We are really glad to hear that you have decided to keep Laguedoc and take her home.  Joann and I also plan to make the trip up the inside passage to Alaska and think that the Maramu will be a great boat for the trip.

    As you know, I have not yet decommissioned and moved a Maramu by truck, but I have moved a lot of boats around some which were 60+ years old and pretty delicate with no damage.  They key to preventing damage is to keep the weight of the hull almost entirely on the keel and to use oversized well padded support pads to prevent any possible point loading.  It is also important to not set those pads up overly tight.  Even the big heavy trailers will twist a little on uneven ground and you don’t want that stress transferred to the hull and create a point load.  So long as the weight of the boat is almost entirely on the keel, the forces on the pads is minimal.  I cannot imagine that a hull meant to be be able to cross oceans would be damaged by trucking so long as the trailer is set up correctly.  Think about how much more area of the hull is supported by perhaps 24 square feet (6 pads 2’ x 2’ in this example) of pads versus the narrow strap used to haul the entire weight of the hull.  It is possible that our boat may someday make the same trip across the US to the PNW, so we will be following your progress.  If there is anything that we can do to help, just let us know.

Best,

James and Joann Alton

SV, Sueno,  Maramu #220