The Great Lakes 2011 boat transport season is beginning to unfold as ice on lakes and rivers across the midwest begins to disappear.   Our first 2011 delivery of a Monterey 320 to Rhode Island last week marked our first cross country delivery since November. Diesel fuel has once again eclipsed the $4/gallon mark, which will cause prices to rise once again for boating enthusiasts.

2010 season was one of slow economic recovery in the marine business, with moderate transport volumes.  MREBoatTransport moved about 30-40 cruisers, mostly about the Great Lakes region.   Our longest journey was a Chaparral 350 moved from Virginia to Washington state.    Two trips were made to the Pacific northwest, both boats were Great Lakes freshwater cruisers, purchased by Canadians from beautiful British Columbia.   Business between Minnesota and Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri seems to be on the upswing, with boats moving regularly in both directions.

As always, I tend to procrastinate when it comes to blogging about my business and travels, forgetting to take enough pictures along the way.   I’ll post some with what has become my ’seasonal’ update…if you want more of the day to day commentary - please find me on Facebook under ‘MREBoatTransport’…

Cheers!

Mark Rinker, MREBoatTransport.com
612.578.6355

This beautiful Rinker mid-sized cruiser was loaded on a Wednesday afternoon at Riverdale Marina www.riverdalemarina.com in Riverdale, IL from and delivered on Saturday morning to its final destination - Phillipi Harbor Club http://www.phillippiharbor.com near Sarasota, FL.   

The boat’s owner is a doctor from Chicago who recently purchased a second home in Sarasota.   This boat will now reside permanently in Florida as he plans to buy another boat for use at his home port of Riverdale, IL.  The receiving marina was first rate - boasting the largest indoor drystack facility I had ever seen - three levels high and able to accomodate boats up to 35′ in length.  In the Florida sun and salt water, dry stacking makes alot of sense for preserving your boat, especially if your plan is to visit only occasionally.

From this delivery, we headed to Ponce Inlet (Daytona Beach area) to pick up a center console fishing boat bound for Seabrook, Texas.   Soon we would hear about a storm on its way towards Texas, called “Hurricane Ike”…