What is the cheapest way to pull a boat across the country?

Question

I have a bought a sailboat in Columbus OH and need to pull it on a trailer to British Columbia. Contemplating renting a pickup one way or buying one....

Answer 1

how about by rail? try cn.ca

Answer 2

If you are going to lease a truck or car to tow it, be sure you tell the leasing people what you are doing, but my other question is, when you get the boat back home, what are you going to use to pull the boat with when you return the truck or the car that you are leasing, maybe it would be better to buy a car or a truck and keep it. Just a thought.

Answer 3

Dont rorget  U Haul i rented one of there trunks ones, it pulls well.

Answer 4

If you rent, you will have to pay day rate plus milage and a one way drop off charge.  

If you are careful when you buy you might find one you can retrieve or improve on your investment.  Are there trucks available in Ohio that would fetch a premium in BC?  If not, break even is still pretty good.  

Besides the recent reports of maintenance problems on U-Hauls and such make them questionable at best.

Answer 5

What will your future needs be?  You'll likely need a tow vehicle to launch and retrieve the boat seasonaly or trailer it to what ever lake you use.    Get an affordable,  used 2-wheel drive truck that is appropriate for what you want to tow.  



Different states have differnet requirements concerning the width you can tow without a permit.  I believe in the U.S., you can legally tow up to 8.5 feet in width in every state with no special permits.

Renting a tow vehicle may be a viable option, but as one post said many rental agencies do not allow towing other than their specially designed car tow packages, so check this out throughly.

I've used my Dodge Ram (V-8) to tow a 26-foot, 7000 lb boat  3000 miles round trip on a few ocassions and it was up to the task.

The boat makes a cheap camper for the ride home.

Having a spare trailer tire, apropriate tire iron, jackstands, etc. is very handy.....

Also, If it's a larger boat, it never hurts to get a quote from a professional boat transport company.

Answer 6

I would say buy or lease a pickup with enough towing capacity...