shipping a motor

I'm considering putting one of my motors up for sale on eBay, but I'm wondering what I would do when it comes to shipping. I live in a place where it is quite unlikely that anyone would come here to pick it up, so it would definitely have to be shipped. I'm guessing that some of you guys probably have experience in shipping motors, so I'm hoping someone can give me a simple solution for shipping. What are my options? It's a 1972 25hp Evinrude and I think it weighs about 85 lbs. Is UPS an option for something like this? I just went to the UPS website and calculated cost for shipping 85lbs from here to a random location and the cost was quite reasonable for UPS ground. What are other options?

You won't be able to just stick it in a cardboard box....probably have to crate it up which will change your price I am sure...

No idea aside from that...

You won't be able to just stick it in a cardboard box....probably have to crate it up which will change your price I am sure...

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Yes, I realize that 85 lbs won't be my actual shipping weight, but I'm wondering if UPS is even an option for a crated boat motor. I have a well equipped wood shop, so fabricating a crate won't be a problem at all. Just need to know who I'll be able to get to transport it to the buyer. It would be great if UPS would do it because I have a local UPS service center nearby. Other than that, I am completely unfamiliar with arranging a freight shipment.

Give their 800 a jingle and check...I do know that if you have to have it courier serviced it is going to be a lot higher.

Alpine, TX...Heck, that's just down the road a piece. 580 miles or so from Houston!

I talked to a guy from West Texas. He said he was surrounded by great fishing lakes...four hours in any direction!

Hope you find a buyer nearby. Rich

I talked to a guy from West Texas. He said he was surrounded by great fishing lakes...four hours in any direction!

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That's about right...4 hours in any direction! But that's nothing....I drive that far on a regular basis just because it takes that long to get ANYWHERE from here! And, sooo....my need to be able to ship this motor is obvious...nobody nearby has a need for a boat motor.

I'm going to stop by UPS tomorrow and ask those guys if it's even possible for me to ship the motor with them. I've done a little research and I found that people routinely ship smaller motors (up to about 15hp) through UPS. However, this 25hp is going to require a pretty large box or crate. I'm thinking I could build a pallet and strap it to it with plumbers tape and screws, then enclose the whole thing in thin plywood with some handholds cut out for carrying and the entire crate should be able to be easily manipulated by two guys. Depending on the amount of wood I use, I'm thinking it might weigh less than 125 lbs. Now I just gotta go ask UPS if they'd be willing to ship it this way. Any other suggestions are certainly welcome.

I use to work for UPS. I would say 85 lbs will be fine if it is boxed up right. Hardware is considered anything over 70 lbs or 7 ft in length. I routinely had to unload regular motors strapped to pallets with those metal band straps that was over 100 lbs. And sears had a truck come through that only had 140 lb lawn mower decks in them. Just pack it up tight to avoid any damage

I have shipped quite a few outboards over the years and have always shipped them in a cardboard box. I tried shipping a radial arm saw in a wood framed box that I built and the idiots at UPS would not take it so I quit doing business with them that day. Ticked me off since I spent some time building that box.
Cardboard is fine. A boxed outboard is heavy and needs to moved with a hand truck so they're not damaged like lighter boxes that can be thrown.
To ship your outboard i'm guessing it's going to cost around $90-$100 as long as you can get it to fit in a box that is less then 120" combined length and girth give or take a few inches. They measure the length of the box and then they wrap a tape measure all the way around the box and add them together to get the size. When packages are large you get hit with a balloon charge when you go over. Anything over 84" gets hit with a charge then you get hit again when its over 108" and then you get to a point where you get hit for every inch and the price sky rockets so you have to box the outboard as small as you can.
Odds are you're not going to find the perfect box so your going to have to make one to fit so get a box cutter, tape measure, and get creative because its a pain. It will take you a good hour to box the motor up if your lucky.
When you box the motor flip the outboard so the prop is in the air. If you do it that way all the weight is near the ground so it can't be dropped.
You can ship the outboard with Greyhound Package Express for about the same price as Fedex or UPS and size won't be that big of an issue with them (heck you probably wouldn't have to box it if you didn't want to but t could get damaged). If you did go with Greyhound you would have to get the buyer to pick it up at the closest Greyhound Terminal near their home.

Your best bet would be a freight company. They specialize in large heavy items much better than a commercial package company. Search google for air/truck freight companies. A freight company will also take better care of things than OOPS....I mean UPS. Good luck!

Here's one
https://dixiefreight.com/

Have you thought about U-Ship?

hello,,

What is your posting please send me a link of the 25 hp on ebay, a 25 hp is what it need for my 16 ft ouachita. I have a 1980 9.9 johnson. Please send me the ebay possting so i can take a stab at it. Im in brownsville texas. check out how much shipping would be ?

another option....find an outboard dealer and request them to set aside a crate for you. Make sure it's one that will fit your motor...or at least get close. Yamaha's are shipped (25 and smaller) in cardboard boxes that are stuffed with styrofoam. We've had a few people stop by the shop asking for a crate to ship an old motor. I've used one in the past. Works well, although it had to go freight because of the size/weight. $125 shipping.

these have all been some good ideas...thanks guys! czuniga: I would give you the eBay listing except that I haven't even listed it yet and not absolutely sure yet that I'm going to, but I'm leaning quite heavily toward selling it. I'll send you a pm with more details about that. I'll be going by a boat shop this weekend and will ask about a motor shipping box.