: . . . I need to get a boat
: from CO to Maryland . . . and also not break the bank!

You need to find someone who will ship your 'LTL' (Less than Truck Load) shipment.

Check your local phone book (or go online) and find a 'freight consolidator'. This is a company that combines loads from various sources and ships them. With smaller packages and envelopes UPS, Fed-Ex, and the Post Office do this on a daily, scheduled basis. Bigger items go through other channels. Companies like Forward Air use their own trailers and trucks, but there are many companies which hire independent drivers who supply their own trucks and trailers.

You may ship door to door or dock to dock. Dock to dock is usually a better deal. If you go door to door tind out if your recipient has the ability to unload this from a truck -- the driver probably won't, and if it takes too long to unload they'll bill you or charge the receiver. And they'll have to be around when the truck arrives.

A 'freight broker' usually acts as a middleman matching the independent truckers with the companies that need them. Since they deal with a lot of trucking companies and independent truckers, brokers can be good sources for the names of reliable consolidators. Sometimes they will work as consolidators. If your crate can be shipped on a flatbed trailer a broker may help you find more options.

Usually you'll need to crate the boat. If a company will handle an uncrated boat at all they'll charge more. Make the crate strong enough to support 2000 pounds--the typical weight of a pallet of freight -- because your big crate may be loaded on the bottom, with other stuff on top.

Rates for shipping are sometimes negotiable. Ask. You might get a break. Generally you pay by the pound for a given distance. Large, light items, such as your boat may be charged a higher rate-per-pound or be assigned an arbitrary 'weight' for billing purposes. Shippers have formulas which take the volume of your crate and convert that to what an average pallet of that size would weigh. Then they bill you for the higher weight.

Hope this helps.

PGJ