Does anyone have a good hauler they can recommend to ship a 27/28 foot Grady from New York to Washington State. Rather first hand referrals instead of U Ship. Many thanks.
Shipping a Grady out west.
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Mustang65fbk
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I'd repost this in the "General Discussion" part of the forum as most people probably don't look in here all that often unless they're wanting to buy or sell something. I've bought three boats out on the east coast because oftentimes they're about half the price, and each one was surprisingly located in Maryland. Each time I bought a boat, I looked into having it shipped out here and the shipping costs associated with doing so. I checked UShip each time, of which when I bought my Grady in September/October of 2021, they were anywhere from around $4k on up to over $7k, and they were about 2-3 weeks out. Each time I've purchased a boat, I ended up doing at least one leg of the trip by myself. The first time, I drove out from Seattle, bought the boat and then trailered it back. The second time I flew out, rented a pickup truck from Enterprise and then trailered it back. This last time, I flew out, bought the boat and resorted to using a U-Haul box truck as none of the other rental truck companies would do a one way truck rental on a pickup.
It's about half the price, or even less, if you do it yourself, though it obviously takes up about 3-7 days depending on if you drive roundtrip or just one way and if you don't have the time or desire to do it then shipping the boat is likely your best option. I imagine the shipping companies are probably a little bit less right now than they were before as it's still "winter", but gasoline prices have also gone up since I bought my boat, so it could be a wash? Each time I did the trip, I had the time to do it as well as the desire to do a cross country road trip, and on top of that I didn't want to have an issue with the shipping company getting into an accident with the boat, etc. I know that my neighbor also bought a GW out on the east coast in Florida and the company that he used to ship the boat for him ended up hitting a tree branch and ripped the radar dome off the top of the boat, doing a few thousand dollars in damage. Not trying to scare you away from going with a shipping company, but sometimes things like that will happen, and I'd personally rather be in charge of my own fate as opposed to having someone else do it for me. If you have any other questions let me know, I've done this three times before and have a fair amount of knowledge on doing a cross country road trip, if you do decide to go that route. It's also always good to see another GW owner out here in the PNW. Good luck!
It's about half the price, or even less, if you do it yourself, though it obviously takes up about 3-7 days depending on if you drive roundtrip or just one way and if you don't have the time or desire to do it then shipping the boat is likely your best option. I imagine the shipping companies are probably a little bit less right now than they were before as it's still "winter", but gasoline prices have also gone up since I bought my boat, so it could be a wash? Each time I did the trip, I had the time to do it as well as the desire to do a cross country road trip, and on top of that I didn't want to have an issue with the shipping company getting into an accident with the boat, etc. I know that my neighbor also bought a GW out on the east coast in Florida and the company that he used to ship the boat for him ended up hitting a tree branch and ripped the radar dome off the top of the boat, doing a few thousand dollars in damage. Not trying to scare you away from going with a shipping company, but sometimes things like that will happen, and I'd personally rather be in charge of my own fate as opposed to having someone else do it for me. If you have any other questions let me know, I've done this three times before and have a fair amount of knowledge on doing a cross country road trip, if you do decide to go that route. It's also always good to see another GW owner out here in the PNW. Good luck!
Summertop511
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a few years ago i was pricing shipping a boat from back east to here on the west cost. Uship and companies like that all responded quickly and followed up with some pretty aggressive calls. With 10 days to 3 weeks they were calling back with greatly reduced prices. I'm just saying, if your going to use a shipping company you might put the feelers out there early, then see what the price is weeks later
When I was shopping around for a 265, there was only one on the west coast, all others were on the east coast. I put a quote on U-ship, I think i put North Carolina as a starting point, with Oregon as the ending point, and they all started out 10K plus, by the time it got close to the end of the bid, I think the lowest was around 6k.
I had thought about doing it myself, but when i started doing the napkin math, it really didn't make it worth it.
I ended up buying the one here on the west coast, for less than any that were for sale on the east coast, which I was happy about.
I had thought about doing it myself, but when i started doing the napkin math, it really didn't make it worth it.
I ended up buying the one here on the west coast, for less than any that were for sale on the east coast, which I was happy about.
We sold our 265 express to a gentleman in WA state and connected him with Diamond Marine in West Haven, CT. Granted the buyer needed a trailer as well, but they handled the transaction. They also trailered the boat we bought from NC to CT on their trailer.
Olyfishin
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I shipped a Grady in 2022- a 226 - from Florida to WA State. I used Citizen Shipper. It was amazingly cheap - only $3k. The guy was super responsive. Had to deal with some pretty crappy weather, too, as it was in late February. Price quotes I got on that site seemed generally better than Uship. https://citizenshipper.com
Good luck! I'm still pleased with my decision to upgrade to my Grady and to do the extra work to get one from the east coast. Ready to take her up to Sekiu next week for some blackmouth fishing!!!
Good luck! I'm still pleased with my decision to upgrade to my Grady and to do the extra work to get one from the east coast. Ready to take her up to Sekiu next week for some blackmouth fishing!!!
