Sailboat Transport

[Thehive]

I am looking at a very beautiful boat in Sturgeon Bay, WI that I will need to move to Toronto, ON.

The boat is currently on the hard, with the mast up, on stands, in Sturgeon Bay.

While I would love the challenge of sailing all the way to Lake Ontario, the reality is that this distance is approximately 800miles and will take too much time and require too much.

So, I will need to transport over ground at some point.

I'm getting quotes around $10K USD direct from Sturgeon Bay to either Toronto or the south side of Lake Ontario. This seems very high and I'm looking for alternate options in an attempt to save some cost.

One route I'm considering is splashing the boat in Sturgeon Bay and sailing it across Lake Michigan in early summer next year. I would need to find a marine transport lift on the east side of Lake Michigan around Frankfort but I can't seem to find a marina anywhere near there with a lift. Without a lift, this route seems like less of an option.

I would be very interested in any advice on how to save costs on this trip since this is a very, very nice boat and one I would love to sail with my family on Lake Ontario.

[Jammer]

How big of a boat?


Hilton Beach (In Ontario, near the Straits of Mackinac) has haulout services and is about 200 miles. Or you could look someplace on the east side of Lake Huron which would still be a reasonable sail for you and would cut down the distance the boat has to be trucked -- you would not need to make the time consuming and complicated journey through the Detroit River, Lake Erie, and the Welland Canal.


Or you could hire a delivery captain instead of a trucker.

[boatman61]

Dunno the size of your boat or its weight but a mate of mine a few years back operated a mobile crane around the Poole area lifting boats up to 40ft..

[Thehive]

The size of the boat is 38' and I hadn't thought of a delivery captain. Does anyone know ballpark costs of hiring such a service?

[Mike OReilly]

It's a great journey. The cheapest way would be to sail. Perhaps you can find a friend to do the job. If not a friend, hiring a delivery skipper would surely be a lot cheaper, and it could happen fast.

[Nekton73]

$10K US is quite reasonable for a cross border ground transport of a boat that size, over that distance. I doubt you will find a significantly cheaper quote. Quick, safe, and reliable if you hire a reputable company. Worth every penny imo.



Presumably you have already factored in customs, duty and brokerage?



Great Lakes delivery captains can be found with a bit of internet searching, but consider that any captain worth their salt will require a thorough inspection and sea trial before setting out to cross several great lakes. There is bound to be some cost to bring it to seaworthy condition as boats are rarely ready to splash and go, although maybe this one is I don't know.


Likely a minimum crew of 2 (Captain plus one) as they will need at least 2 on board for the Welland Canal transit (possibly 3). Finding a captain willing to do a solo delivery will probably be tough. Daily rate varies greatly but unless you can arrange for free crew you are probably looking minimum $300US per day between all hands. Factor in fuel, canal transit fees, dockage (unless you expect them to sail non-stop even through bad weather, and anchor for free if they must stop, a brutal round the clock watch schedule for only 2, certainly reasonable for 3 though), provisions, unexpected repairs, and repatriation costs for your captain and crew .



You're probably looking at minimum $5000 US to have it sailed there instead but it will be a thorough shake down cruise that will either highlight any important problems you'll need to attend to before enjoying it yourself, or, prove it as solid and wonderful as it seems on the hard right now.



The truth, and the cost, are probably somewhere in the middle.