Ideas needed to transport Glider - across US

saddletramp

saddletramp

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saddletramp
Okay, you can call me crazy but I live in WA state & am considering buying a glider on the east coast. It's exactly the sailplane I've been looking for to start my soaring business. Decent two-place gliders aren't easy to find. I checked into ordering a new glass ship from Germany & I was quoted around 90K & over a year before delivery.

My wife & I plan to airline it out to there sometime in November. If we decide to purchase there are several options:

Fly home & drive back in our SUV to get it. Oh, the glider has an open trailer. 1500# load.

Rent a u-haul or rental car & tow it home while were out there. That appears to be a $2,400 bill plus gas, motel, & expenses.

Fly back out, buy a decent used truck or SUV, & sell it when we get home.

Find a freight company that can haul it inside a semi van. I have scores of machinery loads shipped all over the US & Canada every month so this I'm familiar with this method.

Whatever it ends up costing it will be less the half of a new glider.

Ideas from the brain trust?
 
Auto transport guys may be able to help. I'm running into this same predicament now as I'm purchasing an Extra 300 that's disassembled. Unfortunately with all of the parts it complicates the issue and I'm probably going to be shelling out five grand to transport it from the Los Angeles area to NJ/NY.
 
Maciej said:
Auto transport guys may be able to help. I'm running into this same predicament now as I'm purchasing an Extra 300 that's disassembled. Unfortunately with all of the parts it complicates the issue and I'm probably going to be shelling out five grand to transport it from the Los Angeles area to NJ/NY.
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Thanks. I'll look them up.
 
It looks like renting a small UHaul truck would be cheaper than renting an SUV from a car-rental place. Either will save you 4-5 days of your time over driving both ways. If you're time is too valuable, you could hire someone to drive it. Meet him there to make sure everything is hooked up and fly back while he drives.
 
I'd do the rental truck from Penske or u-Hual. Simply pull it home.
Remember the weather is getting nasty. winter is here in many northern states.
 
Slightly tangential, what kind of a glider is it? Looking to get into gliding in the not too distant future.
 
Those trailers are light. Rent a SUV and tow it home. Take a crimp tool in your luggage and enough wiring that you can fabricate a harness if the rental company tore out the factory one. Don't tell the rental car company you are going to tow. Pick up the proper ball mount and ball locally. Buy some new tires bearings and at least one axle for the trip home.
 
Uhaul has a truck size up to 26'. Depending on the dimensions it might be the best option instead of making a round trip drive to get it. One-way truck rental and done.
 
Tow it behind a 737. Plenty of them flying coast to coast every day.
Sorry. Shouldn't answer after partaking of the Bushmill's.
 
Call Tony C. He has lots of experience moving gliders and making sure the trailer is road ready.
 
You might try household movers like Bekins. They do motorcycles. If there's room on a load they are moving they put it in. Glider trailer is kinda big but ya never know. Might be worth a phone call.
 
Maybe get a spreadsheet and run the numbers. Consider timing if you plan to drive it across country much later than November you're likely to get into some bad weather.
One might get a gazillion photos, copies of the logs and so forth and decide that subject to final inspection it's OK. Conceivably find someone you know/trust to look at it in person. I'd drive my car out now and tow it home. The downside is some unknown factor busts the deal but if you think the deal doesn't work you wouldn't airline out in the first place, anyway. It's time, money and confidence that the transportation issues will go smoothly. All play into your choice.
 
Railway shipping by container. Cheap. But don't expect it to get there in 4 days.
 
Rental vehicles (cars, SUVs) probably prohibit towing and probably won't have a hitch anyway.

If you end up towing it yourself, maybe find clubs or commercial operations along the way and fly it for a while. Treat it all as an adventure.
 
Htaylor said:
Uship.com

I've used them several times for hauling trailers and always works out better (cheaper) than doing it myself.
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Thanks for the tip!

I posted it on Uship & got numerous responses. Uship estimated $1,800 but I had quotes in the $3,000 range. I think this might be the best method & I'll request an enclosed van.

Sometime in November my wife & I will fly out & see if we can put a deal together. We'd go now but she's a winemaker & has some wine that she can't leave for a few weeks. Yes, she picky about her wine.
 
saddletramp said:
Thanks for the tip!

I posted it on Uship & got numerous responses. Uship estimated $1,800 but I had quotes in the $3,000 range. I think this might be the best method & I'll request an enclosed van.

Sometime in November my wife & I will fly out & see if we can put a deal together. We'd go now but she's a winemaker & has some wine that she can't leave for a few weeks. Yes, she picky about her wine.
Click to expand...
As you get a little closer you'll probably find some lower bids from folks heading that way anyway. A trailer is an easy load for someone with a decent vehicle and a hitch who's making the trip anyway.
 
Fwiw, Alamo shows a Dodge Ram 1500 rentable for that cross-country trip. They only want $360/day ;-)
 
Jeff Oslick said:
How does insurance work with uship.com? I'd be really concerned about that..
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They offer insurance.

