jesika · Updated February 23, 2024
Picture this scenario. You’ve not had your boat for very long. You’ve loved taking it out every day and enjoying life on the water. But now, you want to explore some other body of water. If you don’t have a trailer, the logistics of this can leave you a bit confused.
Boat sales in the US are at a 13-year high, and many of those new boats purchased will not come with trailers for transporting, so it’s safe to say you’re in good company.
Want to know how to transport a boat without a trailer? Keep reading to find out.
How to Transport a Boat Without a Trailer: Find a Shipping Service
The best way to transport a boat with no trailer is to hire a boat shipping service.
Shipping a boat is easier than you’d think. These shipping services are dedicated logistics professionals who can guide you through every step of the process. The best boat shipping services will have a wealth of experience at moving large items cross-country. They’ll also have all the relevant connections and permits from the local transport department and marina.
Experienced shippers will be diligent workers and a safe pair of hands. They will never move your boat until they’re 100% sure that it’s safe to do so. Procedures like this ensure both the condition of your boat and the safety of everyone involved in the shipping.
The cost of shipping will depend on the size of the boat and how far it’s going.
Benefits of Using a Shipping Service
You might be wondering why you’d spend the money on using boat transporting services. The simple answer is because it’s their trade, and they’re going to do it the right way.
Here are a few of the most significant benefits of using professional boat shipping services:
Stress-Free
Boat transport can be so stressful when done by yourself. You have to find a trailer, know how to get the boat on the trailer, liaise with the marina and local authorities, and do a million other tasks to get your boat moved.
Why expend all the energy when you can have a team of professionals take all that work off your hands? When you hire a boat transportation service, you can head on down to your next destination and meet your boat there, the whole time knowing it’s in safe hands.
Expert Knowledge
Shipping is what these companies do. It is their lifeblood and fills their calendar. They know precisely the best way to transport a boat.
They have all the necessary equipment that you’d need for the operation. They’ll have a truck and accompanying trailer that they can put your boat on. All the equipment will be industry standard and up to safety standards in order to protect your boat.
It’s not just knowledge and equipment, though. Shipping services have all the required contacts to make the project run smoothly. They’ll liaise with the marina and have all the available local permits they need to operate safely.
Fast and Efficient
Expert knowledge, equipment, and contacts mean only one thing: an efficient job.
This is almost entirely what you’re paying for. The hassle of moving a boat on your own is huge, and shipping services can come in and bear that burden for you. They can give you detailed estimates on how long it will take and which step in the process they’re working on.
At CitizenShipper, you can even use our instant messaging platform for round-the-clock and fast answers to your most pressing questions. The best boat shipping services will make you feel safe, valued, and in the know at all times.
How to Prepare Your Boat For Shipping
Once you decide to transport a boat using a shipping service, you’ll need to do some preparation work on your boat.
This isn’t anything too strenuous, and it’s more a case of just ensuring that everything is safe and ready to go on the road.
The Interior
The first thing you need to do is sort out the interior. You’ll need to make sure that any loose items have been placed in an appropriate place.
You need to batten down all doors securely. Pay special attention to cupboards and locker doors. The contents of the lockers or cabinets should either be secured or entirely removed for the duration of the shipping.
The Hatches
The next thing you’re going to need to do is literally batten down the hatches—it’s not just a phrase.
Before your boat is picked up for transportation, you need to ensure that you have tightly secured all the hatches. It also helps to cover them with tape as an extra precaution to prevent them from opening while your boat is on the road.
The Exterior
You’ll need to remove everything that doesn’t fall within your boat’s width or height measurements. The sort of things you’ll need to remove are:
- Anchors
- Flag masts
- Antennas
- Windshields
- Lights
- Canvas
- Screens
Find a place where you can safely stow these to make sure your boat is road-ready.
The last thing you’ll need to do is check the windows. Be sure to close and latch the windows from the inside before taping them up from the outside to ensure that they don’t open.
Get a Quote Today
So now you know how to transport a boat without a trailer. Shipping a boat is as simple as getting in touch with a shipping service and doing some quick preparatory work on your boat.
At CitizenShipper, we offer shipping services for a range of products and needs. Whatever you want, we’ve got it covered. Get a quote today to see how easy it can be to transport your boat.
