Boat transport North Wales to Inverness

[Supertramp]

If its afloat, in commission and being used it should be OK to sail after service and checking engine, rig, sails etc.

If laid up ashore, it will likely need recommissioning.

Choose your weather and it would be a great trip, especially with shoal draft opening up the possible stops. Far more pleasant than trailing albeit taking more time.

You will arrive knowing exactly what you want to change or leave about the boat.

 

[ProDave]

The current favourite boat is the one in Edinburgh which will be viewed this week.

We are now seriously considering bringing that home by sea if we buy it, particularly as we have an offer of someone familliar with that coast offering to accompany us.

 

[ProDave]

Update. As of a few minutes ago, we have agreed to buy the Hunter Horizon 23 in Edinburgh.

The boat needs some work, as far as we can tell, cosmetic, the only issue being we can't see the engine running. So the consensus is we are going to get the boat delivered by road, where we can fettle it into shape before going sailing. We have a transport quote of just over £1K

 

[SaltyC]

Congratulations! Many adventures await.
A seamanlije call to deliver by road when vessel is unknown.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Update. As of a few minutes ago, we have agreed to buy the Hunter Horizon 23 in Edinburgh.

The boat needs some work, as far as we can tell, cosmetic, the only issue being we can't see the engine running. So the consensus is we are going to get the boat delivered by road, where we can fettle it into shape before going sailing. We have a transport quote of just over £1K

Great news, pleased to hear you’ll be on the water. All so much more controllable with a more local boat too, delivery wise, whether road or sea. Road is good when there are unknowns on the boat.

 

[Humblebee]

No reply from shiply yet.

And no reply from the seller of the Jaguar 24 in Wales so must assume it's sold.

Another contender has entered the field a Hunter Horizon 23. We had an outing with a few other boats from the harbour at the weekend and one of those was a Hunter Horizon 23 and it seemed to tick all our boxes. There is one for sale on the East coast that would be a more sensible sail home of we bought it.

Transport costs of £1500 plus crane at both ends is probably too high. Cranage would be silly for one boat lift. It's possible the marina where the boat for sale is could lift it on, but there is no resident crane at the destination. That's why the only sensible transport option would be a hiab to self load and unload.

You don't have to have it craned off exactly at your chosen location though. Crane it off at Caley Marine or somewhere else on the canal?

 

[ProDave]

You don't have to have it craned off exactly at your chosen location though. Crane it off at Caley Marine or somewhere else on the canal?

True and for us Inverness Marina might have been possible.

Anyway boat bought and transport with haib being booked. Already had a quote.

The big problem with Shiply is you just fill in a few tick boxes and that is all you get. So it was asking for people to quote for a "1.5 ton 23ft bilge keel boat"

I had only one enquiry "Is it on a roadworthy trailer"

If only Shiply had a facility for you to add a couple of sentences to describe what you want moving, I could have put "1.5 ton 23ft bilge keel boat, needs flatbed with hiab and suitable slings and spreaders to load and unload the boat"

Without that simple ability to add something like that, shiply is pretty much useless for this type of haulage.

 

[Quiddle]

We have agreed there is no point buying the wrong boat because there is nothing right close by. It seems to have boiled down to a J24 or the Hunter 23, both with a similar layout inside. It must be mid 20ft and bilge keel to continue keeping in the drying harbour we do currently. We have so far looked at and dismissed 2 other boats. the J24 is still the favourite of the two.

So at the moment it's buy a boat some distance away and pay for transport or sail it home, or wait until the right boat comes up closer to home.

We are retired so the duration and timing of a delivery trip by sea is flexible.

Another alternative is to stage the delivery, a week in N Wales, maybe a relaxed cruise to the Clyde, overwinter there then progress northward next year? You get to sail different areas and any additional berthing / travel costs would be outweighed by saving professional delivery costs. I think your chance of getting a professional skipper for £100/day is zero.

 

[ProDave]

I forgot to finish the thread off.

On the lorry getting ready to leave Port Edgar.





And here she is, nearly ready to sail.

 

[ProDave]

And been out for maiden sail today.




Sails need a damned good clean and Jib needs new UV strips, there are lots of bits and pieces to fettle and fix, but she is basically all there and ready for use.

 

[Ribtecer]

Fabulous

Very envious, enjoy

 

[Mister E]

So you could have sailed home

 

[ProDave]

So you could have sailed home

Not without a lot of work. It has taken us 3 days of work since we got the boat in the water here to get everything ready to go out of the harbour. The major thing being the 8HP OB that came with it would not start. We have a spare 5HP motor in there at the moment (I will be posting on PBO when I start to diagnose the non starting motor)

Then when we started to re rig the boat, so many little things were wrong, blocks missing or damaged, reefing lines way to big for the blocks so would not have worked etc.

Most electrics not working, depth gauge not working, chart plotter appeared to work but after half an hour "lost communication with GPS module"

The boat was on the hard when we saw it so we didn't even see it with the mast up, had no idea what the sails were like etc. So we would have had to pay the yard to launch the boat and step the mast before we could even start on the list of problems.

So getting it transported by road was the right choice for this boat.

I will be making a lot of posts on PBO as we work our way through all the issues and lick the boat into shape.

 

[Mister E]

Dave I was not being serious hence the emoji.