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Transporting a boat along the gulf coast.

Discussion in 'Yacht Transport Ships' started by CSlaughter, Feb 17, 2015.

  1. CSlaughter

    CSlaughter New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2015
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    Location:
    Austin, Texas
    Please forgive me if I am posting this question in the wrong location.

    I am trying to judge what the various costs are fro transporting a boat from Florida to Texas.
    I know there are some bigger companies that do it for 10's of thousands of dollars. But I am trying to identify the cost of transporting a boat over water. It looks like short of a commercial operation, the only option is some sort of tug.
    Now let me set the stage, I have not selected a specific boat, but will assume it is a 40' sport fish.
    How fast can a tug escort this size boat, how fast can it go, and what might be an average hourly rate for this type of service?

    I am getting numbers for over land transport, but would like your thoughts on this if possible.

    Carl
  2. AlfredZ

    AlfredZ Senior Member

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    Oct 29, 2009
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    Location:
    Landlocked in Europe
    Hi there,

    It is much more simple than a tug boat operation for the size boat you mention. There are delivery captains specialized in such transports. A captain will pick the boat up, make sure it is ready for the trip, then take it to the desired destination. You get to choose what you want to invest further in, saving time or fuel. The captain can go fast and consume more fuel but he will charge you less for his time, (Usually it is either a daily rate or a lump sum, +expenses), or go slow to save fuel, but the rate will be different. Only actual costs of delivery and stats for a certain boat can get you the right picture. For now on, I guess the specialized captain will contribute the current rates and more detail of such an operation.

    Cheers.
  3. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    Sarasota/Ft. Lauderdale FL
    Are you lookeding to ship if on a ship or have it delivered on its own bottom?

    If you are looking to have it delivered on its own bottom we would need to know things like speed and range of vessel, how fast you want it there, exactly from where to where, etc. Before anyone could give you a real idea of the delivery costs.
  4. NEO56

    NEO56 Member

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    May 2, 2014
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    Location:
    Miami
    You live in Austin, so you're land locked, are you going to put it on a lake, or keep it on the coast? If you're going to put it on a lake, you're better off putting it on a flat bed trailer. With Freight every time somebody touches it, the costs go up. If you have a Captain bring it to Houston and then put it on land transportation you've just doubled your shipping costs.
  5. dsharp

    dsharp Senior Member

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    Aug 23, 2009
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    Location:
    lake jackson, tx
    What part of Florida? If you run it on it's own bottom you can estimate approximately 200 miles a day. As stated fuel burn is contingent on speed. 30 gal/hour would be a reasonably start. Are you planning to keep the boat in Port Aransas? Not sure what a captain and mate are getting at this time.
    There are plenty of boats for sale in the Clear Lake/Galveston area.
  6. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Fort Lauderdale
    I have done several deliveries from South Florida to as far as Corpus Cristi, TX on the Gulf coast. I don't understand why you'd need a tug. It can be run on it's own bottom without a tug or anything. What type of boat is it? Year/Model? Captains/mates charge by the day. If you tell me where in Texas it's going, from where, what boat, I could pretty much tell you what it's going to cost.

    It's probably best to just run the GIWW once you get to Pensacola as inlets are a long run in and out West of there (when traveling east to west or vice versa). Don't expect to make 200 NM per day for most of this trip. Going across Lake Okeechobee is slow, the GIWW west of Pensacola, you can run most of it at cruise speed but your fuel and marina stops are very few and far between, usually 80-100NM.
  7. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    I agree with what others have said. Have a captain bring it across, and let me add that you should go with him. It'll be a big education (and save you the cost of a second crew member.
    As for figuring the cost, it can vary widely depending on the boat you buy, the route you take, the weather you hit or the luck you have. A guy was on here awhile ago who blew a motor on his way home from purchase. When you're at the stage of moving, your captain should be able to give you a fairly close estimate, but even a weather day could increase the cost by several hundreds of dollars. VERY loosely put at least $10,000 aside, but that could be off by several thousand either way.
  8. Takeahike

    Takeahike New Member

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    It depends on a few factors, and to some extent, which company you use. In my opinion, the best practice is to call around and compare some prices. That's what my husband did when we shipped ours for a vacation. He called around 5 places before settling on one and the prices we're all over the place. FWIW, he used A1 Auto Transport in the end (they also ship boats in the US & internationally).
  9. Takeahike

    Takeahike New Member

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    May 2, 2016
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    Shoot! This is from las year. Hopefully you got it all squared away :)