Sail Scotland to Solent...or, put her on a truck?!?

Greenheart

Greenheart

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 Dec 2010
Messages
10,384
Visit site
This is a very idle ponder...I just saw an advertisement for a yacht-delivery company, with photos of the boats on trucks. Interestingly, many were fairly elderly boats - not decrepit, but not so precious and pristine that they couldn't have easily been sailed round for fear of getting wet.

I guess it must be very inexpensive to load a 35-footer aboard an enormous trailer and send it by road (often with escort vehicles), rather than pay for a couple of gallons of diesel and some pies, and sail her to the destination. A bit different if the journey is Kent to Istanbul, but most of the trips described were more like Hamble to Glasgow...well within the capacity of the vessels, with a fair crew, or if necessary with a paid skipper to take responsibility.

Has anybody investigated what by-road deliveries cost? Is it free? :D
 
Shop around.
Get a list of yottie hauliers and send them your specs; it is possible you could get on an otherwise empty return.
This time last year I had a 36 footer hauled from Liverpool to the Clyde for under £900 including VAT. Lifts at both ends were extra and arranged locally.
 
We did Largs - Solent in 7 days and 13 hours.

This included two nights in Howth, two nights in Falmouth, and a night in Dartmouth.

It cost around £280 in fuel and berthing

Three of us down to Falmouth, then two of us from Falmouth to the Solent

We had good weather.

On the way up to Scotland this time last year it took two of us 18 days
 
Interesting. But aren't there professional yacht-deliverers, who can sail a boat anywhere, without resorting to wheels? There certainly used to be.
 
It makes sense if the boat is being moved to do restorative work.

When I did it ten years ago it cost about £700 (Maryport to Ipswich). The craneage was about £300 for a lift on and and again for lift off. I'd stongly advise you to try to set it up through the departure or destination marina (or even both?) I know of cases where, if the transporting company has links to the marina the normal lift-out charge has covered lifting it on to the truck.

I also discovered the hard way that its worth avoiding the contractual paper work with a crane company. I was asked for a detailed "method statement", and a "risk assessment" and also to guarantee that there were no services (pipes etc) under where the crane was going to stand. All for a piddling little crane and boat. This makes a good case for getting in done by the marina crane man,
 
dancrane said:
Interesting. But aren't there professional yacht-deliverers, who can sail a boat anywhere, without resorting to wheels? There certainly used to be.
Click to expand...

There are, but if you're paying someone for 7 days of their time, plus fuel costs and one-way travel at each end, putting the boat on a truck can work out a lot cheaper. And there's no wear and tear on the boat.
 
Good points.

But, is a yacht actually (practically speaking) immune to damage from road humps/pot-holes/iffy suspension/rotten driving, whilst on the trailer? These companies seem to stand the vessel wholly on its keel, supporting the hull just as if it had been quietly left on hard-standing for the winter, with side-supports only for balance. Fine, as long as it's a smooth ride...

I've heard of (and seen) fin-keelers going hard aground at sea, without apparent damage, but impacts during road-haulage can't be much easier to bear. And the possibility can't have occurred to many designers as something to build-in resistance against.

Instead, maybe... (:eek: DANGER!! Idea coming up!! :eek:) ...Idle gap-year students or other competent dockside loafers could/should be herded together as crews, for any yacht whose owner would like to find his vessel in this or that random port or creek when he has the time to go sailing...the owner need only pay for the crew's return to the place they embarked...and a gallon of the local lagerly lubricant, per man...

Health & Safety types need not apply, or reply. :)
 
We (SWMBO & myself) did Chichester to Troon in 3 days and 18 hours and using about 2gallons of diesel. South Easterly meant broad reach down Channel, gybe past Lands End and straight up from there. Of course, we have a heavy old long keeled MAB (> 10 tons on 27ft LWL) so I'm sure a modern AWB would have been MUCH faster.... :)
 
Last edited:
As has been mentioned by Tranona on the other thread virtually all boats are delivered by road and dedicated yacht transporters have adjustable pads on their trailers to help distribute the weight.
Trailers have suspension which along with 6-10 tons of yacht actually provides quite a soft ride. In addition striking a rock with a keel at 6 knots or so is not exactly the same as a bit of joggling on a road transporter. Think inertia and kinetic energy.
 
Last edited:
I had my 30ftr delivered on a truck from Motril, Spain to Bristol, and it was around £3500, a few years ago. I'd just acquired it and it wasnt in a good enough state to sail it - and neither was it in a place convenient for me to sort it out. It was the cheapest option I could find, and definitely cheaper than having a skipper attempt to sail it - and anyway he'd have been risking his life!

The transport itself was, as others have said, very professional, with a modern cradle arrangement distributing the weight, and the driver knew what he was doing. I had to pay extra for lifts at either end of course. All in all it was an expense but well worth it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top