Shipping a Grady

[bhemi]

I'm thinking about moving up to a 33 Express and it seems to be a buyers market. I bought my Marlin in Florida and had it trailered up by my dad who towed it behind his motorhome. I sold the trailer once I got the Marlin home. It seems that 95% of all Gradys stay on the east coast and mostly in Florida.

I live in Vancouver, Canada. A new 33 Express is about $300,000 Canadian plus 12% taxes and you still have to add electronics etc. I'm seeing 2004-2006 33's selling from $200,000 nicely equipped. I like buying slightly used. I don't have to put the first scratch in and you often get a lot of added extra's.

I was wondering what it would cost to have one shippped. Options are truck and rail I guess. Or buy a truck and trailer and tow it myself and sell the truck and trailer when I return.

 

[BobP]

There are plenty of interstate professional boat movers around, contact them for a quote. Don't have to use someone local to you, can be anywhere between you and the boat.

Prices in the south are much better than up north where I am, even further north it gets higher. Very common moving used boats up to the north.

 

[jekyl]

I used a guy called Tony Stewart in Florida who moved my boat to Georgia. Although I only spoke to him on the phone as I am in Australia, He did a great job............takes his work seriously and is used by dealers down there.
His phone 561 253 4007

 

[Tunaboyyy]

These are from another fishing forum good luck.

Call PD Shipping in Stuart Florida. Paul drove my new Parker out to Ventura for about $3000. Very professional and called or emailed me everyday to keep me up to date.
Boat arrived without a scratch. This was in Feb. 2008
Paul's number is: (828)508-4582

Or try USHIP.com It's like ebay but for shipping items.

 

[SlimJim]

Be very careful using USHIP. a lot of flakes on that site. Its going to cost you about $1.5 per mile. I would say about 4k to 5k max. Anything under 4k would be doing well. Don't give any of them too much $$$ up front.

 

[Barlow46]

I had a guy buy my 208 a few years back and had it professionally towed from the east coast of Florida to Seattle and tried to get it into Canada from there. He had a hard time getting the trailer approved to cross into Canada. Seems the trailer vin# was one digit off (which nobody caught) and the original trailer manufacturer in Tampa sold his business and had no records. The guy never did get the 208 into Canada and ended up leaving it in California with relatives the last I heard. There may have been other issues that I didn't know about but I tried every way possible to get that trailer registration correct and couldn't do it since the boat and trailer were gone. Have somebody double and triple check all the vin numbers, hull numbers, engine numbers, etc. Also, when you are a Florida resident and purchase a used boat, you can use an itemized bill of sale listing separately what you are paying for the hull, the engine, accessories and the trailer. This helps somewhat with sales tax on used equipment as the engine and accessories are not taxed. Not sure if you can do that in Canada or not but the guy i sold to did use an itemized listing when I did the bill of sale. Good luck.

 

[BobP]

When you hire a professional boat mover, you hire driver, all vehicles, and everything else that goes with it like permits. If part of the boat has to be removed like radar towers, antennas and the like, they tell you , and you someone to do it or do it yourself. You pay for travelift to get the boat on their vehicle. Make sure all the cushions are secured, canvas, windows, hatches, etc. Where the boat ends up, you pay to get it off trailer be it launched or blocked.

It may be nice for you to get photos of the boat after it is first set in place on the trailer.

Be sure they are qualified to cross into Canada and do have experience.

 

[bc282]

moving Grady Express

I recently took delivery of a 28' GW Sailfish from Texas to Bellingham, WA via transporter and then took it myself across the border and on to Nanaimo via ferry.

At 11'7" Beam for a 33' Express this load is a over wide load and very well may require special permits and pilot cars to cross various states (each state has it's own quirks which transporters will know about).

I bought a new trailer for my boat because i wished to keep it on a trailer and stored on land (free for me), but to buy a trailer and then sell it is a headache and will likely not save any money. I don't think there's high demand for a big azz trailer in vancouver and surrounding areas. Also, you'll likely have to go new custom built since 99% of trailers in US do not meet canadian DOT standards of having brakes on every axle and driver actuated brakes (such as elect. over hydraulic and NOT SURGE for GVWR over 2500kg). Yes, trailers are cheaper in florida compared to pac NW, but i don't think this is the way to go unless you plan to use the trailer for more than this single trip.

If time is not an issue, consider transporting the boat via water on a "Super Servant' or similar boat/yacht carrier. A friend got a quote a while back for his 32' Command Br. Chris Craft and it wasn't crazy $.

Also, keep with a better and bigger transport co.s as my initial transporter, a retired one man outfit, who brought the trailer from FL to TX damaged the trailer and is not stepping up to take responsibility. A different company took the boat and trailer fr. Tx to Wa.

Feel free to shoot me an email if you got any q's.

 

[bhemi]

Thanks for the tips

Thanks for the tips. When I brought up my Marlin I took it through customs myself. The trailer is treated like a separate transaction. The problem I had with my trailer was the manufacturer went broke and I couldn't contact them for the engineering data to get it Transport Canada certified. I also found out that surge brakes are illegal in BC. I still had a line-up of eager buyers for it. I eventually registered it as a "home-build" and sold it as such.

 

[Blackbird]

Shipping Costs

This may or may not be useful as a reference but I recently bought a 283 Release in Baltimore and had it shipped to the Tampa Bay area in Florida by a commercial shipper. Loaded weight was ~ 9000 # and distance was about 950 miles. The total cost was $2200 and took 2 days. The difference between the bids was about 25%.