Remove equipment prior to selling the boat?

[Swammy]

This is a question I have working on the logic I have of buying my first 40-50' used sailboat. (possibly one logic stream to work on helping my wife come along) Have you done this yourself or is it a flawed strategy?

A number of years ago, I bought one of my Harley motorcycles stock. I then went through and changed all kinds of things - pipes, intake, handlebars, mirrors etc... I kept all the stock parts, and when I sold it, I removed all the pieces I bought, and replaced them back with the stock pieces I had kept. The logic was I would not get the maximum depreciated value of those pieces by selling them with the bike unless I sold them separately. It ended up being a good decision. I lost money on the bike, but much less overall than if I had sold the bike with all the new goodies.

With the sailboat, if I buy it and then put another 25% purchase value in, for example, better sails, a watermaker, new navigation equipment, solar panels, wind generator, etc. Lets assume that removing these newer items and replacing them with the older does not damage the integrity of the boat. Also, lets assume that the original used stuff is in working condition but now will be that many years older. I also feel comfortable selling independent items on ebay, craigslist, local yacht club bulletins etc. And I know that things like used sails are a very specific product for a specific boat. Lets focus on things that I could bring with me to the next boat or sell somewhat easily. And, is there a vibrant used market for boat equipment?

Is this possible? Has it been done before? Does it make financial sense assuming that there will be a depreciation in the boat value?

Gracias for your feedback.
Mark

[Ex-Calif]

This could be argued a hundred ways.

Let's stick to Nav equipment for a moment. Lets say the stuff on the boat is 5 years old. In 5 years you put it back on. As a buyer of the boat I would pretty much value the 10 year old nav gear at $0 and think the boat is worth less.

Then you are selling the now 5 year old nav gear on ebay for 50% of new price or less.

A better strategy may be to replace the nav gear on the boat and sell it now as it is 5-year old nav gear and has 25-50% of new value perhaps.

In 5 years you sell the boat and it has 5 year old nav gear which is better street appeal than 10 year old nav gear.

[Suijin]

Is it possible? Of course it's possible. Is it worth the effort? I suspect no.

Motorcycle parts are one thing, since there is a much larger market for them, they tend to be smaller and easily shipped, and they for the most part don't suffer the wear and deterioration with age that sailboat equipment does.

I spend part of the year in Annapolis which on a sailboats per capita basis probably holds its own with any city in the world. There's a solid market in used gear here, but even so most of it sells for pennies on the dollar compared to new. The only exception is electronics, which are a commodity item and tend to age out before they wear out.

Also, all of the stuff you have upgraded the boat with is what determines it's price compared to other similar boats on the market. If your boat is above average in terms of how well it's been maintained and the quality of its gear, that is going to allow you to charge a premium. I'm pretty confident that if you strip the boat and sell the gear independently that when the smoke clears and you factor in the value of your time in deinstalling, listing, answering emails and phone calls, and closing the deal on all that gear that you'd come out behind.

Of course there are some things, like dinghys and outboards that are pretty easily sold independent of the boat and probably bring better value that way. But using that as a broad strategy for the boat's upgrades is a losing strategy in my opinion.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Unless you are bringing your removed gear to your new boat to save you the new gear purchase price....your wasting your time once you figure in your labor. Used gear goes for near flea market prices so the cash sales value compared to what it would have been worth on the boat, added in your time and it's a wash in most cases.

[Stumble]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Unless you are bringing your removed gear to your new boat to save you the new gear purchase price....your wasting your time once you figure in your labor. Used gear goes for near flea market prices so the cash sales value compared to what it would have been worth on the boat, added in your time and it's a wash in most cases.

In addition when theboat is inspected to sell and there are unattached wires and hoses everywhere on the boat a lot of prospective buyers will walk. I certainly would. And chasing all the now dead wires and plugging thru hulls is a pretty time consuming process. A water maker for instance needs two thru hulls, a line run to the fresh water manifold, possibly two new lines to the tanks, taking those out properly is time consuming and expensive even if you do the work yourself.

I guess there may be some equipment that would be worth removing. But generally I would consider it false economy.

[DeepFrz]

There was one member on here a few years back who was accused to replacing much of his working equipment with junk which is fraud IMHO. So long as the boat is not advertised or shown with the equipment in place it is legal but as has been stated I would not likely even bother with a survey if all the gear had been pulled.

[Swammy]

Thanks for all the feedback. I was looking for a solution to smoothing out the inevitable loss and depreciation when you buy a boat and based on what I read, this is not one. I like the comment from Stumble that even if you could sell the newer equipment, there would be wiring harness' and through hull penetrations that would be capped.

And, the knowledge that there is a used equipment market is positive in that there may be items that are worth considering and others not.

Mark

[ozskipper]

B.O.A.T Break Out Another Thousand.
Its rare that you will ever save or make money on a boat. Quite rare. So expect some loss.
By putting old second hand gear on your boat, you may devalue it even more.
I would value a boat with,say, 90s electronics, to actually have NO electronics. Thus in my head, I would be calculating the cost of buying new ones and the install cost- therefore devaluing the boat in my mind.

I say this from current experience as I am trying to spend some of my kids inheritance on a boat at the moment- I really do treat old gear as non existent.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Swammy

Thanks for all the feedback. I was looking for a solution to smoothing out the inevitable loss and depreciation when you buy a boat and based on what I read, this is not one. I like the comment from Stumble that even if you could sell the newer equipment, there would be wiring harness' and through hull penetrations that would be capped.

And, the knowledge that there is a used equipment market is positive in that there may be items that are worth considering and others not.

Mark

A 20 year old well cared for boat doesn't necessarily have to depreciate.

If you are talking about not getting your "refit" investment back that is quite possible.

If you add $10k in upgrades, especially electronic, you likely won't get it back. But like houses, well maintained interiors, exteriors and cosmetics will certainly retain their value and quite possibly increase the value of the boat.

(Humble opinion mode off)

[ParadiseParrot]

I buyer's broker will tell you not to consider 5 yr old electronic's in the price.
If you pull then then you have to fix the holes they came out of.
Just write off electronic's if you sell as the buyer may want new or different brand etc. Portable Gps Laptops etc should not be an issue. Just take them as new owner will not pay unless you find a sucker. There are several articles written by YatchWorld on the subject.

[Tingum]

Boat is easier to sell with all the equipment. Morally if it is on the boat when shown it goes with the boat. Legally it is what is on the inventory. If I was looking at a boat and the seller then removed equipment I would most likely low ball or walk!

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Tingum

Morally if it is on the boat when shown it goes with the boat. Legally it is what is on the inventory. If I was looking at a boat and the seller then removed equipment I would most likely low ball or walk!

Absolutely.
I think the OP is asking about the worth/value in taking the time to remove gear PRIOR to the listing and showing. When I sold our last boat, I removed some solar, life raft and SSB Radio. The boat was never listed with those items for sale and I took the time to properly do the removal job so that there were not any signs of the removal. In my case these were 2-3yr old items that I wasn't going to get any money for with the sale of the boat and besides...I needed them for the new boat in the ship next slip in Mazatlan, MX and buying all those items new would have cost me a LOT more than the time/energy to remove them.