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Boat shipping!?


atomicrider13

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We recently bought a new to us 247 down in California and currently live in northern Idaho.... We have been looking in to shipping the boat home as the cost for fuel, hotel and time would be a wash to drive down. We have shipped a boat before and it worked out alright but we have been doing a bunch of research and it seems we might have lucked out. It only has the stock cover not a transport cover. Does anyone have any advise about going this route ie shrink wrapping (which is turning out to be hard to find this time of yr), flat bead (not so cost effective), ect, ect... 

 

Thanks

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I have a friend who is a boat dealer in Nebraska.  He buys boats all across the country, and uses uShip to get them to Nebraska.  If they have a travel cover, he uses it.  If they do not, he just ships them naked.  Going the naked route, there is clean up involved when he gets it home, but he figures that is better than spending $$ on a travel cover he isn't going to use.

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What is the "stock cover"? Some dealers ordered covers from Evolution. Which would be fine to tow with. Even some of the other covers could be prepped for travel without too much trouble, ie; shrink wrap the edges, straps down to the trailer, adequate support underneath, etc.

Having the boat shrink wrapped is usually only like $200 or so (if you can find someone to do it). If you ship it naked, you could pretty easily spend about the same for detailing the boat. But even naked, there are precautions to take, ie; windshield closed & locked, walk thru cover in place, engine covers secured, etc.

I've used Uship before (shipped a golf cart from Phoenix to Spokane) & it worked out great.

Congrats on the new boat. And best of luck getting it home safely.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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If that was my boat I'd want it shrink wrapped.  Are you buying from a dealer?  They should be able to do it for you if it is from a dealer.  Otherwise easily worth the $200 to be sure everything is secure in your boat and rocks aren't flying at it, rain, mud, etc.  You'd hate to lose a cushion or something during transport too.  $200 is cheap insurance IMO.

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Have to be careful with shrink wrap also. I bought a boat from a dealer in California and they shrink wrapped it for towing and they were very thorough in wrapping everything that when it got to me I thought wow what a great professional job they did. When I unwrapped it the the gel coat was completely hazed up from it flapping in the wind I guess. I had to wet sand the whole boat to get the gel back to new. I never could get the markings out of the chrome windshield pieces. I am still confused to this day why it did that, maybe the wrap was too loose? It sure didn't seem like it thought. The worse part was the rope mark around the whole boat that they use to tighten up the wrap. Had my second boat towed with factory cover and shrink wrap underneath it and it was flawless when it got to me.

Here is a pic of my second boat wrapped for delivery

image.jpeg

Edited by wheelman
  • Like 2
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I had a good experience with a guy from uShip. If you don't care about the uShip protection you can get better rates directly. (they take cuts from both buyer and seller). PM me if you need details.

This is a hard time of year to ship naked but that's my vote. Mine shipped earlier this year with a towing cover and plastic wrap around the rub rail areas. It fared well but there were one or two minor issues that could have been avoided.

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Don't use a standard boat cover. I know another wake boat manufacturer uses a nice shipping cover for their deliveries. These are made to fit like shrink wrap but they have a soft liner inside and do not require heating. I have had really good luck with these so it may be worth a call to malibu to see what they use from the factory.

If you use uship, always get a copy of insurance, permits, drivers license, and tow vehicle info.

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