Can I haul this much Teak?

[dirk martin]

I need to get some Teak from Ohio, to North-central Wisconsin.
I'm considering hauling it myself.
I have a F150 Ford truck, and a 16 foot, dual axle trailer.

My trailer measures 15.5 feet x 6 feet wide, and 4 feet high.
The Teak to be hauled is listed as 16 cbm (As in Cubic Meters).

Can I haul that much teak in 2 trips with my truck and trailer?

I'm struggling converting the 16 CBM to Board feet accuratly, as well as what to expect weight wise.
It's kiln dry to 8%

[Mike Henderson]

Here's a chart of weight of different woods (see below). If you take teak at about 900 Kg per cubic meter, you can calculate the weight of the whole load and see if your truck/trailer can take half a load.

To get the size of your truck/trailer, convert the dimensions to meters and calculate the volume in cubic meters. If you truck/trailer has a capacity of 8 cubic meters, and can take the weight, you can haul it. Of course, you have to also take into account the length of the wood and see if you can carry that length.

Mike



Wood


Substance
kg/m3
lbs/ft3


Apple
825
52


Ash
850
53


Balsa
125
8


Bamboo
400
25


Cedar
550
34


Ebony
1,200
75


Lignum-vitae
1,325
83


Mahogany
650
41


Oak
900
56


Pine, white
500
31


Pine, yellow
600
37


Teak, Indian
875
55


Teak, African
975
61


Willow
600
37


Note: These figures are for seasoned wood only. Green wood will be substantially heavier due to its water content.
Wood heavier than 1,000 kg/m3 will not float in water.

[James Phillips]

There are about 35 cubic feet in a cubic meter and 12 board feet in a cubic foot. This equates to 420 bd ft per cubic meter. 16 cubic meters is over 6700 bd feet. That is a lot of teak.


I need to get some Teak from Ohio, to North-central Wisconsin.
I'm considering hauling it myself.
I have a F150 Ford truck, and a 16 foot, dual axle trailer.

My trailer measures 15.5 feet x 6 feet wide, and 4 feet high.
The Teak to be hauled is listed as 16 cbm (As in Cubic Meters).

Can I haul that much teak in 2 trips with my truck and trailer?

I'm struggling converting the 16 CBM to Board feet accuratly, as well as what to expect weight wise.
It's kiln dry to 8%

[Larry Edgerton]

Not in one load. I have a F150, thats too much especially considering that you will have to drive through the Chicago area. Even with two loads you are right on the edge of what I would haul, and not through the Chicago rats nest.

Three loads would be safer. Rent a truck.

[Jim Matthews]

This would be a job for a rental.

Any damage to your ride must be considered
as part of the cost. Rent something bigger
than you need, with a ramp.

Get insurance.

[Pat Barry]

I need to get some Teak from Ohio, to North-central Wisconsin.
I'm considering hauling it myself.
I have a F150 Ford truck, and a 16 foot, dual axle trailer.

My trailer measures 15.5 feet x 6 feet wide, and 4 feet high.
The Teak to be hauled is listed as 16 cbm (As in Cubic Meters).

Can I haul that much teak in 2 trips with my truck and trailer?

I'm struggling converting the 16 CBM to Board feet accuratly, as well as what to expect weight wise.
It's kiln dry to 8%

Can't they give you any length info? That willl be important info to have to determine if your F150 will be able to haul any or just pull the trailer. Lets say you load it alll on the trailer. Hypothetical loading of trailer - 1 meter across and 1 meter vertical and 4 meters long means 4 trips.

[cody michael]

This would be a job for a rental.

Any damage to your ride must be considered
as part of the cost. Rent something bigger
than you need, with a ramp.

Get insurance.

how much would some sort of uhaul be to rent? and make 1 trip, save you time and gas...

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Using the math from mike and James, that puts you at potentially 34,058 pounds. Considering you have a pickup and trailer contributing around 10,000 pounds, this will put your gross vehicle weight at around 45,000. That's more than half of a fully loaded semi, which uses a heck of a lot more tires and more importantly, brakes. Your trailer also has a weight limit on the axles. 5000 and 7000 pound axles are common, times two give you a design limitation. Tires have a rating too, they are likely close to the axle rating. Your trailer was designed to operate of the axle rating weight. It is likely a car trailer, so a safe calculation is 10,000 max capacity load on the trailer.

