The price of a boat

Is it me or do boats seem to be getting cheap?

I have seen some damn good deals around, unfortunately I have a boat too and Im not happy at what Im seeing.

But fuel is important --Ive heard people say that if you cant afford to put a bit of diesel in it you cant afford to boat. There is something in that but less fuel use is attractive.

Perhaps fuel frugal boats will hold their value.

I know I have seen those 50 foot 1000HP power boats loaded up and unable to reach planing speeds with black smoke pouring from the exhausts using what? 200 + liters PH!--- who wants one of them?

 

the market down here is real slow frosty. big and small boats seem to sit on the market for months with out getting any interest.

 

you are 100% correct
when I read the sales ads and pages it is scary how prices have come down in Europe and America
a lot of people are going to loose a lot of money
even here by us in this tiny tiny market it's going further downwards

a mate of mine went to Europe to go and look at "bargains" and then sail it back here to South Africa
its a no-go
the boats are already very neglected, no maintenance since 2007 when the credit crunch hit
and it simply would cost too much to get it safe for such a long trip
so the boats are slowly rotting away there and here
our market is so small that you could fit ALL the boats of South Africa into ONE of your marinas
it will make you cry when you see the rubbish boats still "floating" here

sadly "stinkpots" and "trawlers" are not popular because of fuel bills

 

The local shipyard is completely full of dead boats. A dead boat is one whose owner puts her up for sale, waits a fews years for offers..no luck, runs out of money to pay dockage so the boat is hauled by the marina, seized by the port police and now awaites destruction.

Its unfortunate that three years of neglect is so damaging to a boat. A nice little putt putt motorboat is being preped for destruction. It sank..out of the water...when a thief opened the companionway...made off with stuff, then left the companionway hatch open to the rain for a year or so.

 

Yea, that's what got me back into boating 3 years ago Frosty! I couldn't believe the LOW prices for some really nice cruisers. I saw a 28 foot Bayliner (in excellent condition) with an asking price less than a descent bass boat.

Who am I to argue with opportunity - I bought a cruiser (not the Bayliner - don't like plastic boats LOL!)

 

Dry slips cost as much or more than wet slips in the southeastern US because there aren't any. All stuffed with abandoned boats. You pay more to haul, store and relaunch at a bare bones yard than you do for a real nice marina slip. My GF handled a couple bankruptcies in the Keys. One guy was just setting himself up for retirement. Bought a new little flats boat and had a buyer for his company when his wife got cancer. This queered the sale because she was an officer. Three months later he filed for bankruptcy. They dragged off all his old vehicles and equipment and left the skiff, never used, in his driveway. He tried for a year to get them to remove it. I ended up towing it to the bank parking lot the day before the final hearing. The bank had it towed, pretending not to know who owned it!

 

yup its a junk yarders paradise out there. And prices are still dropping. Same for the housing market as well as raw land. Major economic correction going on. I've definitely got my eye on prices for waterfront up in the ketchikan area so I might be able to park my boat cheap.