When should a boat go south, and come back north?

Southbound in October and November. Northbound in April and May, and that one is not a preference.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November. Many hull policies carry navigational limits or hurricane clauses keyed to it, restricting where the boat may sit and when. That gives the spring run a hard deadline set by an underwriter rather than by the owner, and it is why every boat on the same stretch of coast is trying to move in the same fortnight.

Book earlier than feels necessary

Drivers and captains who work this corridor commit their windows by the end of August for the fall and the end of February for the spring. After that you are not choosing between people, you are hoping someone had a cancellation.

The fall run is the longer one

Counterintuitively, going south takes longer than coming back. Daylight in November gives about twelve hours of legal travel against nearly fifteen in May, so the same distance is three days rather than two. The timing guide covers this.

Read your own policy, or ask your agent to read it with you. Clauses differ between underwriters and nothing here is a substitute for what yours says.

A calendar you can actually work to

Everything on this corridor runs about two months ahead of when owners think it does. Here is the year as the people who do the moving experience it.

The two quiet columns are the useful ones. Almost nobody moves a boat in January, which means a driver who would otherwise run empty may take the job for less. If your boat does not have to arrive on a particular week, the off peak is a real saving that nobody advertises.

Three clocks, and only one of them is yours

• The underwriter’s clock. The Atlantic hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November, and hull policies commonly restrict where the boat may be, south of a stated latitude, between stated dates. That is the hard edge on the spring run, and it is contractual rather than meteorological. It applies whether or not there is a storm anywhere near her.
• The daylight clock. A permitted oversize load generally travels between sunrise and sunset. November gives roughly twelve hours of that on this corridor and May gives nearly fifteen, which is the whole reason a southbound run takes three days and a northbound one often takes two. It also means an autumn delay of a fortnight can add a day to the trip and a day of cost with it.
• The yard’s clock. Every yard on the coast hauls out in the same few weeks and launches in the same few weeks, because every owner is doing what you are doing. A travel-lift slot in the third week of October is a scarce thing, and the move cannot happen without one at each end.

Your own preference is the fourth clock and the only one that bends. Which is why owners who move on the off weeks, either side of the peak, consistently pay less and get better people.

What to do in the last fortnight

It happens most years and it is not hopeless, it just costs flexibility. In rough order of what actually works:

• Widen the geography before you widen the budget. Somebody already running your week from a yard forty miles away is a better prospect than somebody local making a special trip. Drivers on this coast work whole regions, not towns.
• Ask about a shared window. If another boat is going the same week from the same water, a driver may take yours on the same trip. This is the single biggest saving available late, and it exists only because the season clusters.
• Move the delivery date rather than the pick-up date. Owners tend to fix the wrong end. A driver with a run already booked can often collect yours on the way rather than making a trip for it.
• Consider running her down instead. A captain’s calendar is a different calendar, and a boat that can go on her own bottom is not competing for the same trailer. What that costs is a fair comparison to have in hand.
• For the spring run, do not simply push the date. If the delay takes her past 1 June, that is a policy question rather than a scheduling one. Ring your agent before you agree a later date, not after.

The rest of it

• What is the cheapest time of year to move a boat south? December and January, by a distance. The southbound rush is over, the spring rush has not started, and a driver who would otherwise run the lane empty will often take the job for less. It only works if your arrival date is genuinely flexible.
• Why does the northbound run have a hard deadline? Because hurricane season opens on 1 June and many hull policies carry navigational limits or named storm clauses keyed to that date, restricting where the boat may sit and when. It is a contractual date rather than a weather forecast, so it applies whether or not anything is brewing.
• When do drivers and captains actually commit their calendars? End of August for the fall window, end of February for the spring. That is roughly two months before owners start ringing, which is the single most useful thing to know on this page.
• Does it cost more to move in the peak weeks? Usually, and not only in money. In the peak you are competing for the driver, the escort and the travel-lift slot at both ends all at once, so you pay in flexibility as much as in price. A fortnight either side of the rush is the sweet spot most owners never think to ask for.