Now, the department of transportation makes big bucks fining overloaded vehicles. It's good because they cannot safely stop often. You will be driving on some of the most regulated roads in America. I don't know what the rules there are, here I could haul 10,000 pounds tops without increasing my pickup licensing limits.

Further, a half ton pickup's duty cycle is not designed to haul at max capacity nonstop for a thousand miles. The vehicle designed for that load is a twin drive axle flatbed truck or a small semi. Or three loads at least with your pickup.

[Jim Andrew]

Half that load is more than I haul with my HD 2500 Chevy and gooseneck cow trailer. And the transmission heats up when I am pulling it. For 15 miles. Agree, get a rental, or hire someone to haul it.

[roger wiegand]

You need to know the GCWR of your truck (between 10,000 and perhaps as much as 15,500 for a F150), the GVWR of your trailer, and the weight of your truck and trailer. Add the weight of the truck and trailer, passengers, fuel, and anything else you're carrying and subtract it from the GCWR of the truck to yield your potential payload. You can split the payload between truck and trailer perhaps, you need to not exceed the GVWR of either. Finally you need to not exceed the capacity of your trailer hitch either in terms of total weight or tongue weight.

According to the chart above you've got about 32,000 pounds of teak (900 Kg/m^2 x 2.2 lbs/kg x 16 m^2), so you're talking at least four trips fully loaded. Unless you have a CDL you will need two trips in the biggest rental truck you can drive on a regular license.

I'vd be looking at getting a truck freight company to bring it to you. It may well be less expensive than the DIY option.

That is a *lot* of teak!

[Matt Krusen]

Agree that renting a moving truck is probably your best bet. My fiancé and I moved from North Dakota to South Bend, IN and rented a 22' Penske truck. It cost about $500. She went to college in Chicago so we had to take the truck downtown in the city to pick up her things from her apartment. Whatever you do, make sure you take the bypass on I94 around the city. I88 works too. It is absolute hell to have to take a moving truck through the Loop on I90.

[Peter Quinn]

You don't need to know anything more than the phone number of a good trucking company. Hauling that much lumber is work for a flatbed trailer, not a domestic pasenger vehicle. The value of the lumber and the liability far outway any potential cost savings, and I'd argue that if you get a quote there really is none. Last place I worked regularly had similar quantities of walnut hauled fro. Ohio to Connecticut, cost was under $1k and often less if we were flexible on timing so loads could be managed to share trailer space or accomodate the truckers schedule. There are drivers that specialize in moving lumber, they have flat beds with accordion covers so your lumber arrives dry, clean, and in usable condition. Pop one tire on your truck and you are a 1/4 way to hiring a trucker.

[James Phillips]

I am intrigued about what someone does with that much Teak.... And how much it cost. Teak can run $20/bd-ft time 6700 is $134,000.... Wow

[Mike Henderson]

I am intrigued about what someone does with that much Teak.... And how much it cost. Teak can run $20/bd-ft time 6700 is $134,000.... Wow
I though the same thing. Teak around here is over $20/bd ft. Maybe about $24. That's a lot of money.

Mike

[Jerome Stanek]

You would need a CDL to haul that much any thing over 26000 LBs need a CDL. No rental will allow you to rent a vehicle rated over 25000 with out a CDL

[Jim Andrew]

As I recall, a meter measures about 40". So a pile of lumber 16 cubic meters would measure 40"x40" x 52.8' long. Is that correct?

[Mike Henderson]

As I recall, a meter measures about 40". So a pile of lumber 16 cubic meters would measure 40"x40" x 52.8' long. Is that correct?
There's a lot of different dimensions that will compute to 16 cubic meters. Your example is one meter by one meter by about 53 feet. But another could be one meter by two meters by about 26 feet. There are an infinite number of combinations.

Mike

[Mark Beiting]

Dirk,

Sent you a PM, but your box is full!

Mark

[dirk martin]

how much would some sort of uhaul be to rent? and make 1 trip, save you time and gas...


Does anyone have any info on that?
I'd love to do it in one trip, but is there a uHaul or similar large enough to do it in one trip, that someone's aware of?

