Transport service from East coast to Seattle?
- Thread starter AndrewH
- Start date
tains
Crew Member
I met this company through u ship but here's his contact info. Herb brought my boat from Long Island NY to Bellingham. Awesome service. He mentioned that it was too bad i didn't Google his company as I could have avoided u ship and he would have deducted some of the fee that u ship took from him.
http://www.hdtransportservice.com/
http://www.hdtransportservice.com/
littlechucky
Crew Member
CBsqrd
Well-Known Member
Cuba Libre
Well-Known Member
Lots of negative comments about uShip on the web. Do your homework...Just saying..
Damien
Well-Known Member
I used Uship, it took about a week to get a bid in the range I was hoping.
A few guys were A$$HOLES saying "It'll cost you double", I put a requested bid of $2500 and got some quotes of $5K - $7K etc. Just had to be patient but I almost increased my requested amount based on that early bullying. I was starting to doubt myself and felt that I was offending people.
The difference I found out was that some guys were quoting based on putting the boat/trailer onto a flat deck trailer. Opposed to simply hitching up and towing it.
If you can deal directly with a moving company, it is obviously a better alternative to Uship. But you miss out on a chance that you can get an affordable offer that is below market rate if your job can be piggy backed on a shipment coming this that they need to fill at the last minute. Which was the case for me.
It was a guy bringing a few high end show dogs from NY to Seattle. So he just hitched up my boat in NJ and brought it to Blaine. The $2500 CAD was a steal compared to the other quotes I was getting.
If you can be flexible on your pick up location, note that as you might be able to save some cash. I.E. if you are okay with picking up the boat in Seattle or Portland if its coming from the East Coast etc.
Uship isn't perfect, but it can be effective.
A few guys were A$$HOLES saying "It'll cost you double", I put a requested bid of $2500 and got some quotes of $5K - $7K etc. Just had to be patient but I almost increased my requested amount based on that early bullying. I was starting to doubt myself and felt that I was offending people.
The difference I found out was that some guys were quoting based on putting the boat/trailer onto a flat deck trailer. Opposed to simply hitching up and towing it.
If you can deal directly with a moving company, it is obviously a better alternative to Uship. But you miss out on a chance that you can get an affordable offer that is below market rate if your job can be piggy backed on a shipment coming this that they need to fill at the last minute. Which was the case for me.
It was a guy bringing a few high end show dogs from NY to Seattle. So he just hitched up my boat in NJ and brought it to Blaine. The $2500 CAD was a steal compared to the other quotes I was getting.
If you can be flexible on your pick up location, note that as you might be able to save some cash. I.E. if you are okay with picking up the boat in Seattle or Portland if its coming from the East Coast etc.
Uship isn't perfect, but it can be effective.
dance a jig
Active Member
Although this post is somewhat dated, I recently purchased a boat in NY and found a transport company to tow-behind on its own trailer, and thought there might be some points of interest to the forum. I sold a beloved Pursuit 2470 WA a few years ago, and the replacement was not to my liking or my wife's, so time to get Pursuit #4 which is a 2020 DC 266 with little use.
I understand the valid warnings about how UShip do little to qualify their drivers, and if you create a shipment listing, many less experienced transporters along with a few experienced guys will bid, and each will have to pay the 20% of the fee to UShip. Well.... I listed for about 2 days and only had transporters who had little experience respond, and meanwhile I looked on thehulltruth.com and found dozens of good shipping companies referred by the forum and called a few. I learned for cross country trips, they will all be about the same price for the east-to-west trip, but if they have a west-to-east trip arranged, they will be cheaper. I fortunately found an experienced transporter who had a trip from Portland, OR to Maine on his calendar, and he was looking for a east-to-west and gave me a good deal. Further, this transporter was active in the boat trailer business and made adjustments to my recently purchased new trailer that helped support the load much better than the boat dealer who initially adjusted my trailer did, brought a few spare wheels/tires, lots of tools and other contingencies. I also wanted a trailer with electric over hydraulic (EOH) and could not find one, and this transporter purchased the Hydrostar unit and installed it for a reasonable price. Before boat left NY, transporter supervised the shrink wrap to ensure it was tight enough, as evidently the west bound trip has lots of headwinds and crosswinds that cause wrap to billow and damage gel coat.
The transporter I used did a great job, was good in his communication, handy in his trailer adjustments and installation of EOH, and had a very fair price. His name is David Wilks of Alden Marine and I would without any reservation use him again.
Below are some photos of boat in my driveway, the EOH install, shrinkwrapped boat, and boat cockpit.
good luck. DAJ
I understand the valid warnings about how UShip do little to qualify their drivers, and if you create a shipment listing, many less experienced transporters along with a few experienced guys will bid, and each will have to pay the 20% of the fee to UShip. Well.... I listed for about 2 days and only had transporters who had little experience respond, and meanwhile I looked on thehulltruth.com and found dozens of good shipping companies referred by the forum and called a few. I learned for cross country trips, they will all be about the same price for the east-to-west trip, but if they have a west-to-east trip arranged, they will be cheaper. I fortunately found an experienced transporter who had a trip from Portland, OR to Maine on his calendar, and he was looking for a east-to-west and gave me a good deal. Further, this transporter was active in the boat trailer business and made adjustments to my recently purchased new trailer that helped support the load much better than the boat dealer who initially adjusted my trailer did, brought a few spare wheels/tires, lots of tools and other contingencies. I also wanted a trailer with electric over hydraulic (EOH) and could not find one, and this transporter purchased the Hydrostar unit and installed it for a reasonable price. Before boat left NY, transporter supervised the shrink wrap to ensure it was tight enough, as evidently the west bound trip has lots of headwinds and crosswinds that cause wrap to billow and damage gel coat.
The transporter I used did a great job, was good in his communication, handy in his trailer adjustments and installation of EOH, and had a very fair price. His name is David Wilks of Alden Marine and I would without any reservation use him again.
Below are some photos of boat in my driveway, the EOH install, shrinkwrapped boat, and boat cockpit.
good luck. DAJ
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Rain City
Crew Member
Congrats, beautiful boat.
kaelc
Well-Known Member
Love this, free trade and good business people at work! Nice the boarder is open again
Buckethead905
Well-Known Member
BEAUTIFUL boat. Congrats on the purchase. Glad to hear there are some reputable people still left out there.
ship happens
Well-Known Member
You have to be patient with uship. You will end up talking to a reputable driver. In the past I learned that when the Westcoast guys go east is the best option if looking for the best price. They have to come back from a long tow from east coast to west. At that point point they will undercut everyone else just so they make a few bucks going home. Not sure how busy they all are at this point. Might not matter these days seeing as how the market has gone high.
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