Boat transport and boat shipping

Neptune arranges boat transport in the 48 contiguous states. Almost every boat we move travels on its own trailer, pulled by a carrier equipped for it, from the address where it sits to the address where it is going. We are a broker: we arrange the move and dispatch it to a vetted carrier, and we do not own trucks.

How boats actually travel

The single question that decides everything is whether the boat has a trailer. If it does, the move is a towaway: a carrier hitches it and drives. That is the most common way a boat moves, and normally the lowest in cost, because it needs no extra equipment and no lift at either end. Almost all boat shipping works this way, which is why the first question any carrier asks is about the trailer. It is what nearly every boat in our records has done.

If the boat has no trailer, the move becomes a different job. It has to sit on a carrier's own equipment, usually a flatbed or a lowboy, and it needs a lift or a yard crane at both ends to get on and off. That is arranged case by case, and it is worth telling us at the quote stage rather than at pickup.

Beam is the number that decides the price

Boat owners expect length to drive the cost. Length matters, but beam matters more. A boat wider than 8 feet 6 inches is an oversize load on most US highways, which means permits, sometimes daylight-only running, sometimes an escort, and a much smaller pool of carriers willing to take it. A 24 foot boat on a narrow trailer can move as ordinary freight. A 30 foot boat with a wide beam is a different class of job entirely. That is oversize boat hauling, not ordinary freight, and it is permitted and priced as such.

Height is the second trap. Boat plus trailer plus a hard top or a tower can put you near bridge clearance, and a carrier who has not measured will find out at the wrong moment. Give us beam, height on the trailer, and length overall, and the quote will hold.

How much does it cost to ship a boat?

There is no flat rate, and we do not publish a boat price band. We have moved boats since April 2023 across 20 states, which is enough to know the corridors well and not enough to publish percentiles that would mean anything. We do not publish numbers we cannot stand behind.

What sets the price: distance and the actual corridor, beam and whether it triggers oversize permits, height on the trailer, whether the trailer is yours and roadworthy, whether the boat is shrink wrapped, how flexible your dates are, and how close both ends sit to a road a full-size truck can turn around on. Marina access is a real factor. A boat sitting in a tight yard behind a locked gate is a different pickup from one on a driveway.

A specialist prices your actual boat and your actual lane, then calls you back. Nothing is charged before a driver is booked.

How long does boat transport take?

Across the boats in our records, the median time from pickup to delivery was 2 days, and nine out of ten arrived within 6 days. The longest was a 35 foot express cruiser running Washington to Florida, which took 9 days. Short regional moves frequently deliver the same day or the next.

Transit time is not the same as lead time. The wait is usually for the right carrier to come free on your corridor, not for the driving.

Boats we have moved

Real examples from our dispatch records, so you can see the range rather than a stock photo of someone else's boat: a Boston Whaler Montauk, a Sea Ray 310 Sundancer, a Monterey 290 sport cruiser, a Premier 310 pontoon, a Tahoe deck boat, a Fountain 32 center console, and a Pro-Line 35 express. Sizes have run from under 20 feet up to 35 feet.

One pattern worth knowing: boats follow the same seasonal path cars do. A good share of our boat moves run north to Florida in the fall and back in the spring, on the same corridors as our snowbird transport. If you are moving a boat south for the winter, book earlier than you think you need to, because the carriers who can pull a wide load are the first ones committed.

Booking a boat move

On the quote form, choose Other for the vehicle type. There is no boat option, and Other is the one that routes correctly to our dispatch team. In the notes, give us length overall, beam, height on the trailer, and whether the trailer comes with the boat. Those four numbers are the difference between a quote that holds and a quote that changes at pickup.

Insurance during transit is carried by the assigned carrier, not by Neptune. We provide the carrier's certificate of insurance before pickup, and our guide to how insurance works in transit explains what that covers and how a claim is filed.