Transporting tender cross country

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twistedtree

twistedtree

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Joined
Jan 27, 2013
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10,547
Location
Vermont/Seattle, USA
I have a dilemma and am looking for suggestions.


I bought an AB tender in Florida when I was planning to commission my new boat there. But now I'm commissioning in Seattle, so need to get the AB from Florida to Seattle. This is proving much more difficult that I imagined.


It's a 16' RIB, and is on a trailer so easy to move around, and can be loaded (trailer and boat) onto a flatbed with a forklift which is available at both ends of the move.


I have received quotes from a number of outfits in the $5000 to $10000 range which is just crazy. Those are "we don't want to do it, but will if you pay us this much" quotes.


I'm just reading between the lines, but it seems that people want nothing to do with boats, other than boat-moving companies, and they want big $$. It's really no different than a crate, but nobody sees it that way. Car haulers want nothing to do with something that doesn't run and drive since their trailers are all drive on and drive off. And most freight companies only want to deal with crates that can be moved with a pallet jack or forklift.


One possibility is a so-called tow-away where someone hooks up and tows the trailer across the country. I could do this if necessary, but would require registering the trailer somehow, and going through it to make it road worthy, which I have to assume it is not.


Anyone got any ideas? I have run multiple listings on UShip which has proven useless, and I have a broker working on it as well to no avail.
 
Rent a Uhaul and hire an Uber driver to drive the Uhaul then fly him home.

Build a crate and ship it freight.
 
Have you contacted AB Inflatables directly?

We got our dinghy from Ontario and found out that an independent trucker made a regular run to Alaska with the same dinghies who had room on his truck for ours. He dropped it off at his home in Calgary, Alberta and my wife & daughter went on a quickie road trip to pick it up there.

Maybe there's a main distributor in Florida who bundles up a bunch of sales and has them shipped west to other retailers and you can have yours bum a ride at least part way?

Slim odds I know, but it worked for us.
 
Strap it to a pallet and use truck or rail.
Oversized pallet for bigger boats.
 
We had bought a used 19' RIB in Florida and had it shipped up to NY - we used the Florida original manufacturers trucker who added our RIB to one of his 'unfilled' trucking trips.
It was not an AB but all their RIBS were built in Florida.
 
Load it in a Pod.
 
Craigslist in Florida and then buy a new one in Seattle ?
Sorry, But that is diagonally across the country, it is worth it ?
 
TJM said:
...Sorry, But that is diagonally across the country, it is worth it ?
Click to expand...

Ours took a trip 308 miles shorter, if this one starts in Miami.

It was worth it for us because there was only one dealer in North America at the time.
 
TJM said:
Craigslist in Florida and then buy a new one in Seattle ?
Sorry, But that is diagonally across the country, it is worth it ?
Click to expand...


This is what I would do. I bet you would lose less than $5000.
 
If it is skidded or stuck on a pallet you can LTL it - but $5000 is ballpark of what that will cost as it will take nearly half the truck.

This is a common problem in racing sailplanes, owners want the long trailer they go in delivered across the country for a contest. One common solution is to hire a driver, rent a Uhual truck, have them deliver and fly them home. I had mine delivered from SC to CA and the going rate was about $2500 - that was in 2000.

Since the RIB is still new, maybe AB would take it back and deliver a new one in WA?
 
A deadhead trip is usually around $2.50/mlle or so, which would be in your range. I mean the gas alone is probably $1000 each way. I don't think you're going to get much under $5k.
 
I do not think many small boat trailers would make a 3,000 mile cross country on-tow road trip in one piece. Your boat might not like it much either. Does the RIB have an outboard as well? I just paid $1,400 to get a new car moved 1,000 miles in a closed trailer, so I do not necessarily think your quotes are ridiculous, but what I did find out in the process of organizing the transport is just how fragmented and sketchy the auto transport system is - a lot of pirates who will promise anything and lowball just to get you on the hook, the classic bait and switch!
Selling the trailer will help a little, but you will still need to ship a fairly large heavy fiberglass hull with deflated flotation, probably with a hefty outboard.
My sense is you made an unfortunate mistake buying the tender. It is probably less costly and risky to sell it and buy again.
 
socalrider said:
A deadhead trip is usually around $2.50/mlle or so, which would be in your range. I mean the gas alone is probably $1000 each way. I don't think you're going to get much under $5k.
Click to expand...

