Boat and yacht transport software that holds the beam, the permits and the route on one job

Boat yacht transport is the trade of moving finished hulls over the road, from a builder's yard to a dealer, a marina or a private berth. The load is nondivisible and almost always over width, so the job runs on permits rather than on schedules. The federal rules set the floor: 23 CFR 658.15 fixes 102 inches as the width no state may go below, and 23 CFR 658.13 gives boat transporters 65 feet overall, or 75 feet stinger steered, before overhang is counted at all. Neurobird holds the hull, the permits and the route on one job.

Hauler easing a wide sportfishing hull on a hydraulic trailer past a narrow bridge with an escort vehicle ahead, used to show the point where a beam measured off a brochure becomes an expensive afternoon
Everything downstream is built on the beam. Measure it off the boat.
102 inchesthe width no state may set below
65 feetoverall on a boat transporter
8 workhoursthe test that keeps a load nondivisible

Neurobird Boat Yacht Transport in short

  • Measure the hull once and let every permit application draw from the same numbers
  • Hold each state permit with its own validity window and its own approved route
  • Record condition at loading and at delivery with dated photographs on the same job
  • 102 inches Width no state may set above or below on the National Network, which is why anything wider is a permit rather than a routine load. Only Hawaii keeps a higher figure, at 108 inches. FHWA 23 CFR 658.15
  • 65 feet Overall length no state may set below for a traditional boat transporter or a truck trailer boat transporter, rising to 75 feet for a stinger steered combination where the fifth wheel sits behind and below the rear axle. FHWA 23 CFR 658.13
  • Pricing runs 129 to 1150 US dollars per month across 3 tiers. Early access is free.

What boat haulers and yacht transport companies actually deal with

The permit is issued for a beam that was measured off a brochure rather than off the boat.
A route is approved on Tuesday and a bridge closes on Wednesday, and the driver finds out at the bridge.
The hull arrives with a gelcoat scuff and there is no dated photograph from the yard to argue with.

Why it stays broken

Every state writes its own oversize permit, its own escort threshold and its own curfew, so a single delivery is a stack of documents from four agencies with four different validity windows. The federal rules only set the floor below which a state may not go, which means the hard part of the job is precisely the part no federal rule covers. General dispatch software has no idea what a beam is, so the number everything depends on ends up written on a whiteboard.

23 CFR 658.13 requires every state to allow at least 65 feet overall on a traditional boat transporter and 75 feet on a stinger steered one, with front overhang of 3 feet and rear overhang of 4 feet excluded from the measurement.

In addition, no State shall impose an overall length limitation of less than 65 feet on truck-trailer boat transporters .

23 CFR 658.13, length and specialized equipment, source

Neurobird Boat Yacht Transport Dispatch Platform

One record per hull: the measured beam, length and travel height, the permits each state issued against those numbers, the route they were issued for, the escorts required, and the condition photographs taken at both ends of the trip.

  • 1Measure the hull once and let every permit application draw from the same numbers
  • 2Hold each state permit with its own validity window and its own approved route
  • 3Record condition at loading and at delivery with dated photographs on the same job
  • 4Keep the securement plan with the job so a roadside inspection is a conversation, not a guess

What changes with Neurobird Boat Yacht Transport?

The same work, read left to right: how it runs today, and how it runs once the record is in one place.

Boat yacht transport: current practice compared with Neurobird Boat Yacht Transport
TodayWith Neurobird Boat Yacht Transport
The permit is issued for a beam that was measured off a brochure rather than off the boatMeasure the hull once and let every permit application draw from the same numbers
A route is approved on Tuesday and a bridge closes on Wednesday, and the driver finds out at the bridgeHold each state permit with its own validity window and its own approved route
The hull arrives with a gelcoat scuff and there is no dated photograph from the yard to argue withRecord condition at loading and at delivery with dated photographs on the same job

Who is this for?

The same hull, three very different runs.

Boat hauler

You run production freight

New hulls from a builder out to dealers, week after week, mostly inside 12 feet of beam. You need permits raised quickly against measurements you already trust.

Yacht transporter

You move one boat at a time

A large hull on a hydraulic trailer with escorts, utility crews and a night curfew. You need the route, the permits and the survey on one record rather than in an email chain.

Marina or dealer

You receive and dispatch

Boats arriving for storage, service or sale. You need condition evidence at handover and a record of who carried it and under which permit.

The hull board, as your dispatch office would work it

Issue a permit and watch the route, the escort plan and the delivery window move with it.

neurobird / boat transport board
Unassigned (5)
Escort
Dispatcher
Driver

Drag a job onto a hauler to assign it.

How does Neurobird Boat Yacht Transport work?

