Boat search rant

[folivier]

Just gotta vent a bit here. I'll be buying an 18-21 foot center console in the fall. My summer will be full with travels so no point in buying until then.
So I'm looking on Facebook marketplace to get an idea of what type of boat I want and what my budget will be. I'm amazed and astounded at the junk that people post pictures of. Some of them might be a good deal but it's difficult to tell with all of the mold, ripped seats, leaves, and other junk. And some of the descriptions are ridiculous. Such as: boat. for sale. don't know what it is but it's for sale. ran a few years ago but I'm sure it'll run good. new motor only 50 hours, installed years ago. These are the titles! the descriptions are worse.
Why do people let a good boat sit until it's lost most of its value? But try and convince the seller it's worth less. I've seen some boats that might be a good project to bring back to life but at 72 I don't have the time for that.
It'll be a journey when I am ready to buy.

 

[Fermion]

It is the same looking for a trailer. So many ads for used trailer, no title, priced like 90% of new.

 

[Flyfish1]

Try using boattrader.com

 

[Texas Proud]

Easy answer...

It is hard to store a boat... we had an 18 foot and I had to put it in the garage at an angle to get it in... so no cars could go...

Or you rented a storage shed that could fit it... my BIL was paying over $200 a month.. his was 22 ft and really nice center console...

Or you did like my other BIL and pay to have it sit in a field with a cover over it for $50 a month...

Then when you want to take it out you have to spend a few days getting it ready (including the trailer)... for a whopping few hours on the lake...

The one sister and BIL now rent if they want to go boating... costs hundreds of dollars but sister said it was so easy... walk up, get the key... go boating, come back, park the boat, give back the key and walk away.. OH, and no towing a boat!!!

As for price, everybody thinks their boat is worth 2X to 10X of what it really is worth...

 

[freedomatlast]

I got a chuckle out of the description I saw on one yesterday that said, "ran good before I started working on it".

 

[pb4uski]

Having bought a boat on Facebook marketplace last summer I'll agree there's a lot of chaff and just a little wheat

 

[rk911]

Try using boattrader.com

Or This Old Boat if it's still being published.

 

[MC Rider]

The one sister and BIL now rent if they want to go boating... costs hundreds of dollars but sister said it was so easy... walk up, get the key... go boating, come back, park the boat, give back the key and walk away.. OH, and no towing a boat!!!

That's our plan. Much easier and less expensive, and around here you don't have to get a boaters card when renting, but if you own the boat, you do.

We got new neighbors just over a year ago, their boat has not moved since it got here. And he says the reverse gear needs repair.

 

[Flyfish1]

That's our plan. Much easier and less expensive, and around here you don't have to get a boaters card when renting, but if you own the boat, you do.

We got new neighbors just over a year ago, their boat has not moved since it got here. And he says the reverse gear needs repair.

Yep - I know a few people who are very happy with Freedom Boat Club. That's cool - but at this point I use my boat a lot and at all different times of the day. One day I may be pushing off at 4 am, another day at 7 pm. All dependent on weather, current, moon, fish movement - a club just doesn't make sense for me at this point in life. Should be splashing in next week!

 

[MC Rider]

If you use it a lot, then it makes sense. We rented a little fishing boat for half a day last year to putt around the lake, when we had never been out on the lake. May do it again this year. I don't even have a trailer hitch on my car, so it would be extra expensive for me to get boat, trailer, hitch.

Enjoy.

 

[Pointby2]

I saw an GE Advantium oven, just like ours for $450 on Marketplace. We like the oven and I thought it would be a good backup for our 20 year old unit. The ad said "NEW" but I could see crumbs in it and stuff caked on the sides. Plus it was 2 hours away. I texted anyway, just in case. Three questions: Is it really new? And, are you ever in Orange County near us? And, can you post the model number?

Response: Yes, are you interested? Yes I will do that for you.

Turns out it was used. He posted a picture of it "working" that only showed the timer on the front. Then today he replied. "When do you want the Microwave". He never addressed the other two questions.

I can only imagine how tough it could be with a boat.

 

[Flyfish1]

Yeah - buying a used anything is challenging. With boats I always hired a Marine Surveyor. Basically , a home inspector for boats. Not that much money when you are dropping several $$ on the purchase.

 

[Texas Proud]

Yep - I know a few people who are very happy with Freedom Boat Club. That's cool - but at this point I use my boat a lot and at all different times of the day. One day I may be pushing off at 4 am, another day at 7 pm. All dependent on weather, current, moon, fish movement - a club just doesn't make sense for me at this point in life. Should be splashing in next week!

Well, yes... if you are out fishing all the time...

And using the boat all the time...

