Looking for boat hauler recommendations

Ask a question...get an answer (or two).
Post Reply
Brodie
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

Post by Brodie »

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?
Paulus
Skilled Systems Installer
Posts: 199
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:05 pm
Boat Name: Guillemot
Boat Type: Mariner Ketch

Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations

Post by Paulus »

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...
User avatar
Rachel
Master of the Arcane
Posts: 3044
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:59 pm

Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations

Post by Rachel »

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
Brodie
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

Post by Brodie »

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.
User avatar
earlylight
Candidate for Boat-Obsession Medal
Posts: 342
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:15 pm
Boat Name: Early Light
Boat Type: 1982 Sabre 34 MK I
Location: MD
Contact:

Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations

Post by earlylight »

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.
Dick Coerse
Early Light
Sabre 34 MK1
Solomons MD

http://earlylight160.net76.net
Triton 53
Almost a Finish Carpenter
Posts: 76
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 12:12 pm
Boat Name: Alli-Ann
Boat Type: Triton
Location: Lincoln, RI
Contact:

Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations

Post by Triton 53 »

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
"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
User avatar
Rachel
Master of the Arcane
Posts: 3044
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:59 pm

Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations

Post by Rachel »

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
Hirilondë
Master of the Arcane
Posts: 1317
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 8:50 am
Boat Name: Hirilondë
Boat Type: 1967 Pearson Renegade
Location: Charlestown, RI

Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations

Post by Hirilondë »

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.
Pete might still be doing some hauling on the side, but last I knew he now works for a boatyard (my former employer).
Dave Finnegan
builder of Spindrift 9N #521 'Wingë'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
User avatar
Rachel
Master of the Arcane
Posts: 3044
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:59 pm

Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations

Post by Rachel »

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
User avatar
catamount
Candidate for Boat-Obsession Medal
Posts: 378
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2005 7:30 am
Boat Name: GREYHAWK
Boat Type: Peterson 34
Location: Boothbay Harbor, ME
Contact:

Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations

Post by catamount »

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
Schulman99
Bottom Sanding Grunt
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:59 am
Boat Name: W. P. Dunnock
Boat Type: Victoria 18

Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations

Post by Schulman99 »

Your Sea Sprite isn't be chance that same one currently sitting on the hard at Holiday Hill Marina by any chance, is it?
Brodie
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

Post by Brodie »

Your Sea Sprite isn't be chance that same one currently sitting on the hard at Holiday Hill Marina by any chance, is it?
She is at Port Annapolis at the moment.

This boat:
Image
User avatar
earlylight
Candidate for Boat-Obsession Medal
Posts: 342
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:15 pm
Boat Name: Early Light
Boat Type: 1982 Sabre 34 MK I
Location: MD
Contact:

Re: Looking for boat hauler recommendations

Post by earlylight »

Congrats, she is a gorgeous vessel.
Dick Coerse
Early Light
Sabre 34 MK1
Solomons MD

http://earlylight160.net76.net
Post Reply