That is true but our RIB shared the load with 4 other RIBS which spreads out the cost.
 
Good news, I have a buddy that can help you out - or at least get you insider information. I just spoke with him and he is expecting your call. I'll text you his contact information.
 
It was indeed an unfortunate “mistake” to buy in FL, but really more the side effect of changing commissioning locations. I knew this would be the cost of changing, but I thought it would be more of a cost and less of a hassle. In reality it’s both.

Ditching the trailer and crating the boat is much easier said than done. Need to find someone to do it who will charge a reasonable rate, and more importantly, will actually do it. Remember, I’m not there, so I can’t take the boat to a crating shop, unload it, sell the trailer, etc.

If it was just a matter of writing a check for $5k, I would do it. But I don’t believe for a second that the recipient of that check would follow through without constant oversight.

In all frankness, the most dependable, predictable, and quickest way to get the boat here looks to be me flying to FL, renting a 24’ truck, loading the trailer/boat into it, and driving it back myself. I would be in a plane now if it wasn’t going to cost me a week to 10 days. Then I’m not dependent on anyone other than the truck rental company, and I do ‘t have to make the trailer road-worthy and registered.

I’m waiting on two people who say they can do it, but so far all I’ve heard is lots of talk with no action.
 
twistedtree said:
In all frankness, the most dependable, predictable, and quickest way to get the boat here looks to be me flying to FL, renting a 24’ truck, loading the trailer/boat into it, and driving it back myself. I would be in a plane now if it wasn’t going to cost me a week to 10 days. Then I’m not dependent on anyone other than the truck rental company, and I do ‘t have to make the trailer road-worthy and registered.
Click to expand...


I was thinking that. If you're going to be heading to the boat in the near future when commissioning is nearing completion, that would be the time to do it (rather than just going straight there).
 
smitty477 said:
That is true but our RIB shared the load with 4 other RIBS which spreads out the cost.
Click to expand...

Trick is to find 5 RIBs making the same trip... maybe put the word out to trucking co's in SEA and FL and wait. I've been working with a really good guy out of LA getting a 28' sailboat from ID to SAN - PM me if you need a referral.
 
twistedtree said:
I’m waiting on two people who say they can do it, but so far all I’ve heard is lots of talk with no action.
Click to expand...

I just got off the phone with Rick Peters who's in the process of moving a boat down here from Idaho for us. He's actually going to be in FL soon, en route to SEA and could take your RIB. His contact info is all available on his site - tell him Pete sent you. He's got a great reputation & has been fantastic to work with.

Star Boat Guy
 
I talked to Enterprise about renting a 1 ton diesel dually with unlimited mileage for a week to bring a boat to Michigan from Texas. The cost was under $800 for the truck. Your dinghy would not need more than a 1/2 ton pickup. But you would have to do the driving.
 
Chrisjs said:
I do not think many small boat trailers would make a 3,000 mile cross country on-tow road trip in one piece. Thats not right. The trailer doent knpw you are going 3000 miles verses 2000. How many mile a year you think an avid or pro fisherman puts on. Dont have a good solution for the OP.
Click to expand...
 
We had bought a used 19' RIB in Florida and had it shipped up to NY - we used the Florida original manufacturers trucker who added our RIB to one of his 'unfilled' trucking trips.
It was not an AB but all their RIBS were built in Florida.

I once bought new cushions from Catalina for my Catalina 27. Interestingly they were much cheaper than anywhere else locally making them. They told me if I wanted to save on transportation, they'd just put them in one of the new Catalinas being brought up to Vancouver BC. Sometimes working with the manufacture is helpful.

I also suggest you check out rail.
 
Twistedtree, I might be able to come up with a local retired Captain who could make the drive for you. Let me know if you need me to reach out to him.
 
Tell Nordhavn! After spending millions with them tell them "you know , I'd really appreciate it if you could get my dinghy to the boat". Make it happen.
 
Get the trailer safe and legal, and go on an RV site like the Escapees and see what someone would charge for the trip.

$1,000 might win the day.
 
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