Transporting an 23' beam Catamaran east to west?

[mystictimecat]

Hi,

I am new to the forum so please let me know if this is the right thread location to park this question.

I am researching getting a custom built catamaran from New London, CT to San Francisco, CA. The boat dimensions are as follows:

Length: 36'6"
Beam:22'6"
Height: 6'10"
Mast Length: 60'
Draw:20"
Weight:5,500lbs

I would love to hear from anyone with experience shipping a boat this wide. I have been told it cannot be ground shipped (too wide) and so far the over water options I have found are limited to one or two source and destination ports.

Thanks for any insights.

[Orion Jim]

Sail it? Deck cargo?

[jannw]

It's a sailboat? I'll give you a hint ;-)

Sorry ... couldn't resist!

[jdazey]

I've been searching the forum threads on this topic. It don't sound good.

Joe

[denverd0n]

I do not think it is possible. "Normal" highway lanes are 12ft. wide. That means that your cat would need every bit of two, full lanes everywhere that it went. How many highway entrance and exit ramps are two, full lanes wide, all the way from the feeder road onto the highway? Some, yes. A few. Not very many, though.

...Just spent some time on Google. Appears that most states will not allow a "wide load" to exceed 14 ft. in width. You need to look into sailing it, or shipping it as deck cargo.

Good luck.

[dpddj]

As others said, TOO WIDE for the road. You appear to have two options - it sails around or as deck cargo/boat transport. It seems most ships these days need to abide by the Jones Act. Means you can either pickup or dropoff in the USA from a foreign flagged vessel but you can't do both. From New London you'd probably have to get picked up in Newport, RI and dropped off in Ensenada, MX. You then need to sail it to CA against the knarly weather there.
Open your wallet if shipping. My guess? $50,000 USD, based upon a two year old quote I got for a 38' cat from San Diego to RI.

[Privleoplag]

You could take the mask off, stand it on edge, truck it. That should eliminate the width problem, although you may have a problem with height then.

[ixtlan22]

I live in Ensenada and it's not uncommon for people to ship boats here, both as "deck cargo" or yacht delivery. Incendentally, people sail back up to San Diego all the time from here. It is a beat, against both wind and current, but it's not the North Atlantic and it's less than a hundred miles. Sail it yourself or have it delivered seems to be the only way... (short of disassembly. ).

[Kaptain Ken]

Sell your cat and buy another on the left coast - preferably in San Francisco or north of there - it's no fun sailing north in that area, the current and prevailing winds are a killer (literally)!!!

[geoffr]

We've trucked out cat and even with our narrow beam (15'3") I wouldn't consider trucking it across the country - it would be just far too expensive with the permits & escorts. Since you are having a hard time finding a good way to "ship your ship" why not sail it around. Since it sounds like you don't have the time to do it yourself hire a delivery crew to do the trip for you (We've done this as well and worked quite well). I suspect this may be the cheapest way and only a couple weeks (?) longer than shipping.

[Eric on El Gato]

Sounds like an interesting boat! 60 foot mast!! Wow! Post a picture.

Depending on construction, you might be able to find a good composites guy to disassemble the boat for trucking and reassemble in California.

Check out the folding "Shark" catamaran designed in the 50's or 60's.

[mystictimecat]

Thanks for all the replies.

Eric on El Gato:

I'll dig up a pic. The cross member support structure is aluminum tubing so it could be cut and sleeved/welded back together. That would make it possible to truck it out on one 53' trailer (if the pieces are fit together and supported correctly). Though that is a last resort option. And, yes, I have seen the folding cats. Right now I am wishing this boat had been built with transport in mind....

geoffr:

I can look into a delivery crew, but the boat design would make a long ocean voyage fairly unpleasant and dangerous. This is the main reason we are viewing the sailing it around option as a last resort. The grind up the west coast, in particular, is not some thing I would want to take on in this boat. However, If you have any recommendations I like to talk to them.

Kaptain Ken:

We have discussed selling but the trade would not work well in our favor. In the end if the cost is too high to transport I guess selling may be the only option.

dpddj:

50k is in the ballpark based on research so far. That is out of the range for us.

I'll keep you all updated as I learn more.

Thanks,

[jdazey]

Care to share your research with us?

Joe

[hellosailor]

Ever hear the classic Bill Cosby routine about God & Noah? "Voompa, voompa, voompa..." Hey Noah, what ya doing? "Building an ark."


Yes, you will have to cut it in two and then put it together again at the other end. And it STILL won't be cheap to transport, even if you can get it on a standard 40' truck.

[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by mystictimecat

Hi,

I am new to the forum so please let me know if this is the right thread location to park this question.

I am researching getting a custom built catamaran from New London, CT to San Francisco, CA. The boat dimensions are as follows:

Length: 36'6"
Beam:22'6"
Height: 6'10"
Mast Length: 60'
Draw:20"
Weight:5,500lbs

I would love to hear from anyone with experience shipping a boat this wide. I have been told it cannot be ground shipped (too wide) and so far the over water options I have found are limited to one or two source and destination ports.

Thanks for any insights.

The dilemma is having to stand it up to reduce the width. You'll then subject it to loads it was never designed to handle.

Then bridge clearance is an issue. 14'6" is the max practical height on the west coast. We shipped our Liberty 458 (monohull) from Seattle to San Francisco.

I suspect the only way to ship cross country is to split the hulls.

Cheaper and simpler to sail it I expect.

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