Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainFredGreenfield
So answer this:
How much is a $20k boat worth after 5 seasons seeing 60 days a season onboard, with no cleaning, maintenance, upgrades, etc?
MY feeling is, that boat is going to be trashed. You'll be LUCKY if its worth 60% of its original value, and that's assuming you didn't BREAK anything. Everything will be worn substantially.
So then, how much is that same boat worth if you maintain it to its original condition, maybe you add a small something here or there as an upgrade? Probably close to its original price.
The question that my article, and what I've spent a lot of posts trying to help many here who don't seem to be getting it is - that maintenance is EXPENSIVE. So are the slip fees and insurance. It all adds up and the longer you keep the boat, the more that number adds up on paper.
That has been my point since post #1 - Pay it in depreciation after 5 years of total neglect and usage what would you say... 30% depreciation? 40%? 50%? Try to honestly answer that question.
As many have said here, we buy distress saled boats where the last owner got in over their head and is wearing that boat and can't afford it. In the case of my Coronado, I bought it for 2,000. In working clean condition its worth 8-12k. How much depreciation is that? You tell me.
And as I said originally, you are arguing about 5 or 10 % depreciation. Even if I'm 50% wrong, were talking a difference of a few thousand maybe. AGAIN thats not the cost I have been talking about since post #1. I'm talking about those TENS OF THOUSANDS you will spend on simply docking the boat, hauling it for storage, getting the bottom cleaned, etc. etc. Basic costs.
That is stuff that a novice doesn't think about.
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What, precisely, is a "novice" in this aspect?
The boat I bought a few months ago hasn't hit the water yet. It is CLEANER now than it was when I bought it. It's had repairs that it needed, the previous owner didn't do.
I've never owned a boat, until now. The previous owner has been a boat owner most of his life, living in the Louisiana Area most of his life, and has owned several boats.
The one I got from his had not been well cared for, and he let several things just "go" (the standing rigging was in poor shape - and wood was never stained or varnished. There are a dozen other things that needed taking care of, which a "non-Novice" didn't DO).
So... I guess a lot of people take exception to this idea that those who are "new to something don't think it through".
As far as I am concerned, buying a boat and getting out there to sail is MORE important than any money I eventually get back out of the boat.
The exception to this will be when we start our long-term cruising. The boat obviously won't care for itself, my wife and I have to do that. I don't intend to give money to "charter captains" to take us places, and I'm damned sure not going to waste money on bare boating (more than a couple times) in my life.
The money it costs to charter a boat is better spent, in my opinion on training, your OWN boat, and your OWN purposes, rather than giving it to someone else to have for themselves. (IF I were to place my OWN boat in charter - which I have already looked at, I would be expecting to have it MAKE me some money, not LOSE me some money).
Finally... If I were to apply the same reasoning you've been applying to Amateur Radio - I'd not be helping ANYONE to join the ranks of radio amateurs in the world, I'd be discouraging them.