Motor Yacht 50ft from the Netherlands / Amsterdam to the Med. / Spain, Barcelona

[Skipper Felice]

The idea is to take a good boat, 50/55ft, 2x Volvo Penta D12-676, 20 years old, 1000 engine hours to Spain.

This could be done by road transportation or by sea or rivers through France.
Duration of the trip is not relevant; it could be 4-6 weeks.
Who has experience in transferring a motorboat/ small yacht from Holland (or England) to Spain - Barcelona?

 

[jfm]

I've done it by road transporter and as deck cargo on a ship, many times. Both very easy. You will be close to the limit for road transport - it depends on the exact dimensions of your boat especially the height

I have not done it by driving the boat under its own power. Would be nice if the weather is good, and horrible if the weather is bad. 55 feet isn't big in some of the waves you could encounter.

 

[Tranona]

Canal/river is out because of air draft and water draft. Road possible . Ship definitely. Many have done it by sea - forum member Hurricane for example with similar size boat but summer only and take your time. Good trip if you have the time.

 

[DavidJ]

As a guide on cost.
37ft sports boat Spain to UK by road transport last year with a return load £10,000
Even a 37 footer is too wide for French motorways so standard roads with overhanging trees are part of the journey.

 

[Hurricane]

Yep - I've done it by sea but she was a new boat and a bit bigger.
We have done the Holland to UK bit in the past as well - in our old 51 footer with D12s

Anyway, you might find this report - Torquay to Sant Carles (Spanish Med) in 7 days.
Princess 67 Delivery - UK to Spain - Loads of Pics and Videos

UK to seeing the North Africa mountains in just 5 days.

Trip of a lifetime
Done in late September.

 

[julians]

The idea is to take a good boat, 50/55ft, 2x Volvo Penta D12-676, 20 years old, 1000 engine hours to Spain.

This could be done by road transportation or by sea or rivers through France.
Duration of the trip is not relevant; it could be 4-6 weeks.
Who has experience in transferring a motorboat/ small yacht from Holland (or England) to Spain - Barcelona?

Not quite what you're after , but sort of similar - I sailed a 34 foot sailing boat from falmouth,england to gibraltar - via the bay of biscay. we set off in early June.

It took two weeks, sailing for a few days at a time, taking it in turns on watch , 3 hours on, 3 hours off . Every few days we would stop in a marina en route for a day or two to rest, stock up on provisions and see the sights. There were 5 of us on board. I think we stopped 3 or 4 times in total.

It was quite hard work - which I guess is to be expected

 

[PlanB]

Our retirement trip in 2005 (we retired early) was to motor our Princess 435 from London to the Med.
We left in May and arrived in October, making about 25 stops of 2-3 or so days en route (plus one enforced stay of ten days in A Coruna while a turbo was rebuilt).
We coast hopped round Biscay, partly from choice and partly at the request of our insurers.
The fuel costs then was about £10K (budgeted for) - I hate to think what it might be now.
It was a fabulous trip.

More detail here https://forums.ybw.com/conversations/re-slow-trip-to-the-med.130283/#convMessage-130283

 

[dunedin]

Our retirement trip in 2005 (we retired early) was to motor our Princess 435 from London to the Med.
We left in May and arrived in October, making about 25 stops of 2-3 or so days en route (plus one enforced stay of ten days in A Coruna while a turbo was rebuilt).
We coast hopped round Biscay, partly from choice and partly at the request of our insurers.
The fuel costs then was about £10K (budgeted for) - I hate to think what it might be now.
It was a fabulous trip.

More detail here https://forums.ybw.com/conversations/re-slow-trip-to-the-med.130283/#convMessage-130283

That’s the key thing - if retired and have the time, treat it as an adventure and do the trip slowly coast hopping. Should be great fun (even if bigger fuel bills on partial boats that lack mast and sails )
With modern forecasts and patience will not need to travel in any weather that would trouble a 50 foot mobo.

 

[Skipper Felice]

I see from the interesting posts by

@dunedin, @PlanB, @julians and @Hurricane ​

that the sea route is the best way to the south. I enjoyed reading the stories about the overpasses - great.​

Road and overland is a problem mainly because of obstacles and draft. The costs are also considerable and it's no fun at all.
I hadn't calculated the route through France via rivers because of the width and height: that doesn't work either.
That leaves only sea freight - which is easy to do from Rotterdam or Antwep to Barcelona or Marseille.

So I would opt for the seafarer option: 40-60 days to the Mediterranean. Lots of stopovers and usually only 40-60 nautical miles per leg. Visit lots of marinas and places and plan the journey according to the weather, wind and waves from day to day. Based on situation and weather I would do slow speed or planning speed. Or eaven some leg by night (and moonshine if possible). As some people mentioned: "It's a trip of a lifetime" - and a great skipper adventure.

 

[jfm]

Sounds good. A decision to think about is whether to do Biscay in one leg, or go around the edge. Straight line Brest to a Coruna is 340nm, around the edge is about 2.1x ie 720nm. Big difference.

 

[Skipper Felice]

Sounds good. A decision to think about is whether to do Biscay in one leg, or go around the edge. Straight line Brest to a Coruna is 340nm, around the edge is about 2.1x ie 720nm. Big difference.

Yes - the two parts is some challenge. I have no experience yet for a nonstop 340nm trip with a 50ft boat. But if I will have to plan the trip I will take an experienced skipper with me and we will see, how to do the big legs.

