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Trucking With the Tide
Pleasure boats mean steady work for Independent Boat Haulers.
By Kathleen Hatt
"Time and the tides wait for no man." For most truckers, it's time that is of the essence. Not for Rick Pollard. The tides are his schedule, and he works with them - or not at all. Pollard used to haul paper and potatoes out of Maine, backhauled chain and anything else headed where he wanted to go. He liked the road — but he loved home. Twelve years ago, he figured out how to stay there.
Together with co-owner Carl Archer, he founded Independent Boat Haulers. Working from their southern Maine base in Eliot, they pick up pleasure boats from winter storage each spring and deliver them to various northern New England and eastern Canada marinas. In the fall, they reverse the process, plucking the same boats from the water and returning them to storage. They also deliver to and from area boat builders.
High, Wide and Heavy
Independent Boat Haulers transports watercraft that each weigh as much as 20 tons, measure from 19 to 50 feet long, and are valued as high as $750,000. Most are pleasure boats, brought out for the summer and plucked from the water with the first chill winds of autumn. A few are fishing boats coming out of the water for maintenance and repairs. In the off-season, many of the pleasure boats are stored in their owners' back yards. Some go to public storage areas, and some are stored at Independent's yard. Most are trucked fewer than 30 miles.
Pulling the large, often oversize loads are two old, meticulously maintained White Xpeditors with Cummins engines, the objects of Carl Archer's mechanical talent. One is a 1977 with 1,335,865 miles, a 400-hp engine, 13-speed transmission and new S-cam brakes. The second is a 1987 with a 240-hp engine, 9-speed transmission and a Peterbilt air-ride system. Carl has completely rebuilt both chassis, shortening their wheelbases a foot or two to 105 inches, triple-plating their frames to keep them from buckling and mounting air tanks and winches behind each. Together, the two rigs log about 45,000 miles a year.
Out of the Water
On a late September day, Rick and Carl are part of Independent's two crews taking boats out of the water at Rye Harbor State Marina, N.H. Rick backs his rig to the top of the boat ramp, ever mindful of traffic in the small area and the tourists who gather to watch. Tethered to the tractor by a single cable, his 34-foot, $100,000 Brownell hydraulic gooseneck trailer moves down the ramp and into the water.
Meanwhile, the boat's owners are driving their vessel toward the submerged trailer. Only a pad or two of the trailer's hydraulic arms are visible in the water as Carl, riding on the gooseneck, signals the boat's owners to stop. Grabbing the boat's rope, Carl begins delicately maneuvering the boat into position over the submerged trailer. Simultaneously, he operates controls that position the hydraulic arms and their pads under the boat's keel. His goal is to put the pads at precisely the points where they will maintain the boat's balance on the trailer and prevent it from scraping the ramp. It is an exacting process, with zero room for error.
Working with the Tides
Delivering the load would seem the most efficient next step after the boat has been secured to the trailer and the trailer has been reconnected to the tractor and pulled out of the water. But the tides have their own schedule.
Instead of delivering the boat, the men unload it from their trailer onto steel tripod-like stands in the adjacent parking lot. With only about six hours to work before they lose high water, they return to the ramp to pluck out the next boat. They alternate rigs so that while one is unloading onto stands, the other is pulling another boat from the water.
Boats are scheduled according to their size and draft (the depth of the keel below the water line). The largest boat with the deepest draft is moved when the tide is highest. Their all-time record was achieved during one six-hour tide when they used only one tractor-trailer to put 22 boats into the water.
Once secured on stands, each sailboat's 40- to 46-foot high mast is removed by one of the company's two cranes. After the tide turns and they can no longer pull boats from the water, one boat is reloaded on one of the two Brownell trailers, and the mast is secured to the side. Pulling out of the marina's parking lot, Rick points to the area around the ramp and comments on what has just become a mud flat.
"When the tide goes out, it's as if someone pulled the plug on a giant bathtub. It happens that quickly." As he hauls a 38-foot boat with red-flagged mast along narrow two-lane roads through coastal villages, Rick points to boats he has delivered. His most challenging delivery sits at the end of a narrow S-curved driveway, with a stone wall on one side and a 90-degree turn at the end.
Keeping Old Equipment Young
Drivers who travel treated roads in winter know the effect road salt has on vehicles. The Atlantic Ocean could be just as unkind to Independent's trailers. To prevent rust, the trailers are coated with the same kind of paint used on bridges. They are also washed frequently with fresh water. Chicago Rawhide seals protect standard wheel bearings from saltwater. A reservoir of Amalee 90 weight gear oil for the wheel bearings rides in the cross-member in front of the trailer.
The men store 15 gallons of Amalee hydraulic fluid for the trailers' hydraulic system in the hand rail paralleling the trailer. Three times a week, they lube each trailer's 24 grease fittings with Amalee 90 weight grease, and the grease is changed once a year. In the six years Independent has owned the trailers, no water has gotten in, not even condensation. The trailers are painted white, rather than black, to prevent the condensation that would be inevitable when heated metal hit the cold ocean water.
The grease fitting on the pivot point of the trailer is greased twice a week. The bearing caps on the axle hubs are transparent, so crews can quickly check for water leaks. These caps have never leaked, but continue to be checked on the regular maintenance schedule.
Brakes are exposed to saltwater, too, but Pollard says they have never had a water problem. New brake shoes are installed once a year, while a set of brake drums typically lasts three to four years. Keeping both rigs under cover every night also helps preserve them, they say.
Most boats Independent hauls have been pressure-washed under water by a diver who removes scum and sea critters. This process also helps keep the trailers clean, as well as the crew.
The Business of Hauling Boats
The northern New England boating season generally runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but Independent Boat Haulers work from March to December to accomplish the 600 to 700 hauls they do each year. They serve a loyal group of customers, 94% of whom are repeaters. Owners are often present, driving their boats to or from the ramp. It is not unusual to hear, "I wouldn't let anyone else touch my boat. These guys are great!"
Independent charges $4 per linear foot, $1.75 per mile, plus permits, tolls and setup fees, including labor at $40 per hour and crane use at $60. A typical fee for a 38-foot boat taken to a storage area within 20 miles of the marina is $360. Independent Boat Haulers is accident-free but fully insured for an annual premium of $26,000.
Repeat customers never receive bills. In 12 years, only three customers have not paid. More usual are the long-time customers who show up at Independent's yard during the off-season to visit their stored boats and to deliver wine and other goodies.
After 10 months of putting lots of big boats into small spaces and spending January modifying and maintaining their unique equipment, there's only about a month for a well-deserved vacation before the new season begins. What does a former long-haul trucker do on vacation?
"I drive!" Pollard laughs. Boat hauling is rewarding enough that February may find him riding around the country in his tour bus or on the back roads of New Zealand, looking for fishing spots. Going down to the sea for boats, he says, is a good life.
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