Road Transportation for Ericson 35 - Los Angeles to Vancouver

[Rebecca Ericson]

Hi Sailors!

Wondering if anyone has any contacts for independent boat transporters that can do a de-rig of the mast, transport and re-rig? We want to transport our Ericson 35 to Vancouver, from Los Angeles, but costs with Mogur, Associated Transport and Cardinal are too high. We are considering doing the de-rig and re-rig ourselves but ideally would find someone to do the whole package for us.

Bit of a shot in the dark, but we have our fingers crossed there's someone out there!

 

[bgary]

I used Dudley (based in Gig Harbor, WA) to get my boat from marina del rey to everett, WA. They did a great job.

Note that most boat-haulers ONLY do the hauling. They expect the boat to be ready to load onto the truck when they arrive. There's a bunch of work to do beyond not just pulling the rig ... (e.g.) storing things down below so they won't move around on the trip, protecting things like windows and instruments and hatches so they aren't damaged by the 60mph winds on the road, etc.

JMHO, you could hire a boatyard to do those things but you can do most of that prep yourself, and save yourself a lot of $$$. For my trip, I took the boat to the yard and had the mast pulled, then *I* did all the boat prep (inside and out), and on the day the truck was due to arrive I motored the eady-to-load boat over to the yard and they loaded it and the mast onto the truck. The yard had estimated 3 workers for 2 days to do the prep work, plus storage fees, plus materials, plus-plus-plus. They said it'd cost me $7-8k. I did all the prep myself, it cost me a few hundred bucks at Home Depot for bubble-wrap and tape and such, plus 4 days of vacation time. ymmv

The trip itself cost about $4k, plus a couple hundred bucks worth of crane-time at each end.

Bruce

 

[Rebecca Ericson]

I used Dudley (based in Gig Harbor, WA) to get my boat from marina del rey to everett, WA. They did a great job.

Note that most boat-haulers ONLY do the hauling. They expect the boat to be ready to load onto the truck when they arrive. There's a bunch of work to do beyond not just pulling the rig ... (e.g.) storing things down below so they won't move around on the trip, protecting things like windows and instruments and hatches so they aren't damaged by the 60mph winds on the road, etc.

JMHO, you could hire a boatyard to do those things but you can do most of that prep yourself, and save yourself a lot of $$$. For my trip, I took the boat to the yard and had the mast pulled, then *I* did all the boat prep (inside and out), and on the day the truck was due to arrive I motored the eady-to-load boat over to the yard and they loaded it and the mast onto the truck. The yard had estimated 3 workers for 2 days to do the prep work, plus storage fees, plus materials, plus-plus-plus. They said it'd cost me $7-8k. I did all the prep myself, it cost me a few hundred bucks at Home Depot for bubble-wrap and tape and such, plus 4 days of vacation time. ymmv

The trip itself cost about $4k, plus a couple hundred bucks worth of crane-time at each end.

Bruce

Hi Bruce,


Thanks for this. We did hear of Dudley actually, but I'm not sure they're still doing business anymore. My boyfriend tried them and every number he tried said it was out of service.
But thanks for the tips of my prep. We were considering doing it ourselves. Did you find the same cost the other side when it comes to the re-rig of the mast? We are being quoted about 4K for the first part (haul and de-rig), and 5K (for the re-rig) in Bellingham. For the trip itself the lowest we can get a quote for is 7500K. 4K would be lovely if we could find it!

 

[Loren Beach]

O34 - More Pix of the haulout

Adding some pix of the arrival and blocking. The mast is stored outside and is slated for a cleaning and waxing. Also a new combo deck/steaming light. The anchor light fixture is an early LED device and the UV has affected the lens, so it may get...

ericsonyachts.org

Contact info for our boat hauler is in the comments part of this link.
Nice folks, and I hope they are still in business.
You can mention my name as a satisfied customer.

 

[Rebecca Ericson]

Thank you Loren Beach!

 

[bgary]

We were considering doing it ourselves. Did you find the same cost the other side when it comes to the re-rig of the mast?

I only used the yard at each end to haul the boat in or out of the water, and move the mast in or out of the boat. I did everything else.

On the de-rig, I brought the boat to the boatyard, got all the shrouds and stays ready to disconnect from their chainplates while the yard-guy was driving the crane over. When they had load taken up on the crane, I disconnected all the shrouds and stays, they pulled the mast up and out and laid it on some cradles in the mast yard. Cost a couple hundred bucks IIRC.

Now, *before* putting the boat under the crane, I had spent a day completely de-rigging the entire boat. Sails off, boom off, un-rigged any lines that ran from mast (or boom) to the deck, etc. In the case of halyards, clipped the snapshackles to the ring on the front of the mast, coiled up the lines and taped the coils to the mast, etc. All other lines photographed, de-rigged and labeled. Dismantled the mast-boot and made sure the mast wedges were able to move. Disconnected the "tie-rod" that connects the mast to the mast-collar below the deck. Disconnected all the mast-wiring and antenna connections. Unscrewed the decorative teak ring around the mast at the cabin ceiling. Oh, and dismantled the roller-furling drum so I could get to the headstay turnbuckle. At the end of the day, there was nothing connecting the mast to the boat except the shrouds and stays.

*after* the crane put the mast in the mast-yard, I spent a day prepping the mast for the truck, I labeled, removed and coiled the shrouds and stays and put them in the boat. I unbolted the spreaders and put them on the boat. I wrapped the headstay foil in foam "pipe wrap" and taped it to the mast. I removed everything from the masthead (windex, antenna, etc). Then I wrapped the entire mast with bubble-wrap and taped it tightly, on the recommendation of the trucking company - both to protect it from 60mph winds on the trip, and to keep anything (halyards, headstay, whatever) from shifting or slapping around.

So, yeah, it cost me a couple of days of time, but saved me several thousand dollars. And when the boat got to the other end I knew exactly how it all went back together, so ... at the other end, I had them put the boat in the water, I put the rig back together and when it was ready to go in I called for the crane.

$.02

Tons of info in my blog, if interested. https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/ubs/table-of-contents-makana-blog.349/

The boat-prep stuff starts here... https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/ubs/fr...uck-in-three-days-part-1-of-5-looooooong.348/

Oh, and PS - I'm in Everett, if you need an extra set of hands to help put the rig together when the boat gets to Bellingham, let me know.

 

[Christian Williams]

Rebecca, call Jerome Sammarcelli, the rigger, and I think he can give you a general estimate over the phone about de-rigging your boat for trailer transport. Mention my name, and bear in mind that Jerome is both a singlehanded racer and a Frenchman, with all the uh characteristics of those identities

• (310) 500-6216
  
  
  
  info@sailutionsusa.com
  
  
  
  sailutionsusa.com

 

[bgary]

with all the uh characteristics of those