If you have a very large boat or a yacht (say 60 ft) and want to move it from lake to lake do you have to hire someone to move it? How large a boat can you put on a trailer and tow yourself?
What is the largest boat that can be towed on a trailer?
If you have a very large boat or a yacht (say 60 ft) and want to move it from lake to lake do you have to hire someone to move it? How large a boat can you put on a trailer and tow yourself?
Usually the limit for towing with a regular driver’s license is 26,000 pounds. This isn’t really all that big.
For something like that, you would have to hire it. You don’t have any “little” accidents with a 60 foot boat on the highway.
man, you need professionals to move that beast!
My boat is 30 ft and weighs approx 3.5 tons on the trailer which is touching the maximum permitted in England.
To pull this you need a large 4 x 4 (something like a “Discovery”) with a specially modified braking system, with a trailer designed for that boat.
Something like 60′ is going to need a crane to lift her from the water and a professional to move her, plus another crane at the other end of the journey.
ask local authoritys
You have more to be concerned about than weight. The width of the load and the height. Special permits are required, sometimes working with power companies to raise wires, detours around narrow bridges.
Proper loading of the vessel on the trailer to insure hull integrity, proper launching of the vessel at the new sight.
Could you do it yourself, depends on your skills and do you have the proper equipment (truck and trailer).
I would suggest a professional with references.
Good Luck – Boat Safe!
A boat that big is gonna have to be moved by special equipment.
The truck and trailer alone is gonna be massive. Not to mention the special handling and the permits to move it over the road.
Here in Minnesota the width limit is 8.5 feet so that limits your boat. Personally, I think the largest trailerable boat would be about a 27 or 28 foot cruiser, providing it doesn’t violate the width limit.
Check with the state you in as there is a length and width restriction> And it would require a tractor trailer to haul it>
new vessels of 55/65 ft are regularly moved in uk by tractor trailer…my friends boat weighs 18 tons 53ft long and 15 ft wide no probs
No one hauls a boat that size from lake to lake… it is just too expensive and risky. Legally, you can not do it yourself without a commercial drivers liceness, and even then – without special equipment.
Your first (and usually very visual and obvious) answer to whether or not you can trailer your boat is the boats beam or width… It is a no go if it is more then 8 and 1/2 feet wide.
Second (and possibly less obvious) is weight…
I own a 60 footer… and believe me, you don’t want to ever get yourself in a position where it has to be moved over land. A friend of mine just moved from Conroe to Galveston and had his 48 footer moved from Lake Conroe to Galveston Bay (it was only 50 miles of straight down the highway – unobstructed travel) It took the movers just under 2 hours – at a cost of $7,000.
Here in Galveston recently – they were charging the same $7,000 just to take all the hurrican Ike boats off the highway and out of people’s yards and haul them less then a mile to the Marina… WOW!
So – you’ll be better off forgetting you ever even had the thought.
Happy & Safe Boating!
Capt. John