Boat shipping/transporting

[Pacific Prince 1]

So we've just purchased a 2017 Ri 237! And am wondering if anyone has any experience in getting a boat transported. The boat is in Michigan and needs to get home to the PNW.

[Gdmatson 25]

Michigan? Did you buy it from Orion Marine?

Sorry, not much help on shipping a 237. 

[Pacific Prince 1]

Yes, I just bought it from Orion Marine.

[Gdmatson 25]

The Orange or the red, white and black? They had 2 2017’s a couple months ago. I bought my Ri from Orion. Absolutely great to deal with!

[Gdmatson 25]

And just a thought on shipping. Orion has a crane they remove the boats off the truck when they arrive from the factory. If the truck doesn’t have a return load, maybe they could bring yours back to the factory in California? No idea if it’s a option or not.

[Packrat 13]

I recently had a 2008 23ft Enzo shipped from Seattle to Las Vegas.   The going rate is about $2 a mile. I got it for $1 a mile as the guy with his Ford diesel 350 had just dropped off a Fifth Wheel in Tacoma at an RV dealership and was returning home to Las Vegas. You might try hitting up RV dealers in Michigan to see if they might have a driver who is heading home westbound with empty load. I had a net protecting my bow but I got some rock chips on the rear side of my boat due to a gravel road repair and some stupid semi driver passed on the left of road construction. I did have a very heavy sewlong type cover and shrink wrapped it too. I also demanded the driver leave the tower up. You can put the tower down but you must be very careful it’s protected from rubbing on the upholstery or boat fiberglass. I found too many flakes on uship who didn’t have insurance. You might hit up other dealers in Michigan perhaps Malibu dealers to see if they have any independent drivers.  Also make sure you have a spare tire to go with the boat. Good time to get a matching one anyway.

Edited January 12, 2019 by Packrat

[Gdmatson 25]

8 hours ago, Packrat said:

I recently had a 2008 23ft Enzo shipped from Seattle to Las Vegas.   The going rate is about $2 a mile. I got it for $1 a mile as the guy with his Ford diesel 350 had just dropped off a Fifth Wheel in Tacoma at an RV dealership and was returning home to Las Vegas. You might try hitting up RV dealers in Michigan to see if they might have a driver who is heading home westbound with empty load. I had a net protecting my bow but I got some rock chips on the rear side of my boat due to a gravel road repair and some stupid semi driver passed on the left of road construction. I did have a very heavy sewlong type cover and shrink wrapped it too. I also demanded the driver leave the tower up. You can put the tower down but you must be very careful it’s protected from rubbing on the upholstery or boat fiberglass. I found too many flakes on uship who didn’t have insurance. You might hit up other dealers in Michigan perhaps Malibu dealers to see if they have any independent drivers.  Also make sure you have a spare tire to go with the boat. Good time to get a matching one anyway.

General RV Wixom Mi, absolutely huge RV dealer. 

Tommy’s Malibu in Waterford (formerly Skiers Pier), they are the largest inboard dealer in the world. Pretty nice guys for being Malibu. Lol

Great suggestions from Packrat, maybe they can help.

[Pacific Prince 1]

 

 

On 1/11/2019 at 4:06 AM, Gdmatson said:

The Orange or the red, white and black? They had 2 2017’s a couple months ago. I bought my Ri from Orion. Absolutely great to deal with!

We bought the Red, white and black one. Yeah Im dealing with Justin there....they have been awesome!