 

[dunedin]

Sounds good. A decision to think about is whether to do Biscay in one leg, or go around the edge. Straight line Brest to a Coruna is 340nm, around the edge is about 2.1x ie 720nm. Big difference.

But Brest to La Rochelle has some really stunning cruising grounds - including Morbihan up to Vannes, Belle Isle, Isle de Yeu etc.
The Gironde is a bit shallow- but La Rochelle to Bilbao direct is under 200nm. Can be interesting weather if time that bit wrong, but again careful checking of forecasts and avoiding wishful thinking (ie if in doubt wait) should make quite safe.

 

[Hurricane]

I see from the interesting posts by

@dunedin, @PlanB, @julians and @Hurricane ​

that the sea route is the best way to the south. I enjoyed reading the stories about the overpasses - great.​

Road and overland is a problem mainly because of obstacles and draft. The costs are also considerable and it's no fun at all.
I hadn't calculated the route through France via rivers because of the width and height: that doesn't work either.
That leaves only sea freight - which is easy to do from Rotterdam or Antwep to Barcelona or Marseille.

So I would opt for the seafarer option: 40-60 days to the Mediterranean. Lots of stopovers and usually only 40-60 nautical miles per leg. Visit lots of marinas and places and plan the journey according to the weather, wind and waves from day to day. Based on situation and weather I would do slow speed or planning speed. Or eaven some leg by night (and moonshine if possible). As some people mentioned: "It's a trip of a lifetime" - and a great skipper adventure.

You haven't said what model the boat is.
You did say that you want to get to the Spanish Med.
How about talking to Coast to Coast - they take quite large loads through Spain.
For example a friend and poster on this forum had his boat (could be larger than you are suggesting) transported by road from Southampton to Sant Carles - by ferry and road.
I hope he doesn't mind me posting this photo but this is his boat arriving in Sant Carles.



So you can see that it is possible.
I'm sure he would confirm that Coast to Coast did a great job.

I think this would be the most cost effective way with less stress to the boat.

Maybe sail the boat to Southampton and get Coast to Coast to take he the rest of the way.
Coast to Coast often deliver to Sant Carles so know the drill and have a good relationship with the staff in Sant Carles Marina.
They use ferries from Southampton to Bilbao and then drive through Spain.
I believe that the Coast to Coast "charge hand" (if thats the right word) lives near Bilbao and escorts the load from there.
A really knowledgeable guy.
IIRC, my friend had regular photos sent during the transport.

In your shoes, I would probably want to deliver the boat myself but my own delivery (a 20m Princess) was done whilst she was a new boat.
You might prefer to put less stress on the boat and deliver her by road.
Sant Carles Marina is managed by the UK's MDL Marinas so the staff all speak English and understand the importance of such a delivery.
The boatyard in Sant Carles has a big enough travel hoist to unload and there are good engineers to recommission her prior to relaunch.

 

[Hurricane]

Sounds good. A decision to think about is whether to do Biscay in one leg, or go around the edge. Straight line Brest to a Coruna is 340nm, around the edge is about 2.1x ie 720nm. Big difference.

We planed across in one hit which took us very close to our max range.
We also went from Benodet to Gijon which doesn't cross the middle.
So an extra day was required to "get round the corner" to the Portuguese coast.
To cross in one (or even the same route that we took), a smaller boat would probably have to do a lot of displacement sailing which would take that crossing into more than a daylight day.
The beauty of our delivery was that we kept to daylight cruising - and treating ourselves to a nice dinner ashore each night.
So the advice of going the longer way round seems to be sensible.

 

[tico]

For transport (if you decide to truck it), talk to Van De Wetering, They are the experts in big boat movement and based in the Netherlands.
I can confirm that they do a great job.

 

[PlanB]

We were relatively new to boating when we did the trip and our insurers would have required an experienced crew member had we wanted to cross Biscay direct. We also had be be clear of Biscay by 30 September.
Also, we particularly wanted to see Biarritz (having seen it, don't quite know why!).
However, Cap Breton was a delight and we really liked Getxo (for Bilbao). A Coruna was lovely, too.
Arcachon was an experience not to be repeated if there were an alternative,
We experienced only one day of rough seas caused by the shelf, between Zumaya and Getxco.

 

[Newbroom]

I have done a few trips in Trader motor yachts round by sea from the UK and lots of trips Netherlands to UK.
Have also done the inland routes from Calais to Sete and then coast hopped to Spain before crossing to the Balerics
The sea option depends on range of the boat to decide the route and then on seaworthiness of the boat and experience of crew

 

[Skipper Felice]

...
Have also done the inland routes from Calais to Sete and then coast hopped to Spain before crossing to the Balerics
The sea option depends on range of the boat to decide the route and then on seaworthiness of the boat and experience of crew

Can you give some detail information about the route Calais to Sete / inland?
Would this be possible with a Princess 50 Fly, beam / draught: 4.47 / 1.12 m, clearance: 5.25 m

 

[PlanB]

Well, it wasn't possible with a 435, so won't be with a 50, I suspect.
We looked at taking down the radar arch, but would still have had to remove the perspex coaming and possibly the handrails.
Far too much hassle - and the outside passage was more fun.
Going at canal speed with twin engines of that size is also not ideal.

 

[Lannett]

We recently took our boat from Ireland to Spanish med. used Coast2coast the whole process was very easy. We did look into motoring the boat to the med, but the time it would take and the risk factor was too great.
If I had the time and maybe a different boat I’d consider it maybe.