How old is your boat?

[Bundyon]

My 42' Ketch rigged, pilothouse spray, a steely, was launched in 1991. Have just fitted new sails & lazy jacks & bags. New rigging next month, have upgraded all new electronics and about to fit a Bowthruster. Perkins 4-248 is original at 1500hrs. She will outlive me.

[KeithMidgette]

1966 Bristol 39 Yawl, racing her on lower Chesapeake Bay

[Junk Viking]

Reinke Super 10 (34') in aluminium - launched 2006 with a junk schooner rig.
Professionally welded hull, amateurish interior (reflected in purchase price).

Has all my eclectic preference :

• Schooner junk rig for easy shorthanded handling
• Small (34') = cheap to haul, maintain
• Two db. cabins with one in the center
• Deck saloon with 360 degree view from settee and pantry
• Aluminium hull
• Long Db. keels welded onto the hull
• Separate toilet and shower
• Huge water tanks (800l)
• Home build interior so I don't fret changing things
• Well insulated against heat: 60mm XPS
• 230V AC from lithium powerful enough for induction/oven/kettle/washing machine/water works

NO standing rigging
All electrical and nav systems getting replaced



Outfitting unfortunately took over, but trying to get back out there with my tiny house in a coke can

[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Hope I didn't offend any wealthy people.[emoji3]

Just note that most of the general public view people with boats big enough to sleep on as "wealthy".

[AiniA]

Will be interesting to see what the situation will be in another 10-15 years. Relatively few new boats in the 30 to 40' range are being added to the herd and many of the existing boats will be well north of 50 years old. Every year a few of the old boats end up in the dumpster and others get refitted/upgraded as needed. Our previous 1982 Bristol 45.5 was so solidly built it is not hard to imagine it going strong in 2082, our current 1995 Catalina 36 perhaps not. I guess at some point the cost of upgrades makes an oldster uneconomic. Of course, if there are few newer boats available the old boats retain more of their value.

[Zzmeyer]

An arithmetic question. 55% of the boats are the fifteen years between 31 and 45 years old, but only 9% are the fifteen years between new and 15 years old. Given that virtually all boats are owned does this mean they used to sell 6 times as many boats as they do now? Perhaps new boat owners aren't on Cruisers Forum?

[Singularity]

Originally Posted by Zzmeyer

An arithmetic question. 55% of the boats are the fifteen years between 31 and 45 years old, but only 9% are the fifteen years between new and 15 years old. Given that virtually all boats are owned does this mean they used to sell 6 times as many boats as they do now? Perhaps new boat owners aren't on Cruisers Forum?

Apologies for the tangent from the thread subject, but using small private personal planes for reference (where such planes, sort of like cruising sailboats, when new cost a substantial % of what a home would cost):

1966:
A quick/rough google search tallies more than 7,000 aircraft (probably closed to 9,000+, but I gave it ~3 minutes) produced/delivered by US manufacturers in 1966 alone. These are piston-engine planes holding 2-6 people.
2019: US produced 1,771 similar planes (not including ~1,200 put-together kit planes)

US population 1966: 197 million
US population 2019: 328 million

1966 Ford Fairlane $2,195
1966 Cessna 172 $13,300
1996 House $23,300

Certainly today people buy a lot of fishing and ski boats, but at least nowadays the typical new cruising boats costs multiples more than the typical new fishing/ski boat. My mid 70s boat, when new, sold for more than the price of the house I was living in back then.

I'd suggest that US windfalls from WWII followed by economic globalization created then ended the "great again" that many American pine for, though that ship has sailed.

I assume all the (fewer) newer boat buyers are stuck in their cubicles.

[Cool Hand Luke]

2011 Jeanneau SO409... 1st boat and love her to death

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Luke

2011 Jeanneau SO409... 1st boat and love her to death

As you should. A fantastic boat!

[Cool Hand Luke]

Originally Posted by wingssail

As you should. A fantastic boat!

Thank you for the kind words

She was 5 years old when I bought her and now she's 9 years old... a lot of people sneeze at production boats, but with proper care that I've been giving her, she'll last a few decades

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by sailjumanji

Just note that most of the general public view people with boats big enough to sleep on as "wealthy".

Oh, yeah, until they see my boat!
Then they offer give ME help working on her!

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Junk Viking

Reinke Super 10 (34') in aluminium - launched 2006 with a junk schooner rig.
Professionally welded hull, amateurish interior (reflected in purchase price).

Has all my eclectic preference :

• Schooner junk rig for easy shorthanded handling
• Small (34') = cheap to haul, maintain
• Two db. cabins with one in the center
• Deck saloon with 360 degree view from settee and pantry
• Aluminium hull
• Long Db. keels welded onto the hull
• Separate toilet and shower
• Huge water tanks (800l)
• Home build interior so I don't fret changing things
• Well insulated against heat: 60mm XPS
• 230V AC from lithium powerful enough for induction/oven/kettle/washing machine/water works

NO standing rigging
All electrical and nav systems getting replaced



Outfitting unfortunately took over, but trying to get back out there with my tiny house in a coke can

Nice!

[NorthCoastJoe]

1976 Pearson 30, 1976 Downeaster 38, 1982 Macgregor 25, 1969 Gruman sailing 17' canoe.
Plenty of other things that float are about the same age. Oh kayaks are from this century ( Plastic )

[Mike OReilly]

Definitely calling it for the good ol' boaters. Heck, looking at the 50+ crowd makes my 44-year-old look barely broke in.

As some have pointed out, this breakdown nicely corresponds with boat production surges in North America. It also makes sense from an economic perspective where fewer people can afford new boats.

I also wonder if the self-selecting nature of CF is showing it's face. What multi-millionaire is gonna wanna hang out with the likes of us .

[Tayana42]

I suspect the distribution of the age of the boaters on this forum parallels that of the age of the boats too.