Your Yacht Transport experiences

[MBY editor]

Hello All,
We are researching an article on yacht transportation and thought it might be helpful to include a few first hand experiences from people who have had their boats moved within the last few years, either within the UK or overseas.
Ideally we are looking for one example of each of the three main methods: shipping, delivery crew and road haulage. Just requires a few minutes on the phone or via email with one of our writers.
Anyone happy to share their experiences?
Thanks
Hugo (MBY editor)

 

[Neil1300r]

Bought our first boat (if you ignore dingys when I was a teenager) in May this year. The boat was at Birdham marina, but we live close to Penton Hook Marina on the Thames. So along with the stress of buying a boat we also got it transported by road. All went really well. The other half refused to watch the loading/ unloading etc. The driver from Coast to Coast said it was not unusual for owners not to watch the lifting.
Only a relatively short journey, but happy to talk if it helps. Have pictures and videos of the day.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

I’ve just crewed for a delivery under power (flybridge motor boat) from Penton Hook to Brighton, boat then went on to Poole. Not uneventful. As long as it remains entirely anonymised I’m happy to share some of the details.

 

[MBY editor]

Bought our first boat (if you ignore dingys when I was a teenager) in May this year. The boat was at Birdham marina, but we live close to Penton Hook Marina on the Thames. So along with the stress of buying a boat we also got it transported by road. All went really well. The other half refused to watch the loading/ unloading etc. The driver from Coast to Coast said it was not unusual for owners not to watch the lifting.
Only a relatively short journey, but happy to talk if it helps. Have pictures and videos of the day.

That sounds ideal, could you pm me your contact details?

 

[MBY editor]

I’ve just crewed for a delivery under power (flybridge motor boat) from Penton Hook to Brighton, boat then went on to Poole. Not uneventful. As long as it remains entirely anonymised I’m happy to share some of the details.

Ideally we're looking for owners who've commissioned a transport company to move their boats rather than stories from the delivery company or crew

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Ideally we're looking for owners who've commissioned a transport company to move their boats rather than stories from the delivery company or crew

OK no problem. Standing down.

 

[Dino]

I bought my Broom Ocean 38 in Can Pastilla near Palma, Mallorca two years ago. We did a week long delivery cruise around Mallorca, across to Barcelona and left the boat in Villanova to get it trucked back to Ireland with Coast2Coast.
All documented here Mallorca boat purchase and delivery

 

[tico]

Bought our princess from Zeeland in Holland. Arranged for the boatyard to strip for transport and then used Van de Wetering to transport via road to west wales. Great experience.

 

[Paul HD]

I had my ComPac 23D shipped by road from Hull to Shepperton. I used a company called Squirrel Marine Ltd. They did a fantastic job.

 

[jakew009]

The other half refused to watch the loading/ unloading etc. The driver from Coast to Coast said it was not unusual for owners not to watch the lifting.

The less involvement the owner has in the process the better

Satisfy yourself they are properly insured and then just let them get on with it.

 

[MBY editor]

I bought my Broom Ocean 38 in Can Pastilla near Palma, Mallorca two years ago. We did a week long delivery cruise around Mallorca, across to Barcelona and left the boat in Villanova to get it trucked back to Ireland with Coast2Coast.
All documented here Mallorca boat purchase and delivery

Thank you, I'll pass that on to our writer.

 

[MBY editor]

Bought our princess from Zeeland in Holland. Arranged for the boatyard to strip for transport and then used Van de Wetering to transport via road to west wales. Great experience.

Thank you, I'll pass that on too.

 

[MBY editor]

Has anybody used a delivery crew or had their boat shipped by sea rather than road? Would be good to get an example of each if possible.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

@dustywings had some memorable experiences if I recall correctly!

 

[DavidJ]

September 2023 had my S37 transported by road by South-West transport from Empuriabrava, Spain to Burton Waters UK, where it was sold. (In 3 weeks!!)
Peters & May handled the paperwork and had good direct communications with the transport company. No problems at all ….and no VAT payable (I was the original exporter)
Wide loads not allowed on French motorways, they had to take the country route so the transport company needed the radar taken off.
I put an Apple tag on the boat so I could track it and was surprised at the delays they have to endure. It took a week for 1000 miles.
I got a return load so all in including cranes, legals, preparation, everything, just short of £10,000 and no VAT on transport which I didn’t know.
My boat insurance company wanted £100 to cover transportation.

 

[jfm]

I've done Southampton to Med as deck cargo 4 times = 2 x Sq58, 2x Sq78. Usual suspects = Peters+May, Sevenstar, PSP. Several years ago though.

Nothing very eventful to report really. Chocks distorted the first boat a bit so I've insisted on cradles ever since. Craning on/off is scary for the owner but generally very competently done. Diverting of ship to pick up late cargo bookings, requiring loading+unloading of your boat mid passage (without telling you!) was the biggest annoyance in my experience.

Very boring, long, low res, watching-paint-dry video here

 

[jfm]

@dustywings had some memorable experiences if I recall correctly!

Dustywings has experience of loading but not of unloading, alas. A squadron 58, if I recall correctly.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Dustywings has experience of loading but not of unloading, alas. A squadron 58, if I recall correctly.

That’s right! His second one came by road.

 

[Neil1300r]

Boring? Scared the life out of me just watching the video! 2 cranes lifting, I couldn't work out if they were linked, 1 controller or 2. How close was it the other boat as it was being loaded. Glad I saw that after having mine lifted, transported by road then lifed into the water. Mine was a lot easier to watch, I may not have watched if I'd seen this first.

 

[MBY editor]

September 2023 had my S37 transported by road by South-West transport from Empuriabrava, Spain to Burton Waters UK, where it was sold. (In 3 weeks!!)
Peters & May handled the paperwork and had good direct communications with the transport company. No problems at all ….and no VAT payable (I was the original exporter)
Wide loads not allowed on French motorways, they had to take the country route so the transport company needed the radar taken off.
I put an Apple tag on the boat so I could track it and was surprised at the delays they have to endure. It took a week for 1000 miles.
I got a return load so all in including cranes, legals, preparation, everything, just short of £10,000 and no VAT on transport which I didn’t know.
My boat insurance company wanted £100 to cover transportation.View attachment 179995View attachment 179996View attachment 179997View attachment 179998

Thank you, lots of good info there. I'll PM you about the details if that's ok