Commander #255

Greetings,

I am the new owner of Commander #255. The boat is in decent shape with excellent sails and no major defects. I am currently looking for a way to get her to Lake Ontario where I plan to sail and hopefully race her in a PHRF setting.
If anyone has info on boat haulers that are reliable I would appreciate hearing from you in this forum.

I completely overhauled an Ensign 15yrs ago and loved that boat's sailing qualities but did not like the lack of self bailing cockpit. I have owned two boats since but come back to Alberg's hull and overall design. Nothing I have sailed comes close.

Regards,

Jim Marron

Its going to cost a shocking amount of money. Quotes will vary widely, so it pays to shop around.

Try listing your trip with a boat hauling broker like truckaboat.com.
If a boat hauler is going to have an empty truck "deadheading" along your route, they will take the boat for substantially less. However, it might take a while before you get a call.

You mentioned that you're looking for a hauler. Last year I used Albert Montante of Go-Boats and he did a great job moving my Commander from Long island to Maine at a nice price. Albert uses an F-350 with a trailer that rolls under your boat and slides it into place, versus the hydraulic set-up that lifts the boat up, if you follow me. Anyway, the relatively low-tech arrangement is fine for a small sailboat like a Commander.

I wish I had his number, but I know he is based out of Florida and he works all up and down the eastern US. Nice guy.

Good Luck!

David
s/v Ceili
Commander 256

I have been looking for the picture since this was posted, but have been unable to locate it.

Years before I bought my Ariel, a good friend bought one. The boat was about 70 miles from his home, and needed enough work that it was going to have to live in his back yard for a while.

The solution we came up with, and executed, was to build a cradle out of 4x4's and 2x6's so that the foot print would perfectly align with a U-Haul tandem axle car trailer's skids.

I realize this would be easier with pictures, and will make sure to carry a camera next time I go and see him. (I was there 2 weeks ago spending a day sanding the hull).

Basically it is a large box with no top. There are two uprights on each side, and it was very heavily constructed. We fit the pads to the end of each arm and covered them with carpet. The marina held it on the lift for about 30 min while we fit the pads to the hull, and then set the boat into the cradle.

The only draw back to this arrangement was that the tow vehicle had to be pretty substantial. The trailer is 3400#, the cradle was at least 500#, and of course the boat is 5500-6000#. The trailer has surge brakes, so that is taken care of. My F-250 pulled it with no problem.

Of course this post is only intended to give ideas, I am not proposing that any sane person would ever try this. :rolleyes: It worked for us though, and the boat has been sitting in that same cradle for several years.

How'd you get the boat and cradle off of the trailer?

We jacked up the cradle using bottle jacks placed between the skids. Then 1" pipes were placed under the skids and the cradle was lowered onto the pipe 'rollers'. The cradle was tied to a fence post, and the trailer was SLOWLY pulled forward and cinder blocks were placed under it as it hung off. Really no harder then setting up a trailer, or a mobile storage shed.



It sounds like a PITA, but it really was not too bad. The credit for the engineering goes to my buddy, the only problem we had in the move was when he pit a boring bit into his anke. The cradle was quite overbuilt, and we took our time on the trip and unloading it so I really don't think it was overly dangerous.

.

The one quote we got before the move was over 2 grand, and we did it for about $250.

And post the link as an 'IMG" so that it will display? I have access to at least 3 servers, but htey are for other peoples stuff and I do not like to post my personal stuff on them.

Thanks,

Changing the photo to JPEG:

The appendix to the manual includes Pearson's plans for a cradle.

Thanks for fixing this Bill.

Hopefully this picture will give you the general idea of what the cradle looked like.

As for the owners manual, I am still waiting on mine (I ordered it back in April) so I can not say for sure, but I bet the dimensions would need to be modified a bit to work with a U-Haul trailer.

The distance between the skids set the width of the one we built, and the length was determined the same way.

I recently contracted with a local Baltimore hauler to get Commander #255 up to Lake Ontario. The price quoted was $1000 and the job has been completed. I am awaiting being billed. The fellow that did the job is Marvin Kohl(?sp) at American Boat Transport : 410-335-6731. I was very satisfied with his professionalism and the price. I recommend him highly. Jim Marron.

I have a bit more detail about the fellow who hauled my Commander from Baltimore to Northern NY. His total distance was around 950 miles. He charged me $1000. He was prompt,careful and very professional.
Name: Marvin Kahl
American Boat Transport
1110 Seneca Road
Baltimore, Md 21220
410-335-6731.

Regards,

Jim Marron

I think $1 a mile seems to be the going rate. I got a couple quotes just doing a google on boat shipping. I was looking to move my Ariel from Michigan to North Texas. (about 1200-1300 miles) quotes were $1500