Towing a boat to Greece from the UK - Mad idea?

seanfoster

seanfoster

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This time of year when the nights draw in I always start longing of cruising somewhere warm!

I've been looking at marinas in Greece and came across Messolonghi which is still under construction, but consequently has very reasonable rates - I could keep my 26ft boat there for less than £1400 per year.

I have a very strong purpose built trailer for my boat (dufour 1800) and a Mitsubishi Shogun which is more than capable of towing it.

I have done a route plan (on the tom tom website - much better than the rac one!) and it has worked out an overland route (with the exception of the channel crossing) of just under 2100 miles. At an average of 20mpg that will cost me around £550 each way in fuel (actually a lot less on the return journey), so combined with the adventure sounds feasible.

Questions are, has anyone taken a boat of this size on a cross channel ferry? Obviously it is possible because HGV's are much bigger, but wondered about costs? (I know I can look on websites, but I'm looking for anyone;s experiences).

Also if I decided to tow her to somewhere like Gouvia or Preveza, I would have to take her on a local ferry or one from Brisini, would I be able to take the whole lot on one of those ferries?

Anyone done it? Is it worth it? Or am I being daft?!
 
Getting from Italy to Greece has a lot of options. I have done the Brindisi route and it is a long way to drive to the bottom of Italy - about 400 km (from memory) further than to Venice. The ferry is much cheaper and shorter journey, but ferries are old. No problem with the trailer. On my out journey there were only 3 cars and a camper - the rest was chock full of trucks, mainly Greek and Turkish. The alternatives are Venice with modern fast ferries and Ancona or Bari. Three main destinations are Corfu, Ignoumitsa and Patras - the latter two OK for Messolonghi , Preveza and Levkas. You will need to get quotes from the ferry companies to work out the best route for you, remembering that Venice is a two day voyage.

Although there are many attractions in keeping your boat out there (I did for 10 years), costs are much higher than they used to be and access from UK variable. Corfu is the best with daily flights plus charter flights usually at weekends. For the southern ports either charter flights to Preveza or Athens and then bus.

You will need to check that you can tow your rig without a permit through each of the countries on the way.
 
Growing Lad on this Forum towed his 21' motor boat behind his Land Rover from England to Greece, and he has written a fair bit about his travels in the past - here is a link to one of his posts : http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2543275#post2543275

I have no experience of this, but it sounds like it would be a good adventure!
I have a couple of pals who recently got back home to England after going across Europe to Petra on motor bikes and back again (they decided to hang up their wellies for a while, and do something a bit different), and they had an amazing time.
 
width restrictions

I had an eboat 22 foot long 8 foot plus a bit wide.

legal in the Uk at the time - but for the continent they had to design a trailer that tipped it up over on one side to make it legal

we towed it from Oxford to the west coast of scotland two summers in a row behind a 1600cc car Sierra


your journey sounds like an adventure

but in my book in order to count as a real adventure at some stage you have to wish you were not on it

but it would be a good story to tell

Dylan
 
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In Australia I used to tow my 25 foot yacht 2500km to the Whitsunday’s and 2500km back a month later. I did this every year for 15 or so years. No problems other than a few blown tyres and 1 kangaroo that unfortunately came off second best.
This doesn’t help you with local laws, conditions etc, but does show long towing distances with the right equipment is safe and feasible.
 
What happened to the overland route all the way via the Balkans. No ferries. I did it once in an oldish Volkswagan through what was then Yugoslavia then Albania to Greece.

Met lots and lots of folk doing the same in home made camper busses en route to Australia. "Sydney or Bust" painted on the van sides.

There was also a regular migration of Turks in overloaded Mercedes cars from Germany to their home with everything they own on the luggage rack.

Ask Haydn (hlb) who trucked down that way every week.
 
seanfoster said:
This time of year when the nights draw in I always start longing of cruising somewhere warm!

I've been looking at marinas in Greece and came across Messolonghi which is still under construction, but consequently has very reasonable rates - I could keep my 26ft boat there for less than £1400 per year.

I have a very strong purpose built trailer for my boat (dufour 1800) and a Mitsubishi Shogun which is more than capable of towing it.

I have done a route plan (on the tom tom website - much better than the rac one!) and it has worked out an overland route (with the exception of the channel crossing) of just under 2100 miles. At an average of 20mpg that will cost me around £550 each way in fuel (actually a lot less on the return journey), so combined with the adventure sounds feasible.

Questions are, has anyone taken a boat of this size on a cross channel ferry? Obviously it is possible because HGV's are much bigger, but wondered about costs? (I know I can look on websites, but I'm looking for anyone;s experiences).

Also if I decided to tow her to somewhere like Gouvia or Preveza, I would have to take her on a local ferry or one from Brisini, would I be able to take the whole lot on one of those ferries?

Anyone done it? Is it worth it? Or am I being daft?!
Click to expand...

Might sound a silly idea but have you considered sailing it? :)
 
I agree with Tranona: much better to take the ferry from Venice than drive to Brindisi. The petrol and motorway savings would probably more than make up for the extra ferry charge. Alternatively, drive all the way; it's motorway most of the way.
 
