What is the best way to ship a boat motor

Fl_Richard

Lieutenant
Joined
Jan 21, 2005
Messages
1,428
Re: What is the best way to ship a boat motor

Gary's got it! Pallet. Strap it and wrap it. Usually flat rate tailgate service. Residential delivery will be a bit more.
 

pabloescobedo96

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Feb 7, 2009
Messages
107
Re: What is the best way to ship a boat motor

This type of freight would be moved by an "LTL carrier". UPS purchased Overnite a few years back, Fedex purchased Viking, so both now do LTL, but the operations are different and separate from the package service that we all know. UPS Freight is also fairly expensive compared to other carriers. You need to find a third-party freight broker and you should be seeing rates as described below. This is really true for anyone moving an outboard, I did the rating at 400 pound but that's still hitting minimum charges, even at 600 pounds the base rate only goes up by 10 bucks.

If you pick up the freight at the destination terminal it will substantially reduce your shipping expense. You are probably paying an additional $50-$75 for delivery liftgate and that amount again for residential delivery. Your base transportation rate should be around $100-$150 , liftgate and residential delivery will add anywhere between $50-$150 on that. The numbers depend on the broker's markup, I work for a shipping company and I just pulled up rates for one of our third-party brokers (the rate we would extend to them) and it'd cost $161.47 including res del and liftgate or $107.97 without. Shipping is dirt cheap, our cost on that freight move is $43.72, add another $25 for liftgate and $25 for pallet jack. $44 bucks brought a motor from Michigan to my front door in South Florida (the carrier waived the accessorial charges). No sales pitch here, we don't do individual moves, but at least you have some behind-the-scenes numbers to work from.

Your outboard is "class 85" for the purposes of rate calculation. It should be fine strapped securely to a pallet. Palletized freight is not typically stacked so its not nearly as damage-prone as packages.

Hope this helps,
-E

That helps a TON!!! So if I do go UPS will they allow me to pick up at the destination terminal?
 

Whoopbass

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jun 29, 2006
Messages
649
Re: What is the best way to ship a boat motor

I've shipped 3 25 hp OMC motors in the last few months through Fedex. They should be the same size as your motor providing your outboard is a short shaft.
Packing this size of outboard isn't easy considering it has to be in a box that is not more then 130" when you add the girth + the length. There really isn't any room for error. You can go over the 130" but they hit you with about a $50 balloon charge.
I've shipped a bunch of 9.9-25 hp outboards and they have all arrived in one piece with no damage. A large outboard is too heavy for them to throw around so they have to move it with a hand truck. If I knew they wouldn't lose it or someone steal it I wouldn't even bother getting insurance.
I package my motors with the powerhead on the bottom with the lower unit pointed straight up. I use Styrofoam and a cardboard box. It costs me $80 to ship a 15hp and around $110 to ship a 25hp.
Most likely your Seller isn't going to go through the hassle of packing this motor so your going to get hit hard on the shipping costs if you send it the conventional way.

I suggest you ship this motor with this company.
http://forwardair.com/
They are a terminal to terminal shipper so your guy would have to deliver the motor to them and you would have to pick it up at your local terminal.
A couple years back I shipped a 50hp Johnson strapped to a pallet from CA to somewhere back East and it cost $130. Pretty cheap compared to everyone else. The motor and the pallet weighed about 220lbs. Your motor and pallet should weigh in around 150-160 lbs so you might be able to ship it for $100 or so as long as they haven't jacked up their rates.
 

eli_lilly

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Dec 22, 2005
Messages
435
Re: What is the best way to ship a boat motor

That helps a TON!!! So if I do go UPS will they allow me to pick up at the destination terminal?

I'm not 100% sure but they'd know if you call, just make sure you are dealing with the UPS Freight side. When you ship the freight, make sure to mark "hold at terminal" on the bill of lading notes.

-E
 

Gary H NC

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Messages
8,972
Re: What is the best way to ship a boat motor

You may want to check with ABF freight.
I have a neighbor that runs a small business out of their garage and i see the ABF rig there once a week. He drops off one or two pallets every time.
Not sure how their rates compare to the bigger companies.
 

pabloescobedo96

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Feb 7, 2009
Messages
107
Re: What is the best way to ship a boat motor

I ended up using U-ship.com. It cost me $120.00. $20 to uship and $100 to the driver. He didn't even need it put on a pallet. He just wrapped it in a piece of carpet and put it in his van. Very satisfied with the outcome.
 

Philip_G

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
634
Re: What is the best way to ship a boat motor

oops, need to start a new thread. My mistake
 
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