Height clearance on 36 Express Trawler

[TheJudge]

I have an immediate problem and need some advice. I am in the process of purchasing a 36 ET and will need to transport it by truck. Now all these carriers are concerned about the height for highway clearance. I have never measured one out of the water and will not have that opportunity until it is too late. The published measurements I have found indicate a draft of 3' 3" and air clearance from waterline to top of flybridge of 11' 10" giving a total of 15' 1". Apparently there is a restiction of 14' 6" or special permits are required and escort cars which adds appreciably to the cost but heck its a boat. Now they want me to remove the short windscreen and handrail around the flybridge but I do not want to do it for fear of damaging the gelcoat. Besides it looks like the cowling around the instrument cluster is the same height as the windscreen so why bother since that cowling would take a saw to get it lower. All thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[TheJudge]

I have been a bit disappointed at the lack of action on this forum when I post a query. I guess folks either have no opinion or are too busy doing other things. So I guess I will have to answer my own question once I get her out of the water this Friday. We leave Wednesday for Hilton Head and begin the survey Thursday after lunch. We will continue on Friday and take her out for sea trials in the Atlantic and pull her out for hull inspection. If my surveyor is satisfied then I will close so long as the oil analysis is completed. Then begins the task of prepping it for shipment by truck to the Tennessee River. With any luck by this time next week I will be dead broke and sitting on my new toy.

[joreyn]

If you are transporting by truck, you'll also be factoring in the height of the trailer that the boat is loaded on. Usually, they use a "low-boy" type trailer, but even with that, I don't think there is any way to avoid the special permits. Experienced boat haulers should be able to give you the full rundown.

Best of luck with the survey.

[TheJudge]

Well I told you that by Friday I would be able to answer my own question. Maybe someone else will benefit from my findings. An Albin 36 ET with a single engine has a true draft of 5' 2" with half a load of fuel. Now the twin engine version woulf probably be close to the advertised 3' 3" but the single had that awfully deep keel to protect the prop. As to the air clearance for trucking, measuring from the highest non-removable structure, which is the top of the flybridge instrument cluster, to the bottom of the keel directly under that cluster you get 14' 3". A true height measured from the top of the instrument cluster to the bottom of the deepest part of the keel would give an astounding 16' but that is not the way it would sit on the truck. They would nestle that deep skeg closer to the road and sit the boat on the main portion of the keel and block it up and hope for no speed bumps.

[Veebyes2]

Oh boy, that ones gonna be close.

We were close with my A32, half tower removed. Lucky that we did not have to go far & did not need an escort. My trip was from Tilghman, MD to Salem, NJ

The good news for you is that the boat need not sit level on her lines on the trailer. resting on it's keel the bow will be down, effectively lowering the bridge windscreen but possibly raising the back of the rear cockpit top. Hmmm. How much trouble is it to remove the cockpit top?

Figure at least 15" on the lowboy deck.

They delivered the boat on a truck. It certainly can be moved again by truck.

Umm, have you considered a nice leasurely cruise down the Intracoastal, across Okachobee, up the west coast of Fl, up the Tenn Tom & to her new home that way? I have some friends who took delivery of their Harbormaster in TN, ran it down the Tenn Tom, across Okachobee, a side trip to the Bahamas, back to Fl & up to Jacksonville, FL where it was put onn a ship to Bermuda. Does a shakedown cruise to the Bahamas sound nice? How much will the overland be & how much fun will it be for you?

[TheJudge]

A cruise by water on her own bottom sounds wonderful if I was retired. But unfortunately I am so stacked up with major trials through the end of the year that I could only move her on weekends. I can't imagine flyng in and out of Florida each weekend for a couple of months to eventually get this boat to the Tennessee. It would cost thousands more that way. There is another possible option I have been considering. Take her up the Savannah River 200 miles to Augusta and dock her on the Riverwalk. That is only a 3 hour drive from my home and we could still go most weekends. Then when I get ready to start the Loop we can just as easily start from Augusta.

[RicM]

Judge,

The largest and most recent number of Albins made where in the TE series and often that's where most of the "action" tends to be on this forum. It's not that nobody cares about your question, there's just not that many people who know the answers about this particular boat. An experienced boat hauler will have a number of strategies to deal with these questions and it all boils down to time and money.

[TheJudge]

Thank you for pointing out what I should have realized on my own. I have no idea how many 36ET's were manufactured during their run or how many owners of those are on this forum so probably most who viewed my question had no basis for posting an anawer. I will try to be mindful of that in the future. By the way, my deal has temporarily fallen through based on the survey. A couple of problems arose that I will address under a separate topic.

[Veebyes2]

Sorry about the stumbling block on the boat purchase. Hope the issues can be resolved one way or another. The boat should be an excellent Looper. Try to do the Trent Severn Waterway. I've seen bits & pieces of it by road. Beautiful!

[Mariner]

We had to remove the windscreen and railings around the flybridge when our boat was shipped up to Tacoma from Vallejo, CA. As I recall, there was no damage that resulted. The same boat was obviously shipped out to Bellinghamn when it was bought, and then down to the Bay Area by the previous owner, so it's clearly designed to make highway transits. Ours was still tall enough that it had to avoid overpasses and have a vehicle accompany it to prop up the power lines, etc.. We had to take it to Vallejo from Sausalito, however, due to an unavoidable overpass or tunnel on that route that would have made highway transport impossible.

[Albinflorida]

I have not been on the forums in a while, but if you are still looking, the answer is when we had the boats delivered from the factory, the flybridege was shipped seperatly. We had it installed, but it is never a good idea to pull a bridge if you can help it. It never goes on right again.