Boat Depreciation Amid Increasing Prices

[jerrypeters]

OK. Here goes ... one person's experience.

I bought my first cat (a Lagoon 42 TPI) out of the Moorings fleet in 2000. I paid $180,000. It was in ok condition and the Moorings did some work to bring it up to acceptable condition. I then put $60-70,000 into it to upgrade and repair the boat for use as a blue water liveaboard. I did a lot of repairs, added radar, autopilot, watermaker, bilge pumps, new sails, engine rebuilds and other stuff.

Upon completion I set sail for 3 years of live-aboard and completed a circumnavigation. Upon return I sold the boat for $180,000 (in 2003).

I then bought a second cat (FP Casamance) for $175,000 in 2004 from a private owner that had salvaged it from hurricane damage. I put about $15,000 into upgrades and repairs. I sailed it part-time, 1-3 months at a time, and circumnavigated the Caribbean over 2 years. Sold it in 2006 for $175,000.

I bought my next (and current) cat in 2008 (2006 Lagoon 410 owner's version). I bought from the original owner for $350,000. I put $25,000 in repairs and upgrades and then placed into the charter fleet in St, Vincent and Grenada. The boat has broken-even for the past 10 years. I have pretty consistently upgraded (sails, electronics, dinghy) and kept the maintenance at a high level. I estimate that the market value of the boat in its current condition is about $200,000.

I am considering the future of the current boat. Options are: leave in charter, take out of charter and live-aboard, sell. The economics are pretty much irrelevant to that decision.

Incidentally, the traditional thinking that charter use is hard on a boat and much harder that owner use is just not right in my option. As I mentioned, I bought a Mooring boat that was decommissioned after 5 years in charter and it served my quite well on my circumnavigation. My current boat has been in charter for many years and its condition is first rate for its age. It all depends on the quality of the charter firm's maintenance and the owner's willingness to reinvest in discretionary maintenance and upgrades. Don't shy away from charter boats automatically.

Again ... just my experience.

[jerrypeters]

(This may be a duplicate post. If so, I apologize. I'm unfamiliar with the quick reply option)

OK. Here goes ... one person's experience.

I bought my first cat (a Lagoon 42 TPI) out of the Moorings fleet in 2000. I paid $180,000. It was in ok condition and the Moorings did some work to bring it up to acceptable condition. I then put $60-70,000 into it to upgrade and repair the boat for use as a blue water liveaboard. I did a lot of repairs, added radar, autopilot, watermaker, bilge pumps, new sails, engine rebuilds and other stuff.

Upon completion I set sail for 3 years of live-aboard and completed a circumnavigation. Upon return I sold the boat for $180,000 (in 2003).

I then bought a second cat (FP Casamance) for $175,000 in 2004 from a private owner that had salvaged it from hurricane damage. I put about $15,000 into upgrades and repairs. I sailed it part-time, 1-3 months at a time, and circumnavigated the Caribbean over 2 years. Sold it in 2006 for $175,000.

I bought my next (and current) cat in 2008 (2006 Lagoon 410 owner's version). I bought from the original owner for $350,000. I put $25,000 in repairs and upgrades and then placed into the charter fleet in St, Vincent and Grenada. The boat has broken-even for the past 10 years. I have pretty consistently upgraded (sails, electronics, dinghy) and kept the maintenance at a high level. I estimate that the market value of the boat in its current condition is about $200,000.

I am considering the future of the current boat. Options are: leave in charter, take out of charter and live-aboard, sell. The economics are pretty much irrelevant to that decision.

Incidentally, the traditional thinking that charter use is hard on a boat and much harder that owner use is just not right in my option. As I mentioned, I bought a Mooring boat that was decommissioned after 5 years in charter and it served my quite well on my circumnavigation. My current boat has been in charter for many years and its condition is first rate for its age. It all depends on the quality of the charter firm's maintenance and the owner's willingness to reinvest in discretionary maintenance and upgrades. Don't shy away from charter boats automatically.

[Shrew]

The biggest challenge is trying to shoehorn a long-term 'retirement' dream into a single action or purchase.

If you REALLY want to sail now, then SAIL NOW.

1) Buy a boat that you can reasonably afford to purchase, maintain, and store. (Your 1st and second boats should not be your retirement boat).

2) Sail it that boat.

3) Sell your first boat.

((Purchase$ + Total_Mainatenance$ + Total_Storage$) - Sell Price) / months_owned = Cost of ownership.

As your career progresses, your income will increase.

4) Now move into a bigger boat and repeat.

[SharAndy]

Go find others who have purchased and put the boat into a Charter company. We, and others we know, purchased on the 5th year out of charter. Pretty much zip maintenance during those 5 years with tons of 'expenses' costed out to Owner. We just spent $100,000 to bring the 5 year old cat back to beauty....except for some leaks we are still dealing with. The boat had never been caulked since built; flooring rotten because of refrigerator leaks, engines not maintained and on and on. But like you said, not many out there now after the hurricanes......... Do not rely on the spreadsheets shown you by a charter company. Go find previous owners before you make a decision.

[Halp]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Not that I infer you are but anyone taking financial advice from a boat broker is nuts. They have no responsibility beyond making money for themselves. Neither do they have any insight beyond that which you have.

Doing your due diligence, as you appear to be doing, is smart but it’s still a guessing game further clouded by new, yet unknown trends, location, insurance vagaries and lots more uncertainties.

The only certainty is that buying any boat isn’t a financially sound decision.

Determining value in an imperfect market should NEVER be construed as financial advice. Even in semi-perfect markets (Stocks) it's still subject to supply/demand and motivations.