Beam settles this shipment before any other number gets a vote. A hull measuring 102 inches across the widest point is ordinary road cargo. The same hull at 114 inches is a permitted load in every state it passes through, and the permit brings signage, routing and travel-hour conditions along with it. Below are the published lines a boat gets measured against, the ways hulls actually reach the far end, and the work that has to be finished before a driver hooks up. There is no dollar figure anywhere on this page, because a boat is priced by a person after review.
Beam, height on the trailer, overall length and weight. Everything a hauler quotes follows from those, and from which states the route crosses.
Grady-White publishes a specification table for each model it builds, and four of those figures run the whole road job: centerline length, beam amidships, weight without engines and bridge clearance. Three boats out of that catalog, read on 2026-08-07, show how quickly a recreational hull walks off the end of what a road will take without paperwork.
| Hull | Centerline length | Beam amidships | Weight without engines | Bridge clearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fisherman 216 | 21 ft 3 in | 8 ft 6 in 102 in | 3,360 lb | 7 ft 11 in |
| Canyon 271 | 26 ft 10 in | 9 ft 6 in 114 in | 5,914 lb | 7 ft 10 in |
| Marlin 300 | 30 ft 6 in | 10 ft 7 in 127 in | 8,221 lb | 9 ft 9 in |
The Fisherman 216 lands exactly on the federal width figure. The Canyon 271 clears it by a foot and the Marlin 300 by more than two, and each of those needs a permit from every state on the route before the truck rolls. Note also that bridge clearance is measured off the water, not off the ground: put any of these hulls on bunks and the trailer adds its own height underneath before a road limit is applied.
Width is the dimension the federal government fixed and left no room around. The Federal Highway Administration writes that on the National Network “no state may impose a width limitation of more or less than 102 inches”, and that “Safety devices (e.g., mirrors, handholds) necessary for the safe and efficient operation of motor vehicles may not be included in the calculation of width”. Both read 2026-08-07. Mirrors are forgiven; rub rails are not.
Length carries a clause written for this exact cargo. The same federal page carves out combination vehicles “designed and used specifically to carry automobiles or boats in specially designed racks”, which “may not exceed a maximum overall vehicle length of 65 feet, or 75 feet”. That is the rig a professional boat hauler runs, and it is the reason a hauler can legally carry a longer combination than a general freight truck can.
Permits, though, are somebody else's department. FHWA puts it in one sentence on its permit page: “The Federal government does not issue permits for oversize or overweight vehicles. This is a State option.” So an over-beam hull needs a separate authorization from each state the route touches, on each state's own terms, and the route gets planned around whichever of them is strictest.
Our own state is a good example of why the federal figure is not the end of it. New Jersey publishes the limits from N.J.S.A. 39:3-8 on the Motor Vehicle Commission's trailer page: width 96 inches, height 13 feet 6 inches, 35 feet for a single vehicle, 48 feet for a semi-trailer with its towing vehicle and 58 feet for a trailer with its towing vehicle. Ninety-six inches is six inches under the federal figure, which means a hull drawn to a beam of 8 feet 6 inches is over the New Jersey line while sitting precisely on the national one. The state's answer is a registration class rather than a one-off permit: Code 23 covers a trailer that will “exceed 8 feet, but not more than 10 feet, in width”, and the Commission is direct about the order of operations, “You must register your trailer prior to applying for a permit to operate.” A 10 ft 7 in beam is past even that class.
| Measurement | Where the tape goes | The line it meets |
|---|---|---|
| Beam | Widest point of the hull including rub rails, guards and any hardware that stands proud of them | 102 in on the National Network; 96 in on New Jersey's own list, with Code 23 covering over 8 ft up to 10 ft |
| Height on the trailer | Ground to the top of the tallest thing still bolted on, not the published bridge clearance | 13 ft 6 in in New Jersey |
| Overall length | Tow vehicle, trailer, hull and any overhang past the bunks, measured as one combination | 58 ft for a trailer with its towing vehicle in New Jersey; 65 or 75 ft for a purpose-built boat transporter federally |
| Weight | Hull, engines, whatever fuel is left, gear and the trailer under it | State axle and gross limits, and separately whatever the hauler's own equipment is rated to carry |
A driver hooks up and pulls. Nothing is lifted, nothing is cradled, and the shipment costs the least handling of the three. In exchange the trailer becomes part of the job: its plates, brakes, lights, tires and bearings all have to survive the route.
A travel-lift or crane picks the boat, sets it in a cradle and it gets strapped to an open deck. This is the route for a hull with no trailer, a trailer that will not roll, or a boat that sits too tall on bunks to clear a height limit.
For some coastal pairs the cheapest move is a captain running the boat there. We do not arrange that, and it is named here because a road quote is sometimes the wrong question rather than an expensive answer.
Which of the first two applies is usually decided by the yard rather than the boat. A travel-lift, a crane or a ramp has to exist at both ends, and a marina, a boatyard or a launch is not the same kind of address as a driveway. Where the hull sits in a residential yard behind a gate, the access at that end can move the price more than the miles do.
This is the list we send with a boat review, and it is worth working through before the pickup window rather than during it. Nothing on it is a carrier rule; it is what keeps a hull from arriving with a cracked windshield and a wet cabin.
UPS publishes its ceilings plainly on the shipping dimensions page read 2026-08-07: a maximum package weight of 150 lbs, a maximum package length of 108 inches, and “Packages can be up to 165 inches in length and girth combined.” FedEx draws the same boundary from the other direction on its oversized items page the same day, treating weight heavier than 150 lbs, or a combined length and girth of more than 165 inches, as freight rather than as a package.
The lightest hull in the table above weighs 3,360 lb before an engine is bolted to it. No arrangement of those figures turns a boat into a parcel, so a site that returns an instant label price for one has answered a question nobody asked. The honest path is a review where a person looks at the beam, the route and the two ends.
What does go by parcel is everything that comes off the boat first. Covers, electronics, spare props, safety gear and hardware are ordinary boxes, and the calculator prices those in about a minute. The hull goes through freight review.
State limits and permit conditions are revised without notice, and a route that was legal last season can need a different authorization this one. Treat the figures above as what those pages published on the date shown, and confirm the states on your own route before booking.
Federally, 102 inches. The Federal Highway Administration states that on the National Network no state may impose a width limitation of more or less than 102 inches, and that safety devices such as mirrors are left out of that measurement. New Jersey publishes 96 inches for trailers, so a hull built to a beam of 8 feet 6 inches already sits over the state figure while resting exactly on the federal one.
Both happen. A roadworthy, registered trailer lets a driver hook up and tow, which is the least handling anyone can arrange. A hull with no trailer, or one whose trailer will not roll, gets lifted into a cradle and strapped to an open deck instead.
Because there is no rate table a boat can be read off. Beam, height once the hull is on its trailer, weight, the permits every state on the route wants, and the lifting equipment available at both ends all move the number. A person prices it after review.
Alongside it, unstepped and bagged, as its own long item. A mast left standing makes the height of the load unanswerable and pushes the move into permit territory on height alone.
Strip it. Hardtops, towers, arches, antennas and canvas come down, fuel is drawn down, batteries are disconnected and secured, the drain plug is out, and every loose item leaves the boat. Keys and paperwork for the hull and the trailer travel with the shipment.