  1. Measure the hull

    Beam, length on the trailer, travel height and weight, taken from the boat rather than from a specification sheet, because every permit downstream is only as good as that number.

  2. Permit the route

    Each state issues against the measurements you filed, so the job carries the permit, the approved route, the escort requirement and the dates it is valid between.

  3. Deliver with evidence

    Condition photographs at the yard and at the berth, the securement used, and the signature that closes the job, all attached to the hull rather than sitting on a driver's phone.

What the rules say about moving a boat by road

The federal size and weight floor every state permit is written against, the specialized equipment rules that name boat transporters directly, and the Coast Guard threshold that decides whether the hull itself is documented.

102 inches

Width no state may set above or below on the National Network, which is why anything wider is a permit rather than a routine load. Only Hawaii keeps a higher figure, at 108 inches.

FHWA 23 CFR 658.15
65 feet

Overall length no state may set below for a traditional boat transporter or a truck trailer boat transporter, rising to 75 feet for a stinger steered combination where the fifth wheel sits behind and below the rear axle.

FHWA 23 CFR 658.13
4 feet

Rearmost overhang no state may limit below on a boat transporter, alongside 3 feet at the front. Both are excluded from the length measurement entirely.

FHWA 23 CFR 658.13
80,000 pounds

Maximum gross vehicle weight on the Interstate System, with 20,000 pounds on any single axle and 34,000 pounds on a tandem, all inclusive of enforcement tolerances.

FHWA 23 CFR 658.17
8 workhours

Dismantling test inside the federal definition of a nondivisible load. If separating the load would take more than 8 workhours with the right equipment, it stays nondivisible, and the permit applicant carries the burden of proof.

FHWA 23 CFR 658.5
5 net tons

Size at which a vessel in the coastwise trade or the fisheries must carry a Certificate of Documentation. Endorsements run 1 year, except recreational endorsements, which may be issued for up to 5 years.

USCG 46 CFR 67.7 and 67.163

Boat yacht transport software questions, answered

Key terms

What is boat yacht transport?
It is the overland movement of finished hulls between builders, dealers, marinas and private berths. Because a hull is a nondivisible load that is usually over width, the job runs on state oversize permits written against the federal floor in 23 CFR part 658.
What are the size limits for hauling a boat?
No state may set width below 102 inches on the National Network, and no state may limit a traditional boat transporter to less than 65 feet overall or a stinger steered one to less than 75 feet. Front overhang of 3 feet and rear overhang of 4 feet are excluded from the length.

When does a boat need an oversize permit?

When a dimension exceeds what the state allows without one. Above that the load has to qualify as nondivisible, which under 23 CFR 658.5 means separating it would compromise its use, destroy its value, or take more than 8 workhours to dismantle.

Does the boat itself need Coast Guard documentation?

Only at 5 net tons and above, and only when the vessel engages in the coastwise trade or the fisheries. Recreational endorsements are optional and can be issued for 1 to 5 years at a time under 46 CFR 67.163.

Does this apply for the permits for us?

No. The state portals stay where they are. This holds the measurements every application is built from, the permits that came back, the routes they cover and the dates they expire on.

Why we are building this

We went looking for work where one measurement decides whether the whole day is legal, and boat hauling kept coming up. A beam recorded to the inch is the difference between a permit that holds and a load stopped at a scale, and in most yards that number lives on a sticky note beside the phone. That is a record problem, and record problems are what we build. The rules we read while scoping this are linked above, so you can check our reading of them instead of taking our word for it. If we have a state wrong, tell us and we will fix it.

Neurobird Team neurobird.com

Where the requirement comes from

Primary sources, straight from the regulators.

How much does Neurobird Boat Yacht Transport cost?

Priced per operation because the permit work is the same whether the boat is 30 feet or 60. Jobs, hulls and permits are unlimited on the upper tiers.

Owner operator
$129
per month
  • Up to 20 jobs a month
  • Hull measurements
  • Permit register
  • Condition photographs
Request early access
Hauler
$460
per month
  • Unlimited jobs
  • Multi state permit tracking
  • Route and escort plans
  • Driver capture on mobile
Request early access
Yacht logistics
$1,150
per month
  • Large hull projects
  • Survey and insurance files
  • Client status pages
  • Priority support
Request early access
Opening 10 early access places for boat and yacht haulers.

Get free early access

Early access means we load your fleet, your recent jobs and the states you run in before you type anything, and the account stays free while we do it.

Straight answer on where this is: The software is in development. Nothing is purchasable today. Early access means you shape it and pay nothing while we build.

Prefer email? Write to office@neurobird.com and a person will reply. No autoresponder.