Yacht transport costs... Essex to Oban?

Captain Crisp

Captain Crisp

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Does anyone have a ballpark figure for transporting a 28ft yacht by road from Essex to Oban?
(Bit of covid-induced fantasising going on here)
 
Just had a 31' from Neyland S Wales to Poole Approx 230 miles. £1500 for truck, £200 each end for crane and £400 to prepare for transport - mast down and packed, Wind genny removed and stowed. Mast stepping this end will be another £200.

With a smaller 28', particularly if it is a bilge keeler you may be able to use a flat bed with a HIAB and as suggested to and from Scotland you stand a chance of a return load which will reduce the truck component. However, look at between £2-2.5k as ball park.
 
Last year took a 34ft keel boat from Chichester to Cumbria as a back load for £1,000 plus lift each end.

I know you want to go to Oban, but I would get quotes to 'anywhere on the Clyde'. This will reduce your mileage / hours (on small roads) and radically increase the chances of tying it in with a return load from any of the more popular Clyde yards.

Treat the Clyde to Oban as part of your sailing adventure.
 
Motor_Sailor said:
Last year took a 34ft keel boat from Chichester to Cumbria as a back load for £1,000 plus lift each end.

I know you want to go to Oban, but I would get quotes to 'anywhere on the Clyde'. This will reduce your mileage / hours (on small roads) and radically increase the chances of tying it in with a return load from any of the more popular Clyde yards.

Treat the Clyde to Oban as part of your sailing adventure.
Click to expand...

That sounds like you got an excellent deal! How do you go about getting a 'back' load deal?
Thanks
Crisp
 
Had a few clients look into similar trips recently and it was coming out between 2.5 to £3k. I am presuming for a "back load".
 
Captain Crisp said:
That sounds like you got an excellent deal! How do you go about getting a 'back' load deal?
Thanks
Crisp
Click to expand...
Talk to the transport firms direct to find out who does regular trips north south and say you are looking for a return load. You need to be flexible on dates as most loads are booked at short notice and transporters look to see if they can get a back load. Many of them use Shiply referred to above so worth putting an enquiry through that. You stand a better chance if you have your boat all packed up ready to go and a co-operative yard who will lift at short notice.

For my recent job I got 6 quotes, all within about 10% of eachother but little chance of a back load as it is not a popular route. Most have on line quote systems so you get responses within 24 hours.
 
: . . . How do you go about getting a 'back' load deal? "

I spoke to a number of companies in September and told them the boat was all ready packed up and ready to go at any time at their convenience before early May the following year. One firm said they had a number of powerboats to shift off Windermere and were happy for a load going the other way. They had already won the contract to shift the boats south, so anything they could get for a load north was a win for everyone.
 
It's six years since I last had one moved but on that occasion I had a 34ft yacht moved from Gosport to Largs. The costing worked as £120 for the lift on at Combined Services yard at Haslar, 1600 for the road journey and about 300 to the marina at Largs. For boat transport I have always used John Shepherd (07836 706119) and on each occasion when I phoned him he gave me dates on which he could offer a reduced cost as he had another movement to offset the cost. These dates were within a week of the call and were convenient to me. On the last trip mentioned above I found out that the other trip had been cancelled but he honoured the price quoted anyway.

Edit, post#3 refers to Shepherd transport.
 
Last edited:
I also used John Shepard for a 34 foot boat from Southsea to Kip in 2012, cost was £1500. Had to wait for a back load but was only around a week. Interestingly the same shipped had taken the boat south in around 2008 for the same cost. I am sure costs will have increased since then. Very friendly efficient service. Obviously hoist costs are extra and charged by the corresponding marinas.
 
