Boat Prices

[Forkin' Crazy]

I think you are hitting really close to home. Same way with aircraft. I looked at a Piper J 3 Cub in the late 80's. At $10,000 it was a deal. Find one now....$30,000K for a good one. Still kicking myself in the ass over that one.
I bought my boat new for a little over $10,000 for a bare hull and trailer. I guess it is too small for some your needs, but it works well on my small river and I can out run 99% of the other boats...

[Havasu_Dreamin]

Does anyone else find it rather odd/strange that on a $93k boat with a cuddy cabin that the wiring for the helm is not even hidden from view of the passengers that will be using the cuddy? If your not sure what I'm talking about take a look at page 60 in the current Hot Boat.
If I paid $93k for that boat that wiring better somehow be hidden from view. If it was not a cuddy option, I would not even care, but since it is I think for that coin the builder can figure out some way out to hide the wiring, IMHO. Just my $.04.

[sandblasted]

The thing about these boat tests that always shocks me is the price difference on engine packages....Look at the test on the Nordic Rush in this issue...An upgrade from the 496HO to the 500EFI is a $27,000 price difference!!
The reality is the boat builders would not be making bigger and more expensive boats if they didn't sell...Obviously there is a large segment of people with the income to shell out $100,000 for a toy!

[Dribble]

I'm a cheap ass.
First boat was a very clean 12 year old Southwind. Paid $5,600.00 sold it ten years later for $5000.00
Second boat purchased new in 99 from a little known builder. (Eagle Pacific). Paid substantilaly less then I would have for a Carrera, Essex etc.. It was and still is a great boat. No real name recognition though.
Present boat (03 Caliber) bought from the same little known builder. He bought the bare hull from them and rigged it to my specs himself. Again paid thousands less then if I ordered it directly from Caliber. Why? Only one employee to pay workmans comp on. Cheap rent and low overhead. It was 24 days from order to delivery.
I don't know if it's true or not, but I'm told that most high end builders are not really making any money.
I believe that prices will rise substantially this year due to increased demand. Look what you have to pay for a cookie cutter wakeboard boat and then say the price of a decent custom is way to high.

[Dr. Eagle]

I paid over 130 large for my former boat, and then I had to sell it after owning it for 3 years. I sold it for just over half what I bought it for. Yet the boat was in pristine condition, with many upgrades (thousands of dollars worth) I had made to it. I think way too much of the price of new boats is fluff... marketing and profit.
Tooling costs are huge and most boats have been revamped in the last half decade, but I don't think this combined with the escalating engine/drive cost is completely the cause. Regardless prices have more than doubled in the last 10 years, and depreciation has accelerated, so my next boat will most likely be used...

[CEO]

I agree with the prices also out of control. My friend has a 2k 23' Eliminator with a 454 and he bought it for 38k and now he has people offering more than he paid for it. Now if you can have a boat for 4 yrs and get more than you actually paid for it, that's out of control. I know I paid top dollar for my new rig, but what I have learned over the years in anything I buy, buy the best quality product regardless of the price difference and you will never 2nd guess yourself later. Quality always out last quanity, my .02

[LASERRAY]

Originally posted by CEOinSoCal
I agree with the prices also out of control. My friend has a 2k 23' Eliminator with a 454 and he bought it for 38k and now he has people offering more than he paid for it. Now if you can have a boat for 4 yrs and get more than you actually paid for it, that's out of control. I know I paid top dollar for my new rig, but what I have learned over the years in anything I buy, buy the best quality product regardless of the price difference and you will never 2nd guess yourself later. Quality always out last quanity, my .02 Boat Equity Rules! Hey, if that's the case then good for him. Sounds rare, but hey, what do I know.:wink:

[superdave013]

Just think, that high $$$$ boat that ya buy today in 5 years will be worth less then my old schiada. But then again schiada's were prolly the first to be out of control price wise.