I’m looking at a 28ft boat with a 9’6" beam. The exterior guide poles for the trailer are just shy of 11ft wide. Highways and interstates have 12ft lanes, but it seems that secondary roads are mainly 10ft wide. I would be making this trip several times a season. Anybody have experience trailering something this wide on our great roads in SC? Am I crazy for wanting to do this? I like the 28ft with the extra beam length, but I could go with a 26ft boat with the 8’6" beam if that extra length is just that big a pain to trailer. I have the wide load annual pass figured out. Thanks!
My boat has a 9’2 beam and I tow it all over, never had a issue.
Thanks tjackson! Anyone else?
I dont have a wide beam but i trailer alot this time of year and fall. I travel I77 I95 and I26 mostly. The thing i would mention is to be prepared for the pot holes on I95 and I26. Once I get on 95 or south of 95 on I26 i slow down to 60mph. Otherwise the holes will beat the **** out of your boat and trailer.
Mark Ingle
NauticStar 1810 Merc 90
quote:
Otherwise the holes will beat the **** out of your boat and trailer.
Amen to that. There is a stretch of 77 that will jar your fillings loose. I’d like to take some of our idiot legislators on a ride in a car with bad shocks.
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”, but really, who cares?
What are you pulling it with?
2015 Ram 2500
will have to straddle lanes on wappoo bridge/ashley bridge, and you wont fit on many roads on Johns Island. Interstate should be OK though if the other drivers dont run you over!
This post is useless without an actual destination.
Rivers Edge Marina. Thanks.
I pull my 28 Bertram with a 11’ beam from Laurens to Edisto and back at least one a year on 385,26,95, Roundo road to Jacksonborough. I pull with a 3500 Duramax dewly! The highth is a bugger on the back roads at Edisto, have to carry a limb trimmer and a pasenger on the fly bridge. Had to chain straw some going to Steamboat Landing!
I also tow my 28 Bertram from upstate to Charleston no problem
We run boats up to 44’ L X 12.5’ W X 13.5’ commercially registered with the DOT and legal. Up and down the East Coast and Midwest. Anything larger than that requires escorts (width and height - length up 71’ LOA including tractor and trailer before escorts are needed). So your 11’ width isn’t a problem if you have permits, DOT #, commercial drivers license and insurance.
I can tell you that if you get stopped by a DOT officer and he pulls a tape on your boat, you’re going to be stuck on the side of the road until the 4 bases are covered that I listed above. I learned the hard way many years ago and it cost a couple thousand dollars to move the boat 120 miles.
If you don’t have your own authority (DOT #), commercial drivers license and the proper insurance you are going to be required to call on a company like mine and it will not be cheap to get someone to move the boat immediately. We run nearly 2 weeks out on oversized loads this time of year and some companies are a month out.
Do yourself a favor and cover your a$$ before moving an oversized boat down the road illegally. If you’re in an accident you carry the burden of liability and negligence will not be hard to push your way.
Just my .02
Thanks Searboy for the reply. I spoke to the SC DOT, but they failed to tell me anything about a CDL or DOT # for an 11’ wide trailer. Told me that I could pay 100.00, fill out a form and get a permit for the truck, trailer and boat for the year. Didn’t tell me that I needed anything else. Guess I need to call back. 
They gave you the cost for the annual blanket permit. Just clarify with them (Blythewood that is) that you will be towing for PERSONAL use and you want to be certain you are legal.
Mind you, the workers behind the phone and the DOT officer on the side of the road are two different animals to deal with. Having your ducks in a row will make the difference of you rolling on or stuck on the side of the road;)
I had a open end wide load permit for years and one year when I went to renew it I was told I had a recreational boat and didn’t need a permit and haven’t had one since! He said as long as I didn’t use my commercial truck I was legal! When I had a permit I could not pull at night or on weekends or in the rain!