What's a Boat Worth?

[thompsonisland]

So, here's an impossible, but entertaining, question. How do you value a used boat? Some boats are stock designs and there are millions of them and they are easy to value. But we sail old wooden boats; over our history we've had a 24' Colin Archer design, a few various little things, and our current 37' Crocker. When I look at listings for boats like these, they seem pie-in-the-sky. Our current boat listed for 6x+ what we paid. Granted, we replaced a floor timber and she'd been on the hard for a few years, but we're up to that sort of thing. Anyway, is it outrageous to watch a listing for a few years and then offer a minute fraction of the ask? Seems to me boats are worth either 1) a lot, or 2) almost nothing. All these $250k woodies, does anyone buy them?

[sailorboy1]

boats are only worth what a buyer is willing to paid for it, so for the ones that have been listed a long time it means they aren't worth the listed price or close to it!

[Hudson Force]

Of course, one of the answers is that the worth of the boat is value of freedom, independence an adventure. Often the fewer the dollars paid; then, the more freedom, independence and adventure you get. Therefore, on occasions the more expensive boats are less valuable!

[Celestialsailor]

I think it's more like...When a husband is being hen-pecked by his wife for spending so much time and money on his woodie, He just says..."Oh Honey, you're right, I'll put her up for sale". Then he proceeds to ask 6 times it's value. "I don't know honey...I'm really actively trying".

[thompsonisland]

Part of what I wonder is whether you can walk up to someone whose listing has been at 250k for 5 years, inspect the boat and discover the myriad things that need work, decide if she's worth it, and then say "I've got fifty grand. Here's my number."

When we bought our boat, we had seen the listing and fantasized about it for years. Then I got leukemia (I'm 35). We saw the listing again and it was down by half. I said, "When I'm done with this, if it's still on the market, we'll offer what we have," which was still only a third of the current ask. It was, we did, and the rest is, well, you get it. So I get to wondering, is everyone just smoking crack and punching numbers into their listing sheets?

[Kettlewell]

Well in the past, I purchased a woody for less than half of the original asking price, but it had to sit for a few years before the owner was willing to come down. The funny thing is that several owners later, the original seller bought it back for a lot more than he sold it to me for! Woodies are a bit different than ordinary production boats. It is more like the art market. There are collectors and dreamers who increase the value of some wooden boats a lot, because they value them as works of art more than they do boats. I personally find it ridiculous that a nice old boat like a Concordia sells for many times what a much more capable fiberglass cruising sailboat would sell for, but to those that own and buy them obviously they are worth what they pay for them.

To me the bottom line is what is the boat worth to me? I will offer the owner that amount, and tell them why. If they reject it, I am not angry, so why should they be angry at the offer? If they don't like my offer, it is obviously worth more to them than to me, so I move on. The trick is not to become obsessed with any particular boat--there are always many more interesting boats out there, and one of them can be purchased for what it is worth to you.

[marujo.sortudo]

AFAIK, their is only a moderate correlation between asking price and sale price on boats. I've seen people get ripped off and other folks get a decent boat that needed some work for a dollar because the owner trusted that they would bring it back up to shape and care for it. I wouldn't be afraid to offer a price at any level for a boat. What do you have to lose? The best deals are available to those who are willing to walk away from the bargaining table. Also, there are a lot of one-off woodies out there that are undervalued because most buyers don't know about the builder, etc. Famous boat designs tend to have substantial markups, though...

[Stumble]

One of my issues with customs and even more so with home builds is I have no way to track the quality of the workmanship. A woodie could have been build by Bob Villa or some bum, and I can't tell. So the price has to reflect the worst possible scenario for me to be interested.

But then I see no great beauty in wooden boats. So they may not be for me.

[thompsonisland]

Wooden bosts have pedigrees, too, though. There are many well-respected, even storied, builders of one-off designs.

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by thompsonisland

So, here's an impossible, but entertaining, question. How do you value a used boat?

Well, here's one way:

Jack Sparrow: "Wherever we want to go, we go. That's what
a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and sails;
that's what a ship needs. Not what a ship is. What the Black
Pearl really is, is freedom."

Vic

[thompsonisland]

Perhaps I can get Johnny Depp to buy my next boat. A Bestevaer, or something cheap like that.

[Celestialsailor]

I understand he just bought an Island

[thompsonisland]

Hm, could be that he's short on extra cash then, and thus not returning my calls.

[Hudson Force]

search "Vajoliroja"

[thompsonisland]

Reminds me of the former White Lady (the yacht for which the famous Vega banjo is named),

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...%281892%29.jpg

Erm, can't get the picture embedded...