delivery on days that they sit out weather, and at 6 kts. it is a long trip unless you are doing it for fun.


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## bryndinhartman (Jan 15, 2017)

Don Foley, would you mind sharing the company with me? I am trying to move at 1969 Cheoy Lee Newell Cadet from Massachusetts to Houston and I've had 3 companies quote me $6300. Thats more than 3$ a mile.


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## RegisteredUser (Aug 16, 2010)

bryndinhartman said:


> ..... I've had 3 companies quote me $6300.......


Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on what it will cost you.
You could drag it to Ohio and have a friend drive it down the rivers.


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

Considering Mr. Foley's post was 15 years ago, you might consider $3.00 a mile the standard today. Sounds about right to me.


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## overbored (Oct 8, 2010)

you can figure $ 3 to 4 a mile. Two years ago it was $9500 to ship 32'/ 8000 lbs. across the country 2600 miles, from South Port NC to San Diego, CA. Load needs to be under 14' high and less then 12' wide. bigger and wider will cost more. $1200 to decommission and another $ 1200 to commission


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