I would look very closely in the smallprint what the limitations on that coverage are. Does it apply if the cargo is on a customer provided trailer ?

The other question is whether the shipper has the required authority and all right stamps, stickers and seals to cross 1/2 of the US states with cargo for hire. What happens if he doesn't and your plane ends up in an impound lot in Nebraska ?
 
Yes since I was liberated from my desk job I've done quite a few sailplane deliveries. I charge per mile for round trip distance from my home in Wichita. Exact rate mostly depends on the type of trailer. sometimes it works out nicely to combine trips for reducing your cost.

Usually Uship can do it cheaper than me. I like to think that having a known member of the Soaring community taking care of your glider and trailer is worth the extra.

I suggest you have ownership transferred and insurance in place before the delivery.

Best of luck with the new glider!
 
Tony can speak to this but a glider packed up wrong for a drive will quickly be damaged with 1000s of miles of bumpy road. I've seen it. It's ugly.

Make darn sure stuff is secured properly and padded properly. If it moves it's rubbing on something...

Taking all the clearcoat off of a spot on a wing because it was bouncing in a trailer or any other conveyance will ruin your whole day.
 
tinerj said:
Railway shipping by container. Cheap. But don't expect it to get there in 4 days.
Click to expand...

Recommend staying far away from rail shipping for a glider. The couple times I am aware of it being done it nearly shook the glider to pieces, one it shook it off of the shipping stand and the fuselage rubbed on floor of the shipping container so much as to wear a hole completely through the fiberglass.

Brian
 
denverpilot said:
Tony can speak to this but a glider packed up wrong for a drive will quickly be damaged with 1000s of miles of bumpy road. I've seen it. It's ugly.

Make darn sure stuff is secured properly and padded properly. If it moves it's rubbing on something...

Taking all the clearcoat off of a spot on a wing because it was bouncing in a trailer or any other conveyance will ruin your whole day.
Click to expand...

You are correct about the gelcoat. The sailplane in question is an Blank L-23 which is all metal. I figured if the paint was rough I'd just repaint the thing. I have a friend that paints old airplanes & gliders. He's also an AI.

I hope to fly out there soon & try to cut a deal.
 
I think you will find that nobody will rent you a vehicle you can tow with one way short of a U-Haul truck. I've been through this a few times when I've trailered my plane out to the restoration shop and when I bought a boat on a trailer many states away.
 
Htaylor said:
Uship.com

I've used them several times for hauling trailers and always works out better (cheaper) than doing it myself.
Click to expand...


Yep. Use Uship before and it worked out well.
 
This might work:

37C83E2A9.jpg
 
saddletramp said:
Okay, you can call me crazy but I live in WA state & am considering buying a glider on the east coast. It's exactly the sailplane I've been looking for to start my soaring business. Decent two-place gliders aren't easy to find. I checked into ordering a new glass ship from Germany & I was quoted around 90K & over a year before delivery.

My wife & I plan to airline it out to there sometime in November. If we decide to purchase there are several options:

Fly home & drive back in our SUV to get it. Oh, the glider has an open trailer. 1500# load.

Rent a u-haul or rental car & tow it home while were out there. That appears to be a $2,400 bill plus gas, motel, & expenses.

Fly back out, buy a decent used truck or SUV, & sell it when we get home.

Find a freight company that can haul it inside a semi van. I have scores of machinery loads shipped all over the US & Canada every month so this I'm familiar with this method.

Whatever it ends up costing it will be less the half of a new glider.

Ideas from the brain trust?
Click to expand...

Did you ever get your glider? I'm on the east coast, interested in a glider in Seattle. I'm probably too late, but if not we could maybe each do 1 way.
Dave
 
-Rental car vehicles may have a hitch receiver but very few have trailer wiring and they prohibit towing.
-Uhaul and Ryder trucks are limited to only towing their trailers per their rental agreement.
-Enterprise Commercial has pickups that you can tow with but they do not do one ways with those.
-U ship can be an option but that can be any yahoo that accepts the bid.
-Avoid freight brokers...they just throw it up on load board for the lowest bottom feeder freight hauler for a fraction of what you pay the broker.

Look at an automotive hauler that can throw it and the trailer on a car hauler or a freight company that you are working directly with that has their own trucks.

If it has a trailer find a know entity to the seller that is looking to make a few bucks and pay them to start driving with their car and meet ya half way or even all the way! You can get college kids on break to work cheap when you start throwing hundos around for easy work like a road trip.

They are just launching but this is the perfect load for Uber Freight. They are Uberizing the freight industry where you can book direct with legit owner/operators and smaller outfits with their own Moto Carrier authority vs having to find a broker or roll the dice with a non commercial Uship hauler.

...and just saw this was a necro-post...oh well, leaving my thoughts out there still.
 
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Old post indeed. I hired an RV guy to tow my glider in trailer from NY state to WA state. That was in February.

Since then , we've done an annual on the Blanik L-23 & are flying the heck out of it. It flew 9 flights today. Eight of them were revenue flights.

Our glider operation in finally coming together.
 
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