Bringing In The Big Boats

Photo courtesy of Lake Shots Photography

Through seas, rivers and highways, Ernie Dampier’s team knows what it takes to get yachts to Lake of the Ozarks.

by Nathan Bechtold

Whenever someone needs a huge boat hauled to Lake of the Ozarks, Ernie Dampier’s name comes up.

It’s an incredibly difficult job: planning complicated routes to haul multi-million-dollar cargo hundreds of miles, often through rural highways and little towns. But Ernie’s business, Marine Service Company, is up to the task. In a busy year, Marine Service Company will haul 100 boats. They’re all oversized loads, and a handful will be “super loads.” The tallest ones stand around 18 feet high once they’re loaded onto the semi-truck.

Some of the boats were never designed to be moved inland, Ernie says. But Lake of the Ozarks is a one-of-a-kind place, and the people who can afford one of these boats want it docked at their waterfront home in central Missouri. So Ernie figures out how to get it there.

By Land And Sea

Photo courtesy by Saylor Bechtold

Because these boats are so large, the process of getting them from the manufacturing facility (sometimes overseas) to a body of water 600 miles inland is a logistical minefield. The main obstacle: overpass bridges. In fact, the only bridge they cross underneath for the entire road portion of the journey is on Highway 5, in Camdenton. “The rest of them,” he explained, “we have to go around.”