I sold our boat a little over a year ago... the last time it was in water was before the pandemic... we used to use it once or twice a year... it was fun when the kids were young and lived here.. when we went we took it out a lot... but still cost way too much money just to have a boat for twice a year...

 

[CO-guy]

I spent a good part of my childhood growing up on an island in the Caribbean. I have friends and family members that own or have owned boats for various periods of their lives. From those experiences I can say without hesitation:

It's much better to have a friend with a boat than to own one yourself.

 

[folivier]

There's only one boat club on Lake Ponchartrain that I'm aware of and it's too far from where I want to buy to be of use. What I plan to buy will have a covered boat dock with lift so the boat will be available to use anytime. And like Flyfish1 I'll be using it often at different times depending on the tides and weather.

 

[Koolau]

I watch for boats every time I travel past the mouth of the harbor that empties from the marina. The only boat I see is from the dive shop/marine adventure business. Some real "monuments" in the safety of the marina but they never move.

 

[MichaelB]

So, selling a boat is the opposite of selling a home, where substantial effort is made to disguise the shortcomings and hide the blemishes.

 

[Midpack]

Because boat sales are down by about half since they peaked in the late 80's. It's a buyers market, especially used, and probably will be from now on - we'll never see a peak like the 80's again, true for many discretionary buys. There will be way more inventory than buyers forever now. Most sellers don't realize.

Because boat owner/sellers are always thinking they're going to start using their boat more, and don't. So they hesitate year after year. And grossly overestimate what a boat is worth at resale. Buyers are way scarcer than most owners realize.

Because while boat operating expenses used to be reasonable (fuel, insurance, storage, launch, dock, etc.) - they're not nearly as affordable now, so it's much harder to sell a boat.

I owned boats for 25 years, loved it, but I'd never buy another one. It's way too expensive now to buy and operate. Fortunately I bought new and traded within 5 years, while the boat still had some resale value - and I was under no illusion I'd get top dollar back on resale.

Never buy a boat. Be best friends with the person dumb enough to own a boat.

Best day of a mans life is the day he buys a boat and the day he sells it.

 

[NameTaken2]

Patience paid off for me >20yrs ago -barely.
After looking for a couple years and with another summer approaching, had decided to give up and go buy a new one that I saw.
That morning when I checked the paper there was an ad the exact boat I wanted: 7yrs old, <100hrs and meticulously maintained -showroom new, and very fair price.
Called it my "Grass Boat Search" -for one that sat on the trailer in the yard next to owner's garage.

 

[Fermion]

Because boat sales are down by about half since they peaked in the late 80's. It's a buyers market, especially used, and probably will be from now on - we'll never see a peak like the 80's again, true for many discretionary buys. There will be way more inventory than buyers forever now. Most sellers don't realize.

This is 100% true for big boats. We sold our 34 foot Pacific Seacraft sailboat early this year and it took some aggressive pricing to get it to sell. On the other hand, we have two 17 foot trailer sailboats that I get offers on constantly. I think people like the simplicity and low storage costs of a small trailer sailboat.

 

[folivier]

Speaking of new boat prices I'm SHOCKED that anything over 20' is now in the 6 digits. And they quickly rise to $250,000 and even twice that for anything over 26'.
Amazing! And on a forum I'll see people selling a 1 or 2 year old boat for less than half that because they're buying a new one a foot or 2 longer.

 

[dm]

I bought my boat after looking at ads on boat trader, Craigslist, and Facebook.

I’m impatient and it only took me a few weeks to find one about two hours away.

This was early 2020, before prices really started rising for boats. I’m guessing boat prices peaked around 22-23.

I’ve put to much money into mine, so I guess I’ll just keep it till I can’t go offshore anymore.

I sold my plane and used that money for the boat. Both are expensive hobbies.

 

[Rambler]

Well, the important thing is, every boat owner is guaranteed to have two very happy days: the day he buys it, and the day he sells it. The days in between will likely be pretty frustrating.

 

[Out of Steam]

Yeah - buying a used anything is challenging.

I'm trying to buy a set of used wheels for my car right now, and I suspect that I will end up using an experienced, well-rated EBay seller, rather than Facebook Marketplace. At least the professional sellers actually know the specs of what they have.

Anyone want a set of black 19" alloys for a Mazda?

 

[BubbaChris]

I wonder if boats are a lot like RVs - Many people hold on to RVs because they are still paying on the original loan. They'd rather lose a few hundred dollars a month than take a multi thousand dollar loss to sell it.

I'm glad we chose RV camping, we've slept in our traveling RVs over 800 nights in the 12 years since we started. Even with all that use, depreciation alone on our current fifth wheel is probably in the $60/night range.

Kind regards,
Chris