What's a Boat Worth?

[hellosailor]

No really, how long is a piece of string?

Value is only established by market sales. A boat is ultimately worth what it can be sold for. If similar boats in the same general area have sold recently, you've got a guide. If it is one of a kind...It might be the Hope Diamond or it might be worthless. You take your best shot comparing it to similar sales, as close as you can get. And unless it is marketed, advertised, plastered around town to attract more buyers, then it is worth even less.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Value is only established by market sales. A boat is ultimately worth what it can be sold for.

Actually, I'd say the value of a boat (and most other real things in life) has little to do with what someone will pay for it. That's just the market price, which has little to do with real value.

[thompsonisland]

The comment that the ask and the sales price are often miles apart is useful to me. That's a big thing I've wondered.

[hellosailor]

Mike, how wuld you define "real" value then?

I submit that the asking price is simply "the girl of your dreams". A product of someone's mind, and often their imagination. Real value is usually defined as "what would it cost me to go out and buy a replacement?" and unless it has to be custom built, that's whatever fair market value is.

[westsail374]

As mentioned, the answer is the amount someone will pay. During the purchase process, the key is to remember that there are many lovely boats, and not to fall in love.

Be brutal and even cruel as you evaluate an individual boat's qualities prior to purchase.

There is plenty of time to fall in love with your boat after you have impartially decided that she is the one for you. Hopefully, the more time you spend with her, more your appreciation for her good points will grow.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Mike, how wuld you define "real" value then?

I guess my point, as radical as this seems, is that price does not equal value. I may place great value on my old boat. This may, or may not, be reflected in the price it can fetch on the market. This does not diminish the value of the boat (to me), but it certainly limits how much money its sale will produce.

I think this is where buyers and sellers sometimes clash. The seller may value his/her boat more than the market will recognize. That does not make the seller wrong (nor the potential buyer either), but it does lead to the oft-heard complaint from buyers around unrealistic pricing.

Some boats are emotional objects, and as such, do not always follow the simple rules of supply and demand.

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I understand he just bought an Island

Bound to be the one with all the rum!

[roverhi]

If you are good at repairing wooden boats think there is money to be made in certain markets fixing them up. You have to buy them real cheap with a realistic knowledge of what the repairs will cost in time and money. There are still people who like a woody and the cost of replacing an old one with new is astronomical. The beauty of a woody is they will last forever as long as the owner has the skills or money to keep renewing the boat. IIRC, Old Ironsides has something under 5% of the original wood in her.

Here's one that looked like it had potential as the price seems to be the cost of the scrap metal in her.. Salvage 40' Ketch

[barnakiel]

I value a used boat just as you value any used object:

- it has an initial value X,
- every year it looses some % of its initial value,
- after N number of years the value is zero.

There are many ways to calculate the present value and some allow for the different rates at which boats get used up (which depends mostly on their quality and on quality of our maintenance).

One can also value the boat by calculating how much building an exact replacement boat would cost.

BUT: if the boat is well maintained then after N number of years the boat may actually start gaining value again - they become 'classics' or 'colector's items' and they may be valued accordingly.

It is important to see the difference between the price and the value, much as we use the phrases interchangeably most of the time.

b.

[Ex-Calif]

The discussion appears to be centered on woodies.

I don't think there are a lot of people building in wood. Some of these designs are rare and cannot be reproduced today.

Like anything classic there is a market. If you enter this market you probably should know a thing or two about wooden boats. I would guess there are designs and designers that are sought after and there are restorations that are true to original and restorations that are abortions.

There are non-restored boats whereby the owner is waiting for someone to come along with the requisite pedigree to restore the boat properly. I recall reading of some 70 foot 1920's racing boat that changed hands. I don't recall the link or article but it was one of those where the boom hangs 15 feet past the transom.

The owner was a builder/designer and kept the boat in his boatshed for like 20 years unsailed. He let it go at a reasonable price if I recall on the assumption that the buyer/collector would take appropriate care of it.

The modern production plastic boat market is actually pretty predictable.

[thompsonisland]

I guess woodies are what, if anything, I know (but I don't know much I'm not the resident expert in the household, fortunately. (Barnakiel, were you in finance? When I read N, visions of prepping for the CFA pass before me). Roverhi, we are on our second large wooden boat, and both were bought for a fraction of the scrap value. Dh gave away the double ender rather than burn her for the bronze (she'd been on the hard and opened up too much to bother with, became pirate playhouse), so I know what people mean when they talk about the emotnal component of boats! I think there's even money in that game, although it isn't mine. I just want to sail, which Sowelu allows me to do.

But someday, I hope we'll want a passage-making boat, and that would probably be something different.

[bobconnie]

No matter what ya say, a boat is only worth what ya would pay for it !! Now it might be worth more, but to you it is only worth what you would pay for it !! The owners many times are talked into large prices by brokers !! than the boats sit and cost more money for a year or two, and then the prices seem to drop a lot !! But at the end it's still only worth to you, what ya would pay !! if ya can't get it for your price then go on to the next one down the road!! Theres hundreds and hundreds for sail just in Florida!! Ive seen the prices going down now for over 3 years! And just bought ours for a lot less then half of the asking price ! and it was only for sale for 6 mo's!! So I would say if ya want something in perticular, ya need to look and offer what it's worth to you !! just my 2 cents

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I value a used boat just as you value any used object:

- it has an initial value X,
- every year it looses some % of its initial value,
- after N number of years the value is zero.
..................................................

There are some exceptions.....



This wood boat unearthed in Giza next to the pyramids is about 5 thousand years old and holds on to a great value,- There are some exceptions.

[thompsonisland]

If there's one thing that wood has on the credit side, it's longevity.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

There are some exceptions.....

This wood boat unearthed in Giza next to the pyramids is about 5 thousand years old and holds on to a great value,- There are some exceptions.

Please read my (oh so misqoted! ;-) post till the end: I did say some of them start to gain value after N years becoming 'collector's items'. Didn't I.

NOT to be used for navigation ;-))))))))

Remember one day someone may discover another 140, or so, boats of Giza - brand new and ready to fly ... errr - swim! As it happened recently with those Spitfires in Myanmar!

Cheers,
b.