[dirk martin]

I am intrigued about what someone does with that much Teak.... And how much it cost. Teak can run $20/bd-ft time 6700 is $134,000.... Wow

I'm intrigued, too :)
I dunno what I'm going to do with it either....
FEQ Teak (First European Quality)
I paid $1.49/bf. Need I say more?

[dirk martin]

Dirk,

Sent you a PM, but your box is full!

Mark

Box no longer full.

[roger wiegand]

Does anyone have any info on that?
I'd love to do it in one trip, but is there a uHaul or similar large enough to do it in one trip, that someone's aware of?

You need a CDL to drive a vehicle over 26,000 lbs., you can't rent a bigger truck without a CDL. That puts you at two trips at least. If you can afford over $100K of lumber at one go surely you can afford the kilobuck or two to have someone truck it safely for you! Go to one of the online sites like freightquote.com to get an idea of what the shipping charges would be.

[dirk martin]

Looks like a 26 foot truck from Penske, 1 trip, will run $1,300.00

I've got a co-worker (and his buddy as a ride-along) willing to do it with my F150 and trailer, for $250 per round trip, if I pay gas.
I'd rather put my money in his pocket, then Penske's.

Still weighing my options....

[dirk martin]

You need a CDL to drive a vehicle over 26,000 lbs., you can't rent a bigger truck without a CDL. That puts you at two trips at least. If you can afford over $100K of lumber at one go surely you can afford the kilobuck or two to have someone truck it safely for you! Go to one of the online sites like freightquote.com to get an idea of what the shipping charges would be.


Freightquote is telling me $1,800.00

[dirk martin]

I haven't been to the OH site, to see the teak.
I've seen lots of photo's, however.
One lot of 8cbm, is nicely palletized onto 15 pallets.

The 2nd lot of 8cbm, consists of 31 pallets. Looking at the pallets, it can easily be consolidated. I mean, some pallets had like 10-12 boards on them, is all. If I send a trucking firm to get it, the trucker isn't going to combine any pallets for me. He'll just pull up, and say "load it". Right?

That's another reason why I'm leaning towards sending my co-worker. He'll do whatever's neccessary to get this teak home, efficiently. The trucker won't lift a finger, I imagine. So, if the some of the 31 pallets aren't secured right, or have some lose boards on them, he'll simply say "leave it...I ain't hauling that.", is what I'm afraid of.

[Lee Schierer]

The Teak to be hauled is listed as 16 cbm (As in Cubic Meters).

Can I haul that much teak in 2 trips with my truck and trailer?

I'm struggling converting the 16 CBM to Board feet accuratly, as well as what to expect weight wise.
It's kiln dry to 8%
1 cubic meter = 423.776001 board feet, so your load would be 6780 board feet. Teak weighs about 3.6 pounds per board foot so your total weight would be about 24410 pounds.

[Lee Reep]

I'm an engineer and math kind of guy, so I've been so busy verifying all of your calculations ... :D

But it just occurred to me, and nobody brought it up. What's all this exotic teak doing in Ohio?

[dirk martin]

Now it's all gonna be in upper Wisconsin, and everyone's gonna ask the same question regarding that location.
I'm just going to tell everyone I planted a few trees out back a few years ago, and just got around to harvesting them....good way to tell who's on the ball or not.

[scott vroom]

What's your truck's rated maximum loaded trailer weight?

[John Sanford]

Does anyone have any info on that?
I'd love to do it in one trip, but is there a uHaul or similar large enough to do it in one trip, that someone's aware of?

No, not without a CDL. Budget, UHaul, Penske and whoever else won't rent anything over 26k GCWR to you unless you have a CDL. If you do have a CDL, you can rent anything you can drive. (See Ryder, they rent Class 8 tractors and straight trucks.)

That said, if the load is 16 cubic meters, I'd farm it out. A load of that size needs to be properly secured. The # of questions being asked indicates that you don't have the experience in securing loads that would be necessary to do so safely. (Note, neither do I, and I drove Over The Road for a while. But I didn't drive a flatbed....)

Good luck.

