Looking for boat hauler recommendations
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- Master Varnisher
- Posts: 113
- Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:27 pm
- Boat Name: Starry Night
- Boat Type: Sea Sprite 30
- Location: Rhode Island, USA
Looking for boat hauler recommendations
I'm starting the process of figuring out how to get the Sea Sprite home. I am not going to sail her up, as fun as that sounds, I just don't have the time and would be in way over my head anyway. So I'm looking for recommendations for a hauler to transport the boat from Annapolis to Jamestown, RI. 30' and 10000 lbs. Shooting for late March/early April but I'm flexible, and the boatyard where I rent my mooring says they'll find a space for her in the yard whenever she arrives. Does anyone have any good recommendations?
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- Skilled Systems Installer
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- Boat Type: Mariner Ketch
Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
You could find someone to deliver it for you - I have done three or four very similar trips, the latest being a Catalina MK30 from Annapolis to New London...
Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
I can recommend three. The first two I have had haul my own boats; the third has hauled a couple of boats that other people owned, but I arranged the transport and worked with the hauler. What I like about all three is that they are boaters themselves, and they understand how to (and how not to) tie a boat down. Another company, for example (that I am not recommending), had a nice rig and a good driver; but the driver was a heavy equipment hauler in the past and I had to literally argue with him to not use tiny little toerail-mounted fairleads and/or thin-wooden-coaming mounted winches to crank down huge ratchet straps on.
1) Pete and Wendy Stamm of Stonington Marine Transport, http://www.stoningtonmarine.com
These folks are based in Connecticut, and will haul from/to the Chesapeake area (they work the whole US Atlantic Coast). Pete drives; Wendy runs the office. Great communication; both in office and from the road. They have an over-the-road Brownell trailer, which you may not strictly need (I was picking up and dropping off in backyards), but which may save you loading and unloading Travelift fees if the yards are amenable. I think they have a regular trailer too. I'm fussy, and I say "Highly recommended." I think Pete owns a wooden boat, so you know he understands blocking, etc.
2) Cove Point Marine Transport, http://www.covepointmarineservices.com/index.html
This is George, and... if I remember correctly, Denise. They are based near Baltmore Maryland. George drove; Denise worked the office. I worked with them for a relatively local move, and it was with a smaller hydraulic trailer, but I think they have bigger trailers too. Not totally sure of their range. George is anther wooden boater, so again, he knows boats and how to care for them. They have one other driver besides George, whom I think is a long-time friend of George's - although I did not meet him. Friendly, good communication.
3) Boat Lovers' Transport, http://www.boatloverstransport.com. Kip and Linda Newbould, who work out of Virginia. They go coast to coast, and have a really nice new rig (although they are not new to the business; they had an older rig for years). They are cruisers and boaters themselves. They both drive and work together in the rig. Friendly, good people, good communication.
Rachel
1) Pete and Wendy Stamm of Stonington Marine Transport, http://www.stoningtonmarine.com
These folks are based in Connecticut, and will haul from/to the Chesapeake area (they work the whole US Atlantic Coast). Pete drives; Wendy runs the office. Great communication; both in office and from the road. They have an over-the-road Brownell trailer, which you may not strictly need (I was picking up and dropping off in backyards), but which may save you loading and unloading Travelift fees if the yards are amenable. I think they have a regular trailer too. I'm fussy, and I say "Highly recommended." I think Pete owns a wooden boat, so you know he understands blocking, etc.
2) Cove Point Marine Transport, http://www.covepointmarineservices.com/index.html
This is George, and... if I remember correctly, Denise. They are based near Baltmore Maryland. George drove; Denise worked the office. I worked with them for a relatively local move, and it was with a smaller hydraulic trailer, but I think they have bigger trailers too. Not totally sure of their range. George is anther wooden boater, so again, he knows boats and how to care for them. They have one other driver besides George, whom I think is a long-time friend of George's - although I did not meet him. Friendly, good communication.
3) Boat Lovers' Transport, http://www.boatloverstransport.com. Kip and Linda Newbould, who work out of Virginia. They go coast to coast, and have a really nice new rig (although they are not new to the business; they had an older rig for years). They are cruisers and boaters themselves. They both drive and work together in the rig. Friendly, good people, good communication.
Rachel
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- Master Varnisher
- Posts: 113
- Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:27 pm
- Boat Name: Starry Night
- Boat Type: Sea Sprite 30
- Location: Rhode Island, USA
Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
Thanks Rachel! That is very helpful. The boatyard where the boat is now recommended Cove Point as well, but it's nice to have a second recommendation.
The yard where the boat is going does not have a travelift, they use a yard trailer and a railway to move and launch boats, so no worries there as the boat comes straight off the trailer onto the blocks. The guys at the yard are wooden-boat types too, which is reassuring as they do know how to block boats properly.
