Boat transport North Wales to Inverness

[ProDave]

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.

 

[ProDave]

Recently towed a Hunter 23 on purpose built trailer with my Subaru: brilliant journey, 60mph.

Which Subaru? My Forester is rated to tow 2 ton, about as high as any Subaru goes. The hunter 23 is about a tone and a quarter, so with a decent trailer is going to be very close to that 2 ton limit.

 

[jamie N]

With my Folkboat, I put it down the slipway at Fortrose and let the tide lift it off. At low tide, went down, drove it home and washed it down. No worries.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Which Subaru? My Forester is rated to tow 2 ton, about as high as any Subaru goes. The hunter 23 is about a tone and a quarter, so with a decent trailer is going to be very close to that 2 ton limit.

I used to have a Legacy, a 2.2 with dual range gearbox. I turned up to pick up my F27 from a chicken farm near Northampton, and was distinctly dissed by the ex owner re the tow car. But then one of the farm hands pointed out that the Mistress had taken 4 cows to market last week in the same car. I reckon 4 cows are heavier than an F27 on a trailer. The car barely noticed the boat.

 

[ProDave]

I used to have a Legacy, a 2.2 with dual range gearbox. I turned up to pick up my F27 from a chicken farm near Northampton, and was distinctly dissed by the ex owner re the tow car. But then one of the farm hands pointed out that the Mistress had taken 4 cows to market last week in the same car. I reckon 4 cows are heavier than an F27 on a trailer. The car barely noticed the boat.

I guess it depends when this was. Now vehicles have a manufacturers towing limit and if you are caught with a trailer above that limit you are in trouble. I looked at the spec of a LOT of cars before buying the one I have now, the Diesel Forester has a 2 ton towing weight, about as high as any subaru has. The same age Legacy or Outback with the same engine is only rated for 1700Kg. 2L petrol Subaru's are as low as 1500Kg, and one I saw was only 1300Kg. I did like the idea of a 6 cylinder 3L petrol, until I found the road tax was £600 per year.

 

[ProDave]

With my Folkboat, I put it down the slipway at Fortrose and let the tide lift it off. At low tide, went down, drove it home and washed it down. No worries.

Yes I have launched boats at Fortrose several times. If it was a hired trailer of course you would not tell them............

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I guess it depends when this was. Now vehicles have a manufacturers towing limit and if you are caught with a trailer above that limit you are in trouble. I looked at the spec of a LOT of cars before buying the one I have now, the Diesel Forester has a 2 ton towing weight, about as high as any subaru has. The same age Legacy or Outback with the same engine is only rated for 1700Kg. 2L petrol Subaru's are as low as 1500Kg, and one I saw was only 1300Kg. I did like the idea of a 6 cylinder 3L petrol, until I found the road tax was £600 per year.

Mine was rated for 2200kg

 

[wallacebob]

I towed Hunter Horizon23 with Forester 2.0d. On proper SBS twin axle trailer, easy, as I said. I calculated weight as just legal, but more importantly it looked right on the M6!. The Horizon 232 is heavier. No engine, all bits and bobs in car.

 

[ProDave]

Okay, another twist to this. It turns out the N wales J24 is still for sale.

Road transport estimates we have had are getting on for £3000, too much, unless something cheaper is found. I think my co purchaser lacks the confidence for a sea delivery.

So next idea to think about, how much might it cost to hire a delivery skipper for the passage from N wales to Corpach with us as crew. I am sure we can manage through the Calley for the final leg on our own.

 

[Tranona]

Good call. Think around £100 a day for a qualified skipper, although might be tricky to find one who will take on a small boat like that with 2 crew. Key thing to find out is whether the boat is in ready to go condition to undertake such a trip. Try here maxwalkeryachtdelivery.com/page1.htm Max has a good number of skippers on his books and found me a good one for bringing my boat back from Greece with me and one other as crew. There are other people who operate in similar ways.

 

[steve yates]

Its about a week to corpach in day sails from N wales, you wouldn't need a delivery skipper for that. Ifyou can take the boat through the canal yourselves you’ll manage that. Take your time and you’ll have a great trip. If you have fixedmwork holidays your a bit buggered though, as can’t just leave in a port in bad weather and come back when it improves.

 

[ridgy]

Seems like a lot of effort for a J24 is there nothing closer? Road transport seems like the obvious solution for something so small even if it's to a marina closer but not the final destination. I've done that journey several times via the Three Peaks yacht race and will do again on Saturday but good luck finding someone with the confidence and tolerance for misery to do that for 100/day.

 

[ProDave]

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.

 

[srm]

I am sure we can manage through the Calley for the final leg on our own.

Of course you can, no boat experience needed to hire one of the many motor cruisers on the canal.

Do you have the confidence for a sea delivery? If so your co-purchaser will learn a lot from the passage. As you are retired treat it as a cruise, explore ashore as you day sail and choose suitable weather. A pro skipper will probably want to push on and you could find yourselves in conditions you are not comfortable with. As an example I had to get my own boat (singlehanded) back from Ireland to Orkney against a deadline as I had contracted to skipper a charter yacht from Kirkwall. The weather was bad and it was not much fun.

 

[ProDave]

We both have sea confidence, it's confidence in the condition of a just purchased boat that is lacking.

We are trying to arrange a viewing of the H23 this weekend.

 

[Minerva]

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.

Are you sure about that? A j24 is a one design, fin keeled racing boat, often pictured trying to give its keel a suntan mid downwind leg whilst washing the masthead.

 

[ProDave]

Are you sure about that? A j24 is a one design, fin keeled racing boat, often pictured trying to give its keel a suntan mid downwind leg whilst washing the masthead.

My bad. I was abreviating Jaguar 24 to J24, not realising that referred to a completely different boat. Sory for confusing.

 

[steve yates]

We both have sea confidence, it's confidence in the condition of a just purchased boat that is lacking.

We are trying to arrange a viewing of the H23 this weekend.

In that case, tho mebbe unusual on such a small boat, get a survey done. FAR cheaper than toad transport. If surveyis good, then sail her home, comfident she shouldn’t sink and any smaller issues that arise you can fix or get sorted en route.

 

[MoodySabre]

My son used Shiply to bring a Drascombe on its own trailer from Inverness to Pembroke two years ago. £700. The advantage of Shiply is that several people bid and anyone picking up a return load will be cheaper.

 

[srm]

We both have sea confidence, it's confidence in the condition of a just purchased boat that is lacking.

We are trying to arrange a viewing of the H23 this weekend.

Each of the five used sailing boat I have bought I have sailed home, the shortest trip was Irish Sea to Shetland. I allowed time to inspect everything and change what I did not like before starting out, including replacing all the standing rigging on my current boat.