BlueTwo said:
What happened to the overland route all the way via the Balkans. No ferries. I did it once in an oldish Volkswagan through what was then Yugoslavia then Albania to Greece.

Met lots and lots of folk doing the same in home made camper busses en route to Australia. "Sydney or Bust" painted on the van sides.

There was also a regular migration of Turks in overloaded Mercedes cars from Germany to their home with everything they own on the luggage rack.

Ask Haydn (hlb) who trucked down that way every week.
Click to expand...

The route is all motorway now down to Split (if you follow the coast road) or Zagreb (if you take the inland route towards Thessaloniki and miss Albania). The motorway journey is relatively easy - I drive once or twice a year to Split - the 1200 miles from Calais takes me almost exactly 24 hours.

However, after Split/Zagreb the roads are much slower and I guess your average speed will at least halve. However, I think I would take the inland route to Thessalonikki as the coast route will take forever.

In my youth I motorbiked to Greece almost every year and have used the crossings from Ancona, Bari and Brindisi many times. However, I think these will be very expensive with a car and boat and if time is not a constraint I might be tempted to use road all the way.

Richard
 
seanfoster said:
Never thought of that!!!

Seriously, I would love to, but at the moment I haven't got time to devote to it. I think I could take it by road in 3-4 days, and then fly down for extended breaks on her.
Click to expand...

I reckon that if you went through the canal system then on to the Ionian it would cost £2,000 in fuel, licenses, canal marina berths just to get to the Mediterranean. Then run the gamut of the Mediterranean marinas to Greece. I would say a total of £2,000 to £4,000. So driving down would be cheaper as well as quicker.
 
I recon it takes at least 25% longer to go anywhere trailing instead of wizzing along in a car. For that sort of distance I would allow a bit more and hope to do it in a bit less.

When we went to Rimini finding somewhere and stopping for the night added to the time taken and the cost, with the boat on the back you have the option of using it as a caravan if you want to.

Some folk in the Trail Sail Association have been to the continent and may know about the legalities, but I don't know of anyone going so far.
 
seanfoster said:
Never thought of that!!!

Seriously, I would love to, but at the moment I haven't got time to devote to it. I think I could take it by road in 3-4 days, and then fly down for extended breaks on her.
Click to expand...

For many people sailing the boat there, either around the outside or through the canals is a big part of the "adventure". If the sole object is to have a boat out there for extended visits, probably better to buy one already there. There is plenty of choice of boats from small old boats like yours to newer, bigger (and arguably more suitable) ones. One big advantage is that they are likely to be equipped for the climate - you could easily find yourself spending £5k+ on "essential" Med gear even on a small boat like yours.

If you don't have experience of living on a boat out there, suggest you do a week's bareboat so that you appreciate how different it is from sailing in UK waters.
 
BlueTwo said:
I reckon that if you went through the canal system then on to the Ionian it would cost £2,000 in fuel, licenses, canal marina berths just to get to the Mediterranean. Then run the gamut of the Mediterranean marinas to Greece. I would say a total of £2,000 to £4,000. So driving down would be cheaper as well as quicker.
Click to expand...

That is probably an underestimate. Having just brought my boat back the other way, our food, fuel and marina charges for the shortest direct route from Corfu to Sant Carles in Spain (just on 1000 miles) was about £1200 out of season (May).

I think that, unless you treat that as part of the adventure there is no advantage buying a boat here and taking it there - just as there is little advantage buying at the (usually) lower price there and bringing back here.
 
I don't know how things are now, but when I used to take a glider to France the ferries could be very expensive for the trailer - it takes the space of a couple of cars but generates none of the on-board revenue they depend on.

The way round this was to turn up at Dover in the wee small hours and ask the various companies what deal they would do. This could typical bring the price down from £300 to £50 - or even free in some cases.
 
Ubergeekian said:
I don't know how things are now, but when I used to take a glider to France the ferries could be very expensive for the trailer - it takes the space of a couple of cars but generates none of the on-board revenue they depend on.

The way round this was to turn up at Dover in the wee small hours and ask the various companies what deal they would do. This could typical bring the price down from £300 to £50 - or even free in some cases.
Click to expand...

That's a good tip thanks!
I've had a look at P&O's site, you can specify the length and height of the trailer, and it gives you a price dependent on the dims. I put in a length of 8.5 m with a height of 3m and got a price (one way) of £135.
 
seanfoster said:
That's a good tip thanks!
I've had a look at P&O's site, you can specify the length and height of the trailer, and it gives you a price dependent on the dims. I put in a length of 8.5 m with a height of 3m and got a price (one way) of £135.
Click to expand...

That's not too bad - I was paying £75 each way for a glider trailer Portsmouth - Le Havre ten years ago. I investigated Rosyth Zeebrugge - they wanted £500 each way ...
 
I sold a 22ft motor boat to a guy who trailed it behind his rigid HGV which was full of his lifes possesions (including a 3 series BMW) as he was moving to zante, he later got in touch and said it was ok apart from one of the 4 wheels on the trailer seizing up just before the Mont Blonc tunnel, I asked what he did to which he replied 'no problem, just let the tyre down and used the other 3wheels' a braver man than I :)
 
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