The yard where the boat is going does not have a travelift, they use a yard trailer and a railway to move and launch boats, so no worries there as the boat comes straight off the trailer onto the blocks. The guys at the yard are wooden-boat types too, which is reassuring as they do know how to block boats properly.
- earlylight
- Candidate for Boat-Obsession Medal
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Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
I will second Rachel's recommendation of Cove Point Marine Transport. They are actually located in Deale, MD, which is between Annapolis and Solomons, MD. I have watched them load and unload a number of boats at marinas in the Solomons area and their attention to detail has always impressed me.
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- Almost a Finish Carpenter
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- Boat Name: Alli-Ann
- Boat Type: Triton
- Location: Lincoln, RI
- Contact:
Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
You could give Tim McKnight at Ocean State boat moving in Warwick a call. He has hauled my Triton for the past 3 years, never a problem.
Pete
Pete
"Alli-Ann" Triton #53
Edgewood Yacht Club
Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.
Wernher von Braun
Edgewood Yacht Club
Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.
Wernher von Braun
Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
Oops, thanks for correcting me, Dick. I had Baltimore in my head, but should have looked it up.
Brodie, on the hydraulic over-the-road trailer, I just meant that sometimes you don't need to have the yard equipment involved at all, because the driver just backs under the stands at the pickup point, and then sets the boat right on stands at the drop-off point. Not that I would necessarily choose based on that alone, as it's not necessarily a bad thing to have the yard involved :) (On the other hand, if you have a boat coming to or going from someplace where there is no lift, such as someone's back forty, the hydraulic trailer - plus a good driver - is a real plus. Pete once loaded up a boat for me that had been all but surrounded by growing shrubs and trees in someone's very cramped side-yard.)
Boat moving is not something where I want to pick someone out of a hat, that's for sure. Bet you can't wait to have your new baby home!
Rachel
Brodie, on the hydraulic over-the-road trailer, I just meant that sometimes you don't need to have the yard equipment involved at all, because the driver just backs under the stands at the pickup point, and then sets the boat right on stands at the drop-off point. Not that I would necessarily choose based on that alone, as it's not necessarily a bad thing to have the yard involved :) (On the other hand, if you have a boat coming to or going from someplace where there is no lift, such as someone's back forty, the hydraulic trailer - plus a good driver - is a real plus. Pete once loaded up a boat for me that had been all but surrounded by growing shrubs and trees in someone's very cramped side-yard.)
Boat moving is not something where I want to pick someone out of a hat, that's for sure. Bet you can't wait to have your new baby home!
Rachel
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- Master of the Arcane
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Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
Pete might still be doing some hauling on the side, but last I knew he now works for a boatyard (my former employer).Rachel wrote: 1) Pete and Wendy Stamm of Stonington Marine Transport, http://www.stoningtonmarine.com
These folks are based in Connecticut, and will haul from/to the Chesapeake area (they work the whole US Atlantic Coast). Pete drives; Wendy runs the office. Great communication; both in office and from the road. They have an over-the-road Brownell trailer, which you may not strictly need (I was picking up and dropping off in backyards), but which may save you loading and unloading Travelift fees if the yards are amenable. I think they have a regular trailer too. I'm fussy, and I say "Highly recommended." I think Pete owns a wooden boat, so you know he understands blocking, etc.
Dave Finnegan
builder of Spindrift 9N #521 'Wingë'
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Gresham’s Law of information: Bad information drives out good. No matter how long ago a correction for a particular error may have appeared in print or online, it never seems to catch up with the ever-widening distribution of the error.
builder of Spindrift 9N #521 'Wingë'
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Gresham’s Law of information: Bad information drives out good. No matter how long ago a correction for a particular error may have appeared in print or online, it never seems to catch up with the ever-widening distribution of the error.
Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
Ah, thanks for that info. I have not talked to him in a couple of years, and their website still looked current, so I didn't realize that.
Rachel
Rachel
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Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
It sounds like you've got some good recommendations already, but I'll just add that I have been really happy with Ron Wiswell at Marblehead Trading Company hauling my boat. He might not do the run himself, but I believe they also broker long hauls.
Tim Allen -- 1980 Peterson 34 GREYHAWK
Harborfields Housekeeping Cottages, West Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Sailors for the Sea, a new voice for ocean conservation
Harborfields Housekeeping Cottages, West Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Sailors for the Sea, a new voice for ocean conservation
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- Bottom Sanding Grunt
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Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
Your Sea Sprite isn't be chance that same one currently sitting on the hard at Holiday Hill Marina by any chance, is it?
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- Master Varnisher
- Posts: 113
- Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:27 pm
- Boat Name: Starry Night
- Boat Type: Sea Sprite 30
- Location: Rhode Island, USA
Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
She is at Port Annapolis at the moment.Your Sea Sprite isn't be chance that same one currently sitting on the hard at Holiday Hill Marina by any chance, is it?
This boat:
- earlylight
- Candidate for Boat-Obsession Medal
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Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations
Congrats, she is a gorgeous vessel.