How Old's Your Ride?

[hoppy]

On one of those BWB threads, I made a comment that people think that the pinnacle of design was the design that was current when people grew up, teens to mid 20's or so... In my case I have a fondness to IOR designs, early Porsche 911 Turbos (75 onward) and so on.... (born 65)

I just found a poll from last year bout peoples ages and guess what, 50-60 year old's dominate and here 30-40 year old boats dominate, a 20 year age difference.

Coincidence or not?

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ed-122314.html

[serah]

Interesting hoppy. Works for me then - I'm in my early 30s, we have an older 1970s boat that I bought as it was affordable in my late-twenties. We just had our offer accepted on a new 1999 boat, which puts her right in there.. The year we graduated high school to be precise!

(As an aside, I think a preference for looks on men/women from high school is quite ingrained as well. I'd never thought it applied to boats/cars too/)

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[hoppy]

Go to any old people's home and you'll hear "when I was young......" and then they will go on to explain how everything was better back then.

None of us are safe from being the "when I was young......" old folk

[FamilyVan]

Originally Posted by hoppy

Go to any old people's home and you'll hear "when I was young......" and then they will go on to explain how everything was better back then.

None of us are safe from being the "when I was young......" old folk

Maybe, but I'm in my late 30's and my boat is in the 30-40 range. I have a few good buddies that I boat with all in their late 30's. Of 4 guys the boats range in age from 1974-1988 (mine near the middle at 1979).

30-45 year old boats are plentiful and affordable. I know when I'm cruising the boat takes a beating, landing at strange poorly designed docks, some times bare concrete with bits of rebar, I've definitely touched bottom more than once, kids throwing up, dogs having accidents- you name it, the boat takes a beating.

A new boat treated like this would become an old boat pretty fast. This helped me decide whether to buy an old very heavily built boat or finance a new, higher performance but less heavily built boat.

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[hoppy]

Originally Posted by FamilyVan

Maybe, but I'm in my late 30's and my boat is in the 30-40 range. I have a few good buddies that I boat with all in their late 30's. Of 4 guys the boats range in age from 1974-1988 (mine near the middle at 1979).

30-45 year old boats are plentiful and affordable. I know when I'm cruising the boat takes a beating, landing at strange poorly designed docks, some times bare concrete with bits of rebar, I've definitely touched bottom more than once, kids throwing up, dogs having accidents- you name it, the boat takes a beating.

A new boat treated like this would become an old boat pretty fast. This helped me decide whether to buy an old very heavily built boat or finance a new, higher performance but less heavily built boat.

Sent from my SGH-I547C using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

I'm 50 and my boat is 13, and when I owned a Porsche it was from 2002, so my purchases don't correspond to my theory either, but statistics suggest that on average I might be right...

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by hoppy

I'm 50 and my boat is 13, and when I owned a Porsche it was from 2002, so my purchases don't correspond to my theory either, but statistics suggest that on average I might be right...

While the correlation between ages is interesting, it's only that: correlation. Does not make it causation.

My bet is that you'd find a stronger causal link between economics and boat age. I bet those with higher wealth will tend to have newer (and larger) boats. Those with more modest means will gravitate to less expensive boats. Since the majority of cruisers are middle to upper-middle class retired folks with fixed incomes (pensions or investments), maximizing value for money is important.

Older boats tend to be cheaper -- it's a simple as that.

[jkindredpdx]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

While the correlation between ages is interesting, it's only that: correlation. Does not make it causation.

My bet is that you'd find a stronger causal link between economics and boat age. I bet those with higher wealth will tend to have newer (and larger) boats. Those with more modest means will gravitate to less expensive boats. Since the majority of cruisers are middle to upper-middle class retired folks with fixed incomes (pensions or investments), maximizing value for money is important.

Older boats tend to be cheaper -- it's a simple as that.

... If I had all the money I doubt I'd buy a new plastic fantastic or mega yacht... I prefer a classic wooden boat or an early lust for me was an S&S 42... but that could just be the aesthetic or nostalgic factor.

I've had a hard time caring about the America's Cup races ever since they went away from the 12 meter rule.

[sailorboy1]

It would interesting to know that among the older boat owners whether they got it a long ago when is was fairly new, or if it is owner by a younger person who mainly got it due to price.

[Prairie Chicken]

Interesting thread. I must say I'm surprised at the results. I'd have thought most would have been in the 10-20 year old category.

We kept our 1986 Bene First 375 for 21 years and only moved to a newer boat (2002) when we went larger. Even then, the 2002 was about as new as we wanted to go. We like the older boats, and you couldn't give us a new production boat due to the lack of quality we see on them.

[jkindredpdx]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

It would interesting to know that among the older boat owners whether they got it a long ago when is was fairly new, or if it is owner by a younger person who mainly got it due to price.

For my current boat, I was a 55 yr old person (now 60) that bought a 35yr old boat (now 40) although I could afford a newer and more expensive one.



JimK

[Amapola]

Our trawler is 36 years old which qualifies for antique status in Florida which gives you a huge break on registration...Only $9.25.

[Tayana42]

My boat is 26 years old. I've had it for 15 years. It was newer 15 years ago.


S/V B'Shert

[Neeltje]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

It would interesting to know that among the older boat owners whether they got it a long ago when is was fairly new, or if it is owner by a younger person who mainly got it due to price.

I'm a younger person (65) who bought his boat when it was 113-years old, but I still didn't get much of a deal on it.

Jacques

[ctl411]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

While the correlation between ages is interesting, it's only that: correlation. Does not make it causation.

My bet is that you'd find a stronger causal link between economics and boat age. I bet those with higher wealth will tend to have newer (and larger) boats. Those with more modest means will gravitate to less expensive boats. Since the majority of cruisers are middle to upper-middle class retired folks with fixed incomes (pensions or investments), maximizing value for money is important.

Older boats tend to be cheaper -- it's a simple as that.

Yes older boats at the bottom of the depreciation scale more bang for your buck. We also like the older boat looks and ride. If I came into a pile of cash would still buy older. If the pile was HUGE I would get Bob P. to design one for us.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by ctl411

Yes older boats at the bottom of the depreciation scale more bang for your buck. We also like the older boat looks and ride. If I came into a pile of cash would still buy older. If the pile was HUGE I would get Bob P. to design one for us.

...but we might be odd balls .