Any concern from storage in a shipping container stacked?

I’m buying from a dealer and have been reading about the importance of proper hull support in storage. The boat I’m getting has been stored in a shipping container with another tandem island hull stacked on top of it. Any cause for concern of deformation or no issue?

This is probably a question best answered by Matt Miller, but most manufacturers account for stacking either by making the shipping container strong enough or by posting DO NOT STACK on the container. If there's only one TI stacked on top of it and the container is intact and undamaged, you should be ok.

Are you buying it remotely or will you have the opportunity to examine the hull before buying? Hull deformations are usually fairly obvious on a TI.

Thanks, it isn’t in a container/box, both are just shrink wrapped and stacked on top of each other. I did email Matt and he told me to check the scuppers for volcano.

If still in the original shipping packaging, we put a thick cardboard sleeve around the hulls. That allows stacking without loading the lower hull.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Shipping any product is a lot more complex than most people think. Loading a truck involves filling a space that's 47 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 9 feet high. (There's some fractions involved and yes, you include them in your calculation.) However, in filling that space, you have to make sure the weight is under the limit, often 40,000 pounds. However, weight has to be properly balanced over the axles, so that adds to the complexity. The more of those dimensions that you can use, the cheaper per unit shipped becomes.

There is non-stack or floor freight. This is freight that can't have anything on it. It's very expensive to ship because of how little of the trailer that you use. Next most expensive is freight that has limited stacking ability or weighs a lot per cubic inch.

I assume that Hobie, like most shippers, know how to maximize its trailer usage. This is one of the major ways a company can reduce costs. From a trucker's point of view, kayaks and canoes are popular, as most of the load is air and the freight is fairly stable. (I know truckers who deal with Old Town.) You've got enough weight in your trailer to anchor it, without incurring a weight penalty. You can max out your load with a limited number of stops delivering them.

This doesn't mean that damage can't happen in shipping. You balance your damages against your costs and ideally find an approach where the damages are not excessive. Hobie has been shipping for years and I'm sure has this calculation down pretty accurately. But it's always on the receiver to verify that freight arrives safely.

Jim Clark-Dawe