As I posted earlier, Shiply is quite an effective tool. I considered doing this when I decided to bring Capricious (Moody 31) to the East Coast in 2016, and got quotes under £1000 for a return load. But I decided against it for several reasons:
  1. While getting the transport arranged wasn't too expensive, coordinating lifts at both ends seemed difficult, especially as the marina where I kept her used a crane that could not operate at wind speeds above a fairly low level (20kt, I think).
  2. The boat has, of course, to be unrigged and the mast down.
  3. I decided that sailing her down
    1. Wouldn't be that much more expensive
    2. Could happen when it was convenient to me
    3. Would be a big adventure!
But I could afford the time to sail down; it took three weeks, including waiting for weather and rest days.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
As I posted earlier, Shiply is quite an effective tool. I considered doing this when I decided to bring Capricious (Moody 31) to the East Coast in 2016, and got quotes under £1000 for a return load. But I decided against it for several reasons:
  1. While getting the transport arranged wasn't too expensive, coordinating lifts at both ends seemed difficult, especially as the marina where I kept her used a crane that could not operate at wind speeds above a fairly low level (20kt, I think).
  2. The boat has, of course, to be unrigged and the mast down.
  3. I decided that sailing her down
    1. Wouldn't be that much more expensive
    2. Could happen when it was convenient to me
    3. Would be a big adventure!
But I could afford the time to sail down; it took three weeks, including waiting for weather and rest days.
Click to expand...

+1 Quite.
It's a sailing boat
 
AntarcticPilot said:
As I posted earlier, Shiply is quite an effective tool. I considered doing this when I decided to bring Capricious (Moody 31) to the East Coast in 2016, and got quotes under £1000 for a return load. But I decided against it for several reasons:
  1. While getting the transport arranged wasn't too expensive, coordinating lifts at both ends seemed difficult, especially as the marina where I kept her used a crane that could not operate at wind speeds above a fairly low level (20kt, I think).
  2. The boat has, of course, to be unrigged and the mast down.
  3. I decided that sailing her down
    1. Wouldn't be that much more expensive
    2. Could happen when it was convenient to me
    3. Would be a big adventure!
But I could afford the time to sail down; it took three weeks, including waiting for weather and rest days.
Click to expand...

i have used Shiply a few times for boat transporting , one way ; They are a sort of Broker who distribute you requirements in a general way allowing for their Clients, Agents to contact you direct to obtain firm details etc and make thire own /best offers ; It helps a great deal if one can be flexiable over dates ahead , like next 2 weeks , next month etc

Would recommend Shiply
 
Yes, post it on Shiply and wait for a few days, quotes seem to go down and down.

Just remember that transport costs are dead money, you won't ever get them back and that extra couple of grand could have been spent on a better, more local, boat.
 
Tranona said:
It may well be a sailing boat but that does not mean sailing it is the most appropriate way if getting it from where it is now to where the OP wants it located.
Click to expand...
Well said. It depends entirely on circumstances. I had recently retired, could afford the time, and was fortunate to find crew for the journey who could cover the entire trip. I was also confident of my navigation and sailing skills. If any one of those boxes hadn't been ticked, I'd have gone for road transport or a paid delivery skipper (one guy offered for less than the price of road transport!).

I did consider the possibility of selling and buying again, but the thought of getting another boat set up how I wanted put me off; it would probably cost a lot more than £1000-£2000 to do that, unless I was exceptionally lucky!
 
Bodach na mara said:
It's six years since I last had one moved but on that occasion I had a 34ft yacht moved from Gosport to Largs. The costing worked as £120 for the lift on at Combined Services yard at Haslar, 1600 for the road journey and about 300 to the marina at Largs. For boat transport I have always used John Shepherd (07836 706119) and on each occasion when I phoned him he gave me dates on which he could offer a reduced cost as he had another movement to offset the cost. These dates were within a week of the call and were convenient to me. On the last trip mentioned above I found out that the other trip had been cancelled but he honoured the price quoted anyway.

Edit, post#3 refers to Shepherd transport.
Click to expand...

+1 for John Shepherd he moved a 42 footer for me a few years ago. Excellent from start to finish. As someone else said though, get it delivered to one of the many Clyde marinas and then have a lovely sail home!
 
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