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Boat Movers

Preparing Your Seafaring Vessel for Transportation

Many boat owners prefer to hire boat movers rather than hitching it behind the back to their vehicle and towing it to their new home. It's also far more convenient to hire boat movers to ship your boat if you purchased it online from another state. However, even if you intend to hire a boat moving service, you still have to prepare your vessel for transportation. Most boat movers will hold the owner of the boat responsible for the preparation process, which requires attention to details and careful planning. This article will clearly explain a few preparatory steps you can take in ensuring a safe delivery.

Searching for boat transport services is very much like looking for a full service moving company, you'll have to request quotes in order to compare your options. Boat moving companies are also required to have U.S. Department of Transportation authorization as well as proof of insurance.

Before you can fill out a quote however, you'll need to measure your vessel and provide the specific dimensions. When you're measuring the length of your boat, you'll need to include any outboard motors, brackets, swimming platforms, and bow pulpits. Also, keep in mind that the majority of overpasses have a height limit of about thirteen feet and six inches. So, if your vessel exceeds that limit, it may necessitate a particular kind of handling as well as routing. When measuring the height, you need to start from the lowest point, the bottom of the keel to the highest non-detachable part. Your vessel may need its command bridge or fly removed. You'll also need to measure the overall width of your vessel.

The preparation must take place in a boat yard, preferably an experienced one with a licensed marine surveyor supervising the process. You should store any electronic items such as radios, radar transmitters, and weather boards in your cabin with all of the doors and windows locked. All hatches on the vessel should be secured and sealed. Be sure to remove propellers, flagstaffs, antennae, outriggers, and anchors as well. You'll also want to drain your water and fuel tanks as much as you can; either of the tanks should not be any more than a quarter full. Make sure there isn't any water in the bilge. Your cables should be bound and batteries disconnected. Your respective covers and cushions ought to be removed as well.