Furthest road trip distance to buy a boat?

Just curious what the farthest distance is that you have traveled to buy a boat if you had to and there were no close options?








I am about to embark on a 2187 mile trek next weekend to pick up mine....not looking forward to it but there aren't any other options I have and I got a good deal on this boat...uggghhhh....the northeast SUCKS.

What are you towing with? Thats either gonna make it a breeze, or a nightmare.

Geez thats a jaunt to be sure. I went 350 round trip to get my boat and last winter when I had to replace my trailer I went over 1700 round trip to get it.

Hate did you actually tow an empty trailer 1700 miles? That must have been no fun.

325 each way for me. My first boat--I had soooooooooooooo many trailer issues. Be DAMN sure the trailer is strong--strong as new rope-strong as a long chain.

I'm towing with a 2006 Tundra so I should be fine. The wife and I are sort of going to make it a vacation roadtrip but still, it's a long haul. The boat is brand new so it will be worth it in the long run, it's just going to suck considering all of the long, boring states we'll have to trek through. (PA, Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska). Wyoming and Utah will be the most scenic I imagine, destination is Salt Lake City, UT and then back home...Really, the choices of boats available in the Northeast is pathetic. All those living in the South, Pacific states, and the mountain region should be thankful for the myriad of choices they have..



oh by the way, 2187 is just one way.......

Pretend you're in the cannonball run. Dress your wife up like a nun, and you dress up as a General in the Army, and just FLOOR it.

At least this way you could shave hours off the boring states.


(and since you are driving a Toyota, if you do get chased by the popo, you've got an excuse)

lol love the TC comment. I am in Indiana and bought a boat in Merced CA. Luckily I didn't have to go get it. I feel your pain tho. Have fun on your trip. Make it fun, Indiana will suck too unless you like corn fields. If you pass by Kokomo IN and want a pull hit me up.

Just sold our boat to a gentleman which came from Canada 21hrs away. Funny thing is when we bought it we went to North Carolina to get it almost 20hrs from home. Now our replacement is only 20 minutes.

Justin, If you are going to come through Omaha Nebraska we are just on the west side of Omaha. Town is Gretna, and you are more than welcome to give us a call and we would be more than welcome to give you a break and take you for a few sets.

I did just over 600 each way to pick a boat up sight unseen. Fortunately the trailer was in good shape.

You should plan out some riding spots in each state close to your route. Have some fun on the trip and be able to say you rode in each state. If you have the time.

My first one was 2200 each way (So Cal to Mich)
The second I got smart and used UShip - The dealer shrink wrap and wrapped the trailer to it was from Tn to So Cal - Way eraser and cheaper.

I drove about 1000 miles, which was one way. The driver did 2000. Thankfully I flew down and met him there. Found the exact Sanger I wanted, and couldn't wait for the '10s to come out - good buy in my books.

2187 miles one way, good luck buddy...

350 miles round trip to Portland, OR to buy our first boat 5 years ago, picked up the new Axis in February with a measly 200 mile round trip.
Not too bad as we only blew a day for each... well worth it.

Why are you driving 2187 miles each way? Try flying there and paying someone to ship it. I spent $1200 to ship a boat 2400 miles. (and about $250 for a plane ticket) You are going to spend a week driving and more money than if you would just pay someone for the transport, esp if you are going to get a hotel. I would seriously reconsider your plan.

ur crazy man...0ver 1000 one way...spend more on a boat you want closer!

Originally Posted by antoddio

Why are you driving 2187 miles each way? Try flying there and paying someone to ship it. I spent $1200 to ship a boat 2400 miles. (and about $250 for a plane ticket) You are going to spend a week driving and more money than if you would just pay someone for the transport, esp if you are going to get a hotel. I would seriously reconsider your plan.

How did you pay only $1,200? I got multiple quotes and the cheapest I found was $3,000 for tow-behind. It averaged about $1.39 per driven mile. I figured it will cost me about $800 to drive it myself RT. (that could inflate as a variable on the way back depending on if we stop a few places along the way to really enjoy the ride).

We are going to treat it as a fun roadtrip. Yeah I know driving that far sucks, but hey I can't afford to pay a few more extra thousand dollars to have it shipped. We also thought about flying it out and renting a Uhaul to drive it back and they wanted $1,500 for a 10 ft. box truck. It would only cost us $200 to fly out since I could use a buddy pass, my mother is a flight attendant for Continental). But that's $1,700.

I read in a thread here to be careful with Uship, some bad experiences were had. If any of you have good experiences with it and I can save myself the trouble please speak up or contact me through email. We're planning to leave next Friday evening/Saturday early morning and driving straight through until Utah). I've done it before from AZ to NJ.

I like the cannonball run comment.

I am picking up an '08 Supra 21V. 0 hours.

And like I said before, there are not many options here in the Northeast, trust me, I've been searching for near 6 months.

Marine Products is a great shop here in SLC with great staff that knows what they're doing.