[Pacific Prince 1]

15 hours ago, Packrat said:

I recently had a 2008 23ft Enzo shipped from Seattle to Las Vegas.   The going rate is about $2 a mile. I got it for $1 a mile as the guy with his Ford diesel 350 had just dropped off a Fifth Wheel in Tacoma at an RV dealership and was returning home to Las Vegas. You might try hitting up RV dealers in Michigan to see if they might have a driver who is heading home westbound with empty load. I had a net protecting my bow but I got some rock chips on the rear side of my boat due to a gravel road repair and some stupid semi driver passed on the left of road construction. I did have a very heavy sewlong type cover and shrink wrapped it too. I also demanded the driver leave the tower up. You can put the tower down but you must be very careful it’s protected from rubbing on the upholstery or boat fiberglass. I found too many flakes on uship who didn’t have insurance. You might hit up other dealers in Michigan perhaps Malibu dealers to see if they have any independent drivers.  Also make sure you have a spare tire to go with the boat. Good time to get a matching one anyway.

They are going to put the factory shrink-wrap back on. So I believe tower stays up, which yeah I agree! it should stay up. Yeah I was really nervous about U ship or really anyone at all hauling anything of mine. But I did find a guy on U ship (Highest bidder) that had a Legit LLC transport business who specialized in boat hauling with nothing but positive reviews like, "if your lucky enough to have Ray bid on your shipment grab him cause he is one of the few professional haulers you can trust"). I then went outside of U ship and online to further research him and found more people that had nothing but positive things to say about him and pics of some of his boat transports that make my boat look like a skiff, lol. I was able to find a contact email and am doing this outside of U ship so that we don't have to pay there fees. So although U Ship probably is 95% yahoos with half tons trying to scream across the country...if you do your homework theres a few out there that might let you get a few hours of sleep while its in transit, lol. He is right under that $2 a mile rate. But peace of mind is priceless!! But it hasn't been delivered yet so I will continue to keep my fingers crossed

[Gdmatson 25]

38 minutes ago, Pacific Prince said:

 

 

We bought the Red, white and black one. Yeah Im dealing with Justin there....they have been awesome!

That’s awesome! I spent a lot of time using that boat to design ours. It is truly a gorgeous boat. Congrats!!! Yeah, Justin is great.

[h20king 794]

Where are you located and did you do the purchase through a dealer? The ri is a lot of boat to be hanging in the wind with no dealer support 

[Pacific Prince 1]

4 hours ago, h20king said:

Where are you located and did you do the purchase through a dealer? The ri is a lot of boat to be hanging in the wind with no dealer support 

I’m doing the purchase thru the dealership. They really didn’t seem like they had any boat transport experience or knew of anybody. First boat I’ve bought from a dealer, so I just assumed doing it on your own was the norm. Is it not the norm lol?

[Pacific Prince 1]

16 minutes ago, Pacific Prince said:

I’m doing the purchase thru the dealership. They really didn’t seem like they had any boat transport experience or knew of anybody. First boat I’ve bought from a dealer, so I just assumed doing it on your own was the norm. Is it not the norm lol?

I’m in eastern Washington

[Gdmatson 25]

Once you get it, just play nice with your local dealer and you should be fine. I know our local dealers would treat you like a potential future customer and take good care of you. That said, I have heard of horror stories where various dealers would shun you because you didn’t buy the boat from them. That’s absolutely very short sighted business sense. If you do your own maintenance, you hopefully won’t need them anyway. I haven’t needed Orion for anything other than documenting a 25 hour check up and a software update. Our Ri reliability has been stellar! The red flake on that boat is beautiful and although I don’t know the price, I did hear you stole it. Congrats!

[SurfOsoyoos 1]

I used uship.com to ship a couple boat to the PNW, it worked out quite well.

 

The local dealers wont be as accommodating as purchasing directly from them. When I bought a boat from out of area I contacted the Factory Warranty department directly and they were pretty easy to work with. 

Edited January 16, 2019 by SurfOsoyoos
added info

[Nukeproof187 3]

UShip worked great to bring our boat from Utah to Oklahoma. 

[Packrat 13]

Hey Pacific Prince, have you had your boat delivered yet? If so, how did it work out?

Do you ride ever at Steamboat  Rock/Banks Lake? We are heading over there this summer. Maybe Entiat too.