[Keith Hankins]

I have an F150 supercrew with 6 6 bed. I bought 500bf of cherry and 250bf a trip was all she could do and the bed was sitting low on the springs.

[scott vroom]

He's buying 6,700 BF @ $1.49 bf. He got a $1,800 quote from a freight hauler. That comes to 27 cents/bf to ship. That means he'd be paying $1.76 bf total cost shipped to his door for lumber that costs $20+ bf retail. So why would he even consider paying his "buddies" $250 per 1,500 mile round trip to drive his half ton pickup + heavy trailer. 3 trips minimum, 4 maybe 5 if he doesn't want to burn up his transmission, motor, and brakes. + Gas, milage, dangerous drive, etc etc.

C'mon Dirk, this is a no-brainer, right? Pay the common carrier.

[Martin Wasner]

35,000 pounds of lumber and you are questioning whether you can haul it with a half ton?

No, you can not.

At least not in one trip. Say your gross combined weight rating is 13k, (which I'm about certain it is not that high), if the pickup and trailer weigh zero, you'd still be looking at three trips.

And holy cows that's a lot of lumber.

[dirk martin]

He's buying 6,700 BF @ $1.49 bf. He got a $1,300 quote from a freight hauler. That comes to 27 cents/bf to ship. That means he'd be paying $1.76 bf total cost shipped to his door for lumber that costs $20+ bf retail. So why would he even consider paying his "buddies" $250 per 1,500 mile round trip to drive his half ton pickup + heavy trailer. 3 trips minimum, 4 maybe 5 if he doesn't want to burn up his transmission, motor, and brakes. + Gas, milage, dangerous drive, etc etc.

C'mon Dirk, this is a no-brainer, right? Pay the common carrier.

Ok, ok, ok.
This is probably the sanity check I needed.
Thanks, gang....

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Can we get more info (sheer curiosity) on how you found this deal? You hit the motherlode! If I had that much teak, I would build a sailboat.

Check this stuff really good to be sure it is all teak.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Can we get more info (sheer curiosity) on how you found this deal? You hit the motherlode! If I had that much teak, I would build a sailboat.

Check this stuff really good to be sure it is all teak.


No foolin'. THis isn't a NIgerian Prince's email, is it?

[Mark Beiting]

Dirk,

Attempted another PM. The error message says you have exceeded your stored message quota...

Mark

[J.R. Rutter]

A box full of "Dear Dirk, I will gladly buy some teak for twice what you paid for it."

[dirk martin]

Ok, I just went thru my inbox with care, and now it's wide open. Sorry about that.

308369 308370 308371

[Keith Weber]

I'm with Scott Vroom on this one. Trying to haul that much weight those distances with a pickup truck and a trailer is insanity. Your buddies are only keen at $250/trip because they don't know what they're getting into. Freight contract is the only sane option in my opinion.

It looks like the lumber in the pics is all 1x2's and 2x2's in short lengths. I'm curious as to the intended use of such a large load of exotic chopsticks? I've always considered larger furniture made with glue-ups of multiple, small pieces of wood as cheap and factory-made looking -- one of the reasons that I make my own furniture, and have a 16" jointer to work with wide boards.

[Jason Roehl]

Looks like a 26 foot truck from Penske, 1 trip, will run $1,300.00

I've got a co-worker (and his buddy as a ride-along) willing to do it with my F150 and trailer, for $250 per round trip, if I pay gas.
I'd rather put my money in his pocket, then Penske's.

Still weighing my options....


Freightquote is telling me $1,800.00

Freightquote is a no-brainer at those numbers. Five round trips is $1250, and you'll be at least that much more into gas. F150s don't get great mileage when they're hauling near their weight limit--you'd probably be doing well to see 12 MPG towing/hauling ~7,000 lbs. of lumber (plus the extra weight of the trailer). Never mind the long-term cost of extra wear and tear on your vehicle (~6,000 hard miles).

[dirk martin]

Teak seems to be in demand, in every size and shape. Heck, even pen blanks of teak are expensive.
Some pallets are 5-7" wide, not shown in those pics.

[Jim Matthews]

Which might still be worthwhile.

Did you try UShip?

[Jim Matthews]

Yeah, you might want to verify that you're getting what you think you're buying.
Have you seen a sample?

