You can get a used shipping container in good condition for between $1,500 and $3,000, depending upon how nice you want the container, whether or not the company repaits it, and also where you get it.  I can get a bargain container for $1,300, including delivery, but it's only 45 minutes away.  The same container from New Jersey would cost roughly $3,000.  At the high end is $7,000 for a hi-cube tunnel-tainer, with doors at each end.  There are fewer of these, so the price is higher than you might expect.

  Containers can be stored anywhere your municipality allows.  Some people put them in their backyards, but that can seriously annoy neighbors.  Since they are easily locked, you can probably find a place in a local lumber yard, industrial park, or boat yard.  Some companies will even build in an electronic entry system with all hardware completely protected by steel plates, in which case there's no padlock for a bolt cutter to work on.

  If you collapsed your boat and put it in a container, and then stored the container at a boatyard, it would certainly cost a lot less than a mounted boat.  The boatyard I use charges $5.50 per square foot for winter storage, so a 40' proa with a 16' beam would cost between $3,080 and $3,520 per year, depending upon whether or not they buy the argument that the shorter windward hull cuts down on the square footage.  A container would cost $1,870, and would save you the cost of shrinkwrap as well.

  I saw a quote for transporting a containerable 40' monohull where the shipping overseas cost $16,000 on a traditional yacht transport, and $11,000 in a container.  There is some additional cost with the container, though, since you have to take the boat out, assemble it, and launch it.  That said, the container is a LOT more secure and sturdy, and can be shipped just about anywhere in the world, while yacht transports go to relatively few locations.

  Any yard with a crane that will lift a 40' monohull will lift your proa in a container.  A 40' hi-cube weighs about 9,000 pounds, so if you assume another 5,000 pounds for the proa (which will definitely weigh less), your total weight would be under 15,000 pounds.

  Containers can be delivered on standard trailers (made for containers) and moved by crane, or by trucks with Landoll trailers, which haul and dump the container by tilting the way a flatbed tow truck works.  That's definitely a cheaper option, but it requires 100' total space, plus an exit for the truck if the truck is to be able to deposit the trailer, and you'll definitely want to secure everything inside so it stays put while being tilted 20 degrees or more.  Of course, you'd probably want to secure everything anyway.

  I would check out Mobile Storage at http://www.mobilestorage.com and Interport at http://www.iport.com  for more details.

       - Mike

 

Gardner Pomper wrote:

Hi,

I am trying very hard to not have to disassemble the boat for shipping. With the 4.5' overlap on the cockpit and lw hull, the two hulls can be locked together even with the crossbeams removed, so getting it in/out of the container is mostly a exercise in sliding it in/out.

In terms of hull flare, the lw hull really doesn't need to be 3' wide, other than to hold the bunks. I thought construction would be simple if the hull just sloped out from a 2' waterline beam to a 3' beam at the bunk height, but keeping the lw hull narrower and just having a shelf stick out for the cabin areas is another option. How do I evaluate the better method?

I like Rob's idea of the rollers for getting it in/out of the container. I really only anticipate using the container for shipping the boat overseas, and I probably don't need a trailer there. That really helps the height issue; I might even be able to use a standard container, instead of a high-cube if I don't try to put the trailer in it.

I'm glad someone looked at the rudders also. The main issue with them that I have not figured out is how to actually control the steering with them. Should I just put a short tiller extension on top of the rudder shaft and then have LONG fiberglass extension rods? They would have to be about 11' long. I am concerned with them getting entangled with the main sheets, and also what damage the rigid rods might cause if the rudder breaks free due to a collision.

I am also happy with the idea of mounting the dinghy right across the midbeam. I never could find a way to have a large enough dinghy when mounted across the beam. I would like something on the order of 10-12' for the load carrying ability (minimum of 600 lbs, including the engine). I have a special idea for a rigid catamaran dinghy with detachable bows that would fit into the container with the boat, that i hope to get drawn up soon.

Do you know anything about the use of shipping containers? If I park this at a marina or my house, how do I get it on/off a truck? Can it just be propped up to the right height or does there need to be a crane whereever I need to load/unload it? If I go with Rob's idea of just buying my own container, it is expensive to store? How about transporting it to/from the water? These are all industrial type questions that I have had a very hard time getting answered as an individual.

- Gardner

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