When you do not live on the east or west coast of the U.S. but you want to invest in a large boat, how do you get the boat inland from the coast? Better yet, how do you haul the boat onto the shore and into storage? Can you even store a magnificent yacht? These are all questions to ponder before you invest in the biggest boat you can afford, and the following answers may help you decide if this is a manageable investment for you.

Boat Hauling Inland from Either Coast

While it might be more feasible to just sail or drive the boat on the water into the nearest dock, that might be a very long way for you to have a boat delivered, especially if you live somewhere like Nebraska or Kansas. The more direct route to getting your boat hauled inland from the manufacturer on the coast is to put the boat on a trailer designed just for your boat and then have it delivered overland and cross-country. If the waterways you want to cruise are landlocked, this is definitely the only option you have to haul and deliver your boat.

Boat Hauling onto the Shore

If you can get your magnificent boat delivered via a major waterway (e.g., the Mississippi River or the Great Lakes), then your next biggest concern is storing the boat during the off-season. A mid- to enormous-sized yacht or sailboat needs to come out of the water because most open water marinas will not allow you to store your boat at the docks during the winter. You will need to hire a boat moving company for this project, since you will have to have a very large freight truck pull the boat out and haul it to storage for you. (Typically, there are no boat trailers for boats of these sizes, so a boat hauling service will have to do.) Your only other option is to build your own boat garage off the edge of the water, and that is often more expensive than hauling the boat in and out of the water every year.

Special Storage Issues

Finally, you should look at boat storage. Usually, the only storage available for giant boats is an outdoor lot or a self-storage unit big enough for your boat. The outdoor lots are a little cheaper, but leaving your boat out in all kinds of weather means you might have a lot of maintenance expenses. Storing it in a double-wide, triple-tall self-storage unit is extremely costly and most of these units are often already full. However, the self-storage unit for big boats and luxury yachts does save on maintenance and repair costs.