Sometimes when a deal sounds too good to be true, it is.

[Jim Matthews]

Check this stuff really good to be sure it is all teak.

+1 on this.
I said the same when I heard the price.

I pay more than $2 bf for Poplar.

[Mike Henderson]

+1 on this.
I said the same when I heard the price.

I pay more than $2 bf for Poplar.
It would be very easy to sell genuine teak for, say, $10/bd ft. If someone is willing to take less than $2/bd ft I'd be very suspicious. It's either not teak or it's "hot" (either stolen or brought into country without proper certification).

Most teak producing countries have an export tariff on raw teak to encourage production of products made from teak in their country. Around here, you can buy solid teak flooring cheaper per board foot than standard teak lumber. And teak furniture is cheaper than what you'd pay for raw wood to build it.

Mike

[Bill Orbine]

Yeah, you might want to verify that you're getting what you think you're buying.
Have you seen a sample?

Sometimes when a deal sounds too good to be true, it is.


I was thinking that teak the OP bought may be plantation teak. There seems to be a number of large lots sold like this in a few places at low bulk prices. This is the type of teak you'd see with outdoor furniture companies. Plantation teak doesn't carry the value of the "old growth" teak. It's hard to see in the OP's picture, but I'm leaning towards plantation teak

[Erik Loza]

Somewhat unrelated: Wife and I were just in Ecuador and they farmed teak everywhere areound the city of Guayaquil. I asked a local guy and he told me they typically harvest at 10-15 years of age and those trees are not very big at that size. Long and straight but not a very big trunk diameter, curiously. No idea how much they export but pretty much every piece of furniture I saw anywhere as well as lots of windows and doord were made of the stuff. They go for the thick, pour-on type varnish down there. And every house had a stack of teak boards out drying beside it. Tin shack on stilts with no power and five kids running around, but a big stack of teak boards on the deck.

Erik

[dirk martin]

This was a tax forced bankruptcy sale. Everything had to go. I saw a nice Laguna bandsaw with a huge stock feeder, go for $2,200. The Teak is all FEQ certified.

[Larry Edgerton]

Its $572.16 for a 12" face cord, so its kind of pricey for fire wood..:p

[dirk martin]

Looks like trucking is gonna cost me $1,700.

I also have to hire a rigger, onsite at OH, to make sure the pallets are secure, and the lumber isn't gonna move.
One of the batches I bought has the teak on about 30 pallets now that can be consolidated down to about 15 (some pallets only have a handful of boards on them now).
The darn rigger is quoting me $1,100 to consolidate, wrap, and load the pallets.

Expenses are adding up....

[Keith Westfall]

If it were mine, for 1100 dollars, I would drive down and consolidate it myself. Didn't you say it was only a couple hours away?

[dirk martin]

6 hours away.
Consolidating it is one thing, but the rigger also loads it on the Semi....which I can't do, since the rigger's got the fork lift, and I dont'

[dirk martin]

Plus it's not just consolidating. It needs to be secured to the pallets, which requires steel banding. And those darn banding kits (which I don't own) are $500 themselves.....

[Brad Schmid]

To put it in perspective, I have a 2012 F-450 and a tri-axle gooseneck. But even with this rig I'd have to make 2 trips to stay weight legal (and safe), I'd be over my 33,000 lb GCWR on 1 load. I'd have about $1K in fuel (2 round trips of 1k miles point to point). Figure about $200 for an 18qt oil change plus the miscellaneous like tire wear on 12 tires, wear on diff oil, 5 gal exhaust fluid, tolls, insurance, etc. If I didn't have a Class A driver/partner to help drive/consolidate/load I'd have to figure 4 days per trip (1.5 days to get there, .5 day to consolidate and load, and 2 reasonable days for return fully loaded if weather conditions were decent; then do it all again. Hotels, food, etc. Chewing up the $2800 you were quoted would not be difficult and it doesn't include drivers wages. I don't believe the number you were quoted is too unreasonable given the alternatives. Good luck, it will be a real treat having that much teak to work with :)

Edit: Oops sorry, I thought I remembered reading somewhere that you said it was 1k miles away. I guess that was wrong in which case that would reduce the cost and time a bit... Even so, I still think it's a reasonable cost.