Moving a boat from NH to Florida
 

Does anyone know of a company that would put a pontoon boat with trailer on a flatbed and transport it to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida? The trailer is 8 years old, so I would not want to risk having the trailer towed behind a vehicle. Plenty of companies on-line that would do it, but I always prefer to shop local when possible. Thanks for any recommendations.

Miles Marine is out of Gilford we have had friends use them in the past to transport there boats to FL. They didn't have a trailer so not sure about that.

Good luck!

It will be quite expensive to have someone put it on a flatbed. I would suggest spending a few hundred at most to have the trailer gone through, then have someone on uship tow it.

Agree with codeman. I have had good luck with Uship.com. Wait until the last moment before you want to ship it and the rates will come down fast on UShip.

Transport
 

Miles Marine , They will have no problem with your request & would probably take your trailer to for you on there trailer

Unless it has been completely un-maintained, there should be nothing wrong with towing an 8 year old trailer.

I would expect about $1400 on uship, Miles would probably by almost 3 times that based on recent experience.

Use Miles Marine
 

I have used Miles Marine several times and they are excellent. If your schedule is such that you can give them some time they may be able to combine your boat with another one and you will get better pricing.

They are a great small family business that really does a good job. If you use them you will get one of the Miles's doing the work, not some anonymous employee of a big transport company.

I bought a Master Craft with a great trailer in Tenn. I got quotes from local companies similar to what codeman experienced, not to name names, to have the boat and trailer shipped up from Tenn. to Melvin Village. One quote was $4000 and another for $3500.

I got it shipped with UShip for $600.

Bidding started out on USHIP at $3000. Each day the price came down and down. I locked in a good guy that was coming up from Miss. He told me he would start out on Tuesday would arrive around 4:00 PM on Thursday. He was close, but not on time. He arrived at 4:40 PM. He was forty minutes late.

OMG what a great service. He called me every 6 hours to tell me where he was in transit. I actually could track him on line exactly where he was every hour of the day. The best service ever.

And just to think about it, I was prepared to pay $3000. I saved a ton of money.

Thanks for the input and suggestions. I'll give Miles a shot at quoting, and will also try that Uship suggestion.

Another vote for UShip. I used this service to get my 25 ft. sailboat transported from NJ to Wolfeboro. I went with an excellent, experienced boat transporter and paid about $1200.

Miles Marine
 

Also would say Miles Marine. good old saying "you get what you pay for" They have always done a great professional job. I would never use anyone else.

Friends of mine last fall used Uship to send his boat to FLA, The company picked it up and got to Maryland before they got pulled over for a inspection. They found the company didn't have any Licencing or permits to even move boats!! Truck and boat got impounded!! 6 weeks After, They had to pay for it to come out of impound.

Miles picked it up and took it the rest of the way

Just be careful of who you let take your boat!

Uship
 

I seem to recall a story from Irwins(I believe it was last year), where a guy got local quotes to Michigan, then went to Uship. Long story short, he went with Uship to move his 30'+ boat, came to the marine in his PICKUP, only had a 2" ball, no oversize flags, no warning lights, and the list goes on...... Made it to New York, got pulled over by DOT and the truck, trailer, and boat sat in impound for 6 MONTHS! This was in the fall and nobody knew if the boat was winterized or anything and they couldn't get to it to check.. GOOD LUCK if you choose Uship.

Choose local, support local.

Just imagine if Jarrett shows up to get it......:laugh:

I agree with supporting your local business if they are fair, knowledgeable and competitive on their pricing.

Who in their right mind would not check out who is the shipper; what are their credentials and past record. UShip provides all of that kind of information plus insurance. Someone from Irwins should have taken responsibility and be accountable for this huge mistake.

This post should scare you enough that you should pony up and have your only 8 year old trailer updated and do it yourself.

Going local!
 

Thanks for the suggestions. I contacted a local company, he gave me a price immediately, and he's going to do the job.

What was the final rate you paid?

Under $2001.00

If u go thru UShip they do not want you to contract driver or they will not accept responsibiliy for problems. We are moving boat from Fla to Nh for $1800 on our trailer. What questions shoiuld we ask US ship regarding Ins and making sure driver has right documentation and is reliable. The boat is an 20 foot whaler on a new trailer
TXS

Have you checked shipping it by train?
 

something to look into. guess it depends on size

http://www.amtrak.com/auto-train-boa...e-requirements

I would ask the transporter.. if your boat.. "On Your Own Trailer" is actually being towed over the road on it's own wheels. I doubt it...especially for a 20' boat. It would not be profitable. They will load your boat/trailer combo on a flatbed with maybe 5+ other boat/trailer combos.

The trailer is just a "Cradle" for the boat. :look: You might already know this..I'm just bringing this up......some people might not know. :look: NB

Another vote for Miles. Although I have never had them move a boat for me I have them do all my maintenance work and have found them to be very fair and honest. Really nice people.

I like Miles too. They used to bring our boat from Irwin's every year for us as nobody on this side of the lake had anything big enough to take it out. We decided to just leave it at Irwin's so don't do it any more, but when we did, Miles were great people and great to work with.

I have always found Miles Marine to be a quality outfit and have used them often. I have tried others too but have always come back to Miles.

I would think any company that ships boats would be able to accommodate one on a trailer as well. I've used a1autotransport inc to ship mine a couple times and they had no issue shipping it with the trailer kit and all. You might try them if you're not having any luck elsewhere.

Sorry, didn't catch the date when I posted this.