4 Weeks ago I did the same you you're doing but to California to pick up a used boat. I figured if I was just going to pay someone to do a tow behind shipping I might as well go and get it myself. It was a great little vacation trip with the wife and some friends. Total trip was like 1580 miles round trip so not as far as yours, so good luck. BTW all the lakes around here are full so you should be able to get a nice pull if you wanted to.

You may want to talk to them about the prop that comes on that boat. I know that they put a different one on here for our elevation.

Live in NorCal, bought my boat (new also) out of Ohio. Like others have said...when I did all the math, it ended up being a much better option to have the boat shrink-wrapped and shipped. Mine was way back in '03, but it was definitely less than $1,500.

Sometimes its more about the adventure than the money or time. I can see why one might drive that distance.

hey, at least you don't have to drive through kansas, I just drove from western montana to atlanta (not for a boat, just moving home for the summer unfortunately) but kansas was pretty painful. Good luck with it though, make it a fun adventure

We drove 1500 miles round trip from Atlanta to Michigan. I flew up to look at it and then we went and got it about month later.

i drove 1,400 miles one way......

+1 for a shipping company. I paid $700-ish to get a boat from TN to TX. The money i saved in time alone was worth it!

Originally Posted by biz

+1 for a shipping company. I paid $700-ish to get a boat from TN to TX. The money i saved in time alone was worth it!

my thoughts exactly.... time is money. However, like you said, you're making a vacation out of it.
drive safely! what boat are you picking up?

I also had mine shipped. It was only $1700ish from Cali to Wi. My buddy was going to take my truck and go get it for me. He didn't want any money except hotels. The way we figured it, it was way cheaper to just have them ship it.

having just driven across the entire state of Wyoming I don't think scenic is the first word I would use to describe it. First word would be boring and the second word would be windy. Having said that good luck and have fun!

Anywhere its warm. Fly out, rent a truck and tow it back...preferably with friends and a map of lakes along the way! I personally flew from CA to the farthest part of TX to pick up my boat, driving it back in less than 3 days to arrive just in time for my senior year of college's finals. Otherwise I would have taken my time and seen the country.

If you are just driving out i-80, that's hella boring. I can summarize it thusly: Chicago, corn, North Platte River, desert, "hey look, Park City!," SLC. It is sorta interesting, I guess, to see in person where the plains (corn) end and the West (desert) begins. But see it once, been there done that.

Marine Products is where I am buying the boat from. It comes with the altitude wakeboard prop.. Thanks Kelly.

We drove 500 miles to test drive a boat

When I bought my I/O, I drove 900 miles one way without even seeing the boat or test driving it. Granted it was brand new so I wasnt too worried. The local dealership refused to go get it and wanted me to just buy a new one from them and I found one that was the same specs that I wanted. Luckily when I went to pick up my Axis from the Loudon plant, it was only 130 miles away Less of a drive and tons better of a boat!
Good luck on your road trip!

I drove almost 800 miles one way last week to buy a Nautique. The owner sent me old pictures and completely lied about the condition and how it ran. All I could do is turn around and go home empty handed. Two days later, I found one an hour away from my house. Way too much driving in 24 hours for me...

I love to drive......I would hit every lake along the way........especially with the old lady in tow Life is more than finding the cheapest way to do something. Have a good time with the wife and take it all in.

I am willing to drive 1500+ miles if I could just find the right boat for sale. I cannot find one with what I want to save me.

Good advice phatboypimp and exactly what me and the wife are planning to do...!!

Before my Tige, I had a 21' Custom Cougar. At the time I was dead set on having one, and found one in Monroe La. Thats 2,117 miles from Disco Bay. I flew out to the one flight a day airport in Monroe. The guy picked me up, boat in tow, and we went straight to the river. loved the boat, called a boat transport to come pick it up, wrap it and bring it to me. Cost was about $1,400.00. Well worth the money.

I drove 6 hours one way for mine, I thought that was stretching it but some of you guys are crazy!

A few people over here have driven from Perth on the West coast across to the East coast, around 8000 - 10000km round trip depending whether you go to Victoria or up to Queensland. Second hand boat market here in Perth is almost zero.

My dad and i drove from chicago to prtland oregon, a 2100 mile drive one way, to buy his last mastercraft, and the funny thing is it was sunk when we bought it, so we got it with a big old hole in the bottom. On the way in south dakota, we grenaded the trans on the old silverado we had, so we traded it in on an explorer, fun trip all in allo, and well worth it for the boat, we had alot of fun on that boat after we fixed it up.

Yea...i paid the $1240 I think, found it off of uship. Several of the carriers looked very reputable, but still a little risk of course. This guys service was excellent. I could give you the name if you wanted, send me a PM.

I've gotten some bids on Uship but more than I want to spend and you really have to do some digging to look into these haulers. We'll see what happens. If I have to drive out myself so be it, we'll make it a good trip..(hopefully we won't want to kill each other half way out! hahahaha)

When we went to pick up our boat we drove from Lubbock, TX all the way to Baxter, MN! IT was quite a trip, including a snowstorm and a boat on the highway! All in all it tooks us 3 days, it was like a 22 hr drive the way up there and then like a 28-30 drive back not including the time we spent sitting on the highway waiting on the tow truck to pick up our boat that we flung across the highway.

oh man Landan, hope everything turned out ok. That sounds pretty similar to the distances and hours we'll be traveling, a bit further for us but pretty close. we leave on Friday nice, extremely excited about picking up our first boat!

