How I moved my shop-

[mongo]

I mentioned a while back I was going to be moving about 500 miles to a new home. I have a fair number of large power tools and I decided to do it with PODS. In the end I chose the company Packrat instead because they were almost half as expensive and their shipping containers had a much higher weight limit. 6000 instead of 4000 pounds.

I should have taken more pictures but when the move came it came on really short notice. But basically I built a ramp and rolled everything in on the mobile bases. The deck of a pod is only about 5-6" so this is pretty easy with a 4' ramp.

I had 2 containers one for the home stuff and the bandsaw and the other one held mostly stationary power tools and few bulky houshold items.

Took over 60 harbor frieght ratchet straps but everything made it safe and in one piece.



Its hard to tell but there is a Sawstop ICS, a floor model drill press, a floor model hollow chisel mortiser, a 15" floor model planer, a 3hp grizz cyclone, an 8 inch joiner, a rubo workbench and some smaller tools plus some house hold stuff all in their. Much easier than a traditional moving truck and the entire process was very professionally handled by packrat. I would use them again in a heartbeat.... but I HATE moving.

ratchet strap city-




Hope this helps someone else down the road.

[Mr_Mike]

Nice to know.

Do you know how much weight you actually had?

[mongo]

Mr_Mike said:

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Nice to know.

Do you know how much weight you actually had?

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Just under 6k pounds in the Tool POD about 4K in the household/bandsaw pod. I had looked up the weight of everything so I knew roughly what I was looking at in the tool pod. One of the reasons the bandsaw went in the other.

[Mr_Mike]

Thanks.

I'm considering buying sea container for my move in a couple of years.

Just buy a 40' and load it up and have it shipped. Perhaps liquidate the container on the other end, perhaps not.

[mongo]

Mr_Mike said:

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Thanks.

I'm considering buying sea container for my move in a couple of years.

Just buy a 40' and load it up and have it shipped. Perhaps liquidate the container on the other end, perhaps not.

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Just be aware of how they pick up the container. Packrat and pods lift them straight up and down. I think most large shipping containers are tilt loaded but I might be wrong.

[skizzo]

Mr_Mike said:

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Thanks.

I'm considering buying sea container for my move in a couple of years.

Just buy a 40' and load it up and have it shipped. Perhaps liquidate the container on the other end, perhaps not.

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Thanks for the post. I'm a bit sooner than Mike in an upcoming cross-country move and have been researching quite a few options. It's nice to know about something like PODS but with more weight capacity. I'm somewhere closer to 20,000 pounds, unfortunately.

I'm looking at ABF, which is similar logistically but drops off a small semi-trailer (22-25') for a week to load, then another week to unload on the other end. You fill up the amount of space you need (they charge by volume and distance, not weight), install a locked interior barrier at the end of the space you use, and they fill up the rest of the container with LTL cargo. That ensures you're the only homeowner who has access to the interior.

I should be able to get almost all of my shop and house items into one container that they can then pull across the country. A downside is that it is an elevated trailer bed so will need a forklift or similar to lift much of the stuff to height.

EDIT: A thread on another forum of a guy who moved a filled ABF trailer from Virginia to Oregon said the ABF cost was something like $8500, plus he hired professional movers on both ends to load and unload, so he was a bit less than $10K garage-to-garage.

[Cian]

Nicely done. I dread the day I will have to move my shop.

[mongo]

Cian said:

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Nicely done. I dread the day I will have to move my shop.

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Yeah it sucks.... I get to do it again in a year or two.... we are renting till we figure out where we want to buy out here... at least this time it will be a short move.

[Mr_Mike]

Since my current home is paid for, my plan is to leave all as-is for a while and rent a place in the new location while looking and then do one move.

If you don't mind my asking, how much did it cost to move the 10,000 lbs? Was it by weight or flat rate per container.

[mongo]

Mr_Mike said:

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Since my current home is paid for, my plan is to leave all as-is for a while and rent a place in the new location while looking and then do one move.

If you don't mind my asking, how much did it cost to move the 10,000 lbs? Was it by weight or flat rate per container.

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Rate is per container, and varies based on the price of diesel fuel and how far you want it taken and other seasonal issues. You get your own lock for the container. Negotiate with the person on the phone on the price... they have a little wiggle room.