US - How to ship wooden oars cross-country?

[jo...@cnet.com]

I've purchased two wooden oars in Cleveland, Ohio. However, I have not
yet received the oars because I have not figured out how to ship them.

I need to ship one oar to Garrison, New York (near West Point, ~50 miles
north of NYC), and one oar to San Francisco, California.

UPS and FedEx say that they do not ship things this large (I think the
Dreissigackers (sp?) get an exception for their oars b/c of volume).

Anyone have any suggestions for shipping some old wooden oars, ~13 feet
long, within the US?

Much obliged,

John Roberts
jo...@cnet.com

[John E. Crane]

>
> Anyone have any suggestions for shipping some old wooden oars, ~13 feet
> long, within the US?
>
> Much obliged,
>
> John Roberts
> jo...@cnet.com

If you're still in Cleveland, you might want to see who's at the Cincinnati regatta in
June and then see if someone like Berkeley, Princeton or UMass will take them
on a trailer for you if you take them down. It would at least get them to a place
where someone could pick them up. Make sure they're well labeled though;
stray oars in strange boathouses tend to walk away.
Good luck.
JACK

[Sphinx5801]

Many manufacturers, particularly shell manufacturer's do make or have
recommendations on how to safely ship their products. In the end, the
safest thing I have always found is to just spend the money and make a
wooden shipping crate with a good solid, supportive frame within.

PCfromMRC

[jo...@cnet.com]

Thanks to all those who responded. I wanted to post a particularly
detailed, useful response I received via email.

With thanks to Glenn:
Easy to ship, but expensive sometimes. Pack in a box with lots of
padding
(cut up many boxes to form your oar box) Then call up your local Roadway
Trucking firm. Tell them you have oars to ship at class 85.

This class is oversize but light, usually takes 5-7 days to cross the
country. They can drop ship to a local address or you can pick-up at
the
local terminal.

Basically they put your box of oars in a common container that goes
somewhere near where you want and then they redirect your box to the
address you want. Make sure there is someone available at the ship to
address. It works even better if you can use a work address.

That's it in a nutshell. Feel free to call if you run into problems.
Like
I said, we use Roadway, but I think CII uses Yellow.

EmpacherNA wrote:
>
> Pad the entire oar, shrink wrap it, tape the shrink wrap so it won't come
> un-done, and run 'em over to the airport. I've never been shut down at
> Logan in Boston. It cost me about $50. to fly 2 sets of 8 oars from
> Boston to San Diego a couple of years ago. Put plenty of ID on 'em, too.
> Not that there's likely to be 2 or more sets of oars accompanying YOURS on
> the same flight. Just to CYA and keep the airline regulation mavens
> happy. Or, have you tried to toss them on a trailer going that way?
> Worth checking out.
>
> William F. McGowan

[EmpacherNA]

Pad the entire oar, shrink wrap it, tape the shrink wrap so it won't come
un-done, and run 'em over to the airport. I've never been shut down at
Logan in Boston. It cost me about $50. to fly 2 sets of 8 oars from
Boston to San Diego a couple of years ago. Put plenty of ID on 'em, too.
Not that there's likely to be 2 or more sets of oars accompanying YOURS on
the same flight. Just to CYA and keep the airline regulation mavens
happy. Or, have you tried to toss them on a trailer going that way?
Worth checking out.

William F. McGowan
Empacher North America
Sales and Service
5 Gerrish Street
Brighton, MA USA 02135-1704
Phone & FAX: (617)787-1177
website: "Empacher.com" under construction