Yeah that was back in March we have since gotten it fixed and it rides great!

I drove 48 hrs to pick up my X-star i live in manitoba canada and drove to L.A. California!!!!!!


PS. It was well woth it Lots of fun plus u have a nice boat after

Sacramento to Seattle.

I haul boats for a living. I have been as far as 1200 miles each way.

went from San Diego to Witchita KS in one weekend, straight there and straight back with a buddy a few years ago, did it in 52 hours straight through. My next gig is hauling boats. Just sold that boat to a guy in Kentucky and he paid a shipper $1500 from Yuma, AZ back to KY.

Good luck! Just drove my boat back from Kiel Wisconsin to Des Moines Iowa. I'd check the state's department of transportation to see construction issues maybe? Could be some parts that would be a tight fit w/ that trailer. Also maybe an Ipass? I don't know how many states you will be traveling through w/ tolls but that would SUUUUCK to have to stop if you don't have to. Enjoy the trip!

4,374 miles later and she's all ours and back home! What a trip my wife and I had, it was a really long road trip with a lot of driving but once we picked her up and then got her home it was totally worth it. That and the fact we only spent $1400 to get it and to ship it would have cost me anywhere from $2,000 to $3,600 based on quotes I got. Well worth it in our opinion even though it was 5 days of our time. We had a good time driving out there and back. Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming are extremely LONG states. Wyoming has some great scenery though.

Before we left SLC we dropped the boat in the Jordanelle reservoir to test her out and to get past the first 2 hrs. of break-in time. Man, that first hour was brutal not being able to go above 2k RPM's. We got her home and finished off the other 5 hrs. this past Friday with a cruise for the parents. Then on Saturday we took her out on the river with our friends and it was quite a week for everyone. Our other friends also picked up a new boat, an '06 Malibu VLX, and another friend got a new truck to pull his SANTE. It was a great day out on the water with our friends. We are looking forward to many more days like this that lie ahead.

Here's a few pics of our new baby at Jordanelle Reservoir near Park City, Utah as well as some pics from stopping along the way.

Nice ride man.

Congrats. Looks like the drive was well worth it. Boat reached its final destination and you and your wife seem to still be on speaking terms. Sounds like a win to me.

more and more with the use of internet we are finding that people are buying boats from all over the world and having them shipped instead of buying from a local dealer.

Where the eyes go, that is where the money is. Less and less is the traffic at a boat dealer. The eyes have shifted to the internet.

The educated buyer today actually goes to the internet to find info, pricing, compare dealers, and ultimately buy. Boat manufacturers will warranty a boat regardless of where it has been purchased. A new boat is a new boat regardless of where you purchase it. You are relatively safe in buying a new boat over the internet. Options on the boats are listed clearly, terms are spelled out, and all you have to do is not pay for the boat until its seen.

It is worth a $400 round trip ticket to see your new $1,000,000 purchase. A ton of our customers fly in to see their new yachts...

NOW, $50k wakeboard boats are having the same phenominon. The cost of a ticket is worth buying the right boat. If you are buying a used boat, just beware. Most are sold as is and with zero warranties. Still, even used boats are sold over the internet. If you know what you are looking at, you really cannot get burned. If its a dealer, sometimes they will work out a deal called 50/50 warranty. Even though the boat doesn't have a warranty, the dealer will agree to pay for half of the problems that arise if you purchase the boat. Ask...most will.

It costs about $3/mile to deliver a boat. Figure that into the cost and a good deal will appear.

We have buyers from all around the world calling about the boats we have. Amazing...but the new norm.

Distance to buy a new boat? Well, my friend David just sold a boat to Eastern Europe...that's got to be the farthest.

Push away from the dock to find yourself.

The Floating Guru
http://thirdcoastyachtsales.blogspot.com/

www.toddweatherill.com

kentucky to chicago

Glad to hear of the successful trip. Did you happen to track your MPG? Just curious.....

On the way out there I got about 17 mpg, on the way back towing the boat I got about 12 mpg.....uuugggghhh

You guys who think your mid west states are boring to drive through should count yourself lucky you don't live in our state of Western Australia! To get from Perth (the capital) to the State border is about 1000 miles, and that is the closest point. If you want to go to the furthest point, near Halls Creek it is around 2500 miles or 3 hrs by jet. To give you an idea of what to expect as far as towns along the way, W.A. has a population of around 1.5 million people and about 1.2 million of them live in Perth the next biggest is about 50000. The rest are spread over an area that would accomodate Texas about 3 or 4 times and most of it is flat scrub and desert.

I went from Albuquerque to Los Angeles and I thought that was far.

That Supra is beautiful by the way. I love that color scheme! Great work!