Coastal Cruiser, Trawler Market

Just wondering what sort of market there is during these present days for small trawlers that might serve well as coastal cruisers,..loop and canal vessels?

 

Can speak to the 40-50 foot trawler/mini expedition boat market as the last few years Ive done pre purchase inspections on a dozen or so. Doing 4 or 5 this coming week, from valdez to bellingham to nor cal.

Prices are significantly down from 2023, on a 450-500k boat from the early 2020s we're seing 100 to 150k drops. Boats between 2002 and 2020, from reputable builders all getting solid haircuts in price from just a few years ago.

Its a bit counter intuitive as costs to build are going up rapidly, that factor simultaneously is having an impact overall on price. Price of ownership is going up rapidly, combined with a large market segment (boomers) exiting the market has dropped demand while also putting a lot on the market. Tradesman, haul outs, parts etc are all up significantly. Seems to be hitting even the upper middle income boaters pretty hard.

 

I think you have hit a number of the factors correctly.

As I read thru the trawlerforums.net I still see a lot of pent-up interest that's likely kept in check by those new prices on new boats,...used boats seem to be alive.

 

Was an interesting week. My world was never the small trawler market, merely there to run systems through their paces and give general thoughts on quality of build and lay out from a workboat perspective. Crawled through some impressive as well as not so impressive boats from a wide range of makers. Certainly is a premium for boats that are truly updated and turnkey, think we saw two of a dozen or more boats truly ready to go. Saw some of the offers and it had a weighting factor, a boat needing 80k in updates or repair is getting 100+ lower offers.

Think the reality is like the housing market the vast majority are owned by boomers and up. Think the youngest seller was late 50s and the rest were 65 on up to near 90. More boomers selling and less young Gen x and millennial to take their place. Guessing the factor keeping the transition from occurring is the same as housing. Wages are up at about half the rate as inflation compared to the early 2000s when the majority the trawlers we saw were built.

Heck we looked at a boat that is the #3 out of the mold and about 5 years old. The client had paperwork from a boat show when they first got the bug of hull number one and its new price was 38% less than the 5 year old boats curent listing price. Their wages were up about a decimal point over 10% in the same time. Unless millenials get heavily involved in Dod contracts or learing centers en mass prices are going to have to drop or boats are going to continue to sit.

If your frame of reference on boats was 2020-2024 prices are substantially down... but are still up appreciable from the pre 2020 world.

Total side note tangent. Saw all manner of quotes on repairs from everything from hull paint to new gears to electronics, stabilizer fins, new upholstery and the like. Paint jobs were eye watering expensive, upholstery being the second that had astronomical cost.

 

trend in Eu os for single engine, even in semi disp.form.with enough hp for disp. speed, so 40ft 80hp ot 140 of pushing Rheine of other powerful rivers
fuel is cheap U.S.A so you see twin engines , which IMO is just throwing money away
Vessel i am working on needs 77hp at prop for 8 knots ,with 170 hp speed is 10.21 boat is 51000lbs

 

These new fuel prices are not going to help the situation.

Appreciate your comments/analysis Comfisherman