Hiab hire and haulage in Dartmouth
Dartmouth is built on the side of a very steep hill above the Dart, and the road access is genuinely awkward: the direct route from Torbay involves a ferry, and going round takes a long time.
It is a naval town and a serious sailing town, with the marine trade that comes with both, and the streets above the waterfront are among the steepest and narrowest we work in anywhere.
Access
Ferry or the long way round
The Higher and Lower Ferries cross the Dart and both take vehicles, but they have limits and queues, and for a loaded lorry we look at each job on its merits before deciding whether to use one or drive round via Totnes.
Once in the town, the streets climbing away from the waterfront are steep and narrow to the point that a lorry's options are very limited. Working from the nearest safe standing point and reaching in is usually the method.
There are properties here reached only by steps, and for those a lift is not the convenient option but the only one.
The work
Marine, hospitality and hillside property
The sailing and marine trade is constant here: boats, engines, masts, cradles and gear moving on and off the water.
The hotels and restaurants refit in the winter, and the hillside houses generate a steady run of lifts for anything too heavy to carry up a flight of steps.
- Boats, engines, masts and marine equipment
- Winter refit materials for waterfront premises
- Lifts into hillside properties reached only by steps
- Hot tubs, garden rooms and heavy domestic items
- Routing by ferry or road decided per job
The lorry
What turns up in Dartmouth
One vehicle: a 30TM HMF hiab with 10 metres of reach on a cheesewedge body, carrying up to 10 tons. It brings the load and lifts it into place, so there is no second machine to arrange and nobody waiting about at either end.
Questions
Common questions about Dartmouth
- Do you use the Dart ferries?
- Sometimes. It depends on the load and the timing — a queue at the slipway is not something we can control, so for a time-critical job we may go round via Totnes instead.
- My house is up steps from the road. Can you help?
- That is the standard Dartmouth job. With ten metres of reach a good many properties above the street are reachable, but send a photograph from the road and we will confirm before you book.
Nearby
We also cover
Some of these are over the county line, which makes no difference to us: we work both sides of the Tamar and there is no surcharge for crossing it. Each is labelled with the county it is actually in.
Devon
Totnes
One of the steepest and narrowest main streets in Devon, with an arch across it.
Devon
Kingsbridge
At the head of the estuary in the South Hams, down some of Devon's narrowest lanes.
Devon
Torquay
Built on seven hills, with a harbour at the bottom and hotels up all of them.
Devon
Paignton
Torbay's flatter town, which makes it considerably easier to work in than Torquay.
Or see every town we cover in Devon.
Enquiry
Get a price for a job in Dartmouth
Tell us what is moving, roughly what it weighs, and how far it has to go from where a lorry can stand. That is usually enough for a straight answer.