How is the used boat market this year?

[ari]

But how are they able to sell all of these boats with so many people in lockdown and restricted travel?

Sold unseen with video tours is one way, but if you take a look at current traffic levels in this 'lockdown' compared to the first one (March 2020, three weeks to flatten the curve - happy days), I think it's clear that (rightly or wrongly) most people aren't playing that game anymore.

 

[driver0606]

Interesting. This suggests that "survey and sea trial" has gone out of the window. If so I can see a lot of grief coming up, particularly with larger, older (say over years) boats, rather than smaller, perhaps trailerable, ones. Any comments from you surveyors/insurers out there?

 

[Soco2]

Interesting. This suggests that "survey and sea trial" has gone out of the window. If so I can see a lot of grief coming up, particularly with larger, older (say over years) boats, rather than smaller, perhaps trailerable, ones. Any comments from you surveyors/insurers out there?

Why does it?
you can still assign a surveyor and he will do his job as normal and compile a condition report for you? And also a sea trial if required.
as of tomorrow you can do your own sea trial if you like.

 

[Scapegoat]

Interesting. This suggests that "survey and sea trial" has gone out of the window. If so I can see a lot of grief coming up, particularly with larger, older (say over years) boats, rather than smaller, perhaps trailerable, ones. Any comments from you surveyors/insurers out there?

One Thames broker that I’ve dealt with was encouraging sellers to commission their own survey so buyers would be able to make an informed decision. Obviously it is not the same as commissioning your own as a buyer as you have no redress - although most surveys seem to be full of caveats anyway.
Personal inspection and sea trial is still mandatory as far as I’m concerned

 

[Soco2]

where there‘s a will there‘s a way,
I’m hopefully doing a sea trial next week

 

[driver0606]

OK. Is there any body out there willing to share a real life experience of buying unseen a boat, say, 12 metres or more and over 5 years old? How did it pan out and how easily did you find a mooring?

 

[volvopaul]

OK. Is there any body out there willing to share a real life experience of buying unseen a boat, say, 12 metres or more and over 5 years old? How did it pan out and how easily did you find a mooring?

Last year I was assigned to check over a Broom 450 for a guy from Ireland , he rejected the first one on mechanical grounds after the survey , a month later I looked over another , this one was in worse condition plus the broker and well known Lymington company made a real hash of the preparation for sea trial , the sea trial never took place , the whole deal was a Mickey Mouse affair so the buyer pulled out .
Eventually he purchased the first one we looked at , this just shows the very low level of quality boats available even in the 250k plus bracket , it can only get worse .

 

[Dino]

And the owner is delighted with her. He’s a good friend of mine. Two other friends from the same group, bought the navy hull Broom 450 and a Fairline 43ac that were for sale in the UK. I know lots of boats that were bought unseen, just using video tours and survey reports, from the UK, Holland and France all bound for Ireland

Last year I was assigned to check over a Broom 450 for a guy from Ireland , he rejected the first one on mechanical grounds after the survey , a month later I looked over another , this one was in worse condition plus the broker and well known Lymington company made a real hash of the preparation for sea trial , the sea trial never took place , the whole deal was a Mickey Mouse affair so the buyer pulled out .
Eventually he purchased the first one we looked at , this just shows the very low level of quality boats available even in the 250k plus bracket , it can only get worse .

 

[driver0606]

Just to give this another stir. This is a link to statistics published by Yachtworld who seem to have their finger on the pulse:
https://www.boatsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/YW-2020-Market_Index-3.pdf
Looking at International Yacht sales, which are other than the U.S. and effectively mean Europe, sales of boats under 26 ft. from 2019 to 2020 rose massively. However numbers of power boats sold of between 26 ft. and 79 ft. dropped considerably last year and so did the average prices achieved (-3 to -28%)!
Can anybody explain it?

 

[ari]

However numbers of power boats sold of between 26 ft. and 79 ft. dropped considerably last year and so did the average prices achieved (-3 to -28%)!
Can anybody explain it?

Seems to fly very much in the face of the actual evidence (ie lack of listings and brokers screaming for stock).

 

[Mr Googler]

People hanging on to larger boats to use as holiday homes and only the overpriced crap was left on the market?

 

[oldgit]

You still bitter about those 270's. Still? After all this time? Think of the experience and knowledge you gained

Actually the evil money pits were 280s, ie. the 270 with extra problems.
A new fangled method of raising legs out of the water (well sometimes.)
Remove the vacuum cleaner motor and add load of extra pipes and dissolve in water stuff outside the boat and more complicated pumps,relays and pipes inside.
I give you outdrive hydraulics.

So now not only did you have to contend with water changing places with oil in the legs, the worry of corroding cylinders and the seals keeping the hydraulic oil in and the water out, appeared.
The hydraulic cylinder system did have two distinct advantages.
More surface area for the baryncules to cling to and a designed in early warning system letting you know when the leg was about to remain sullenly down when you were pushing the buttons.
The smell of the hydraulic oil would waft in the cockpit of the boat and inspection would reveal all the pretty patterns on the water confirming yer worst fears.

 

[ari]

Actually the evil money pits were 280s, ie. the 270 with extra problems.

How do you feel about Ford Anglias? Just in case anyone is thinking about buying a new Ford?

 

[BruceK]

How do you feel about Ford Anglias? Just in case anyone is thinking about buying a new Ford?

The world after 1960 doesn't exist for him

 

[alandalus11]

Very active in the UK. Great if you are looking at selling and getting out of boating. Sellers market according to our broker at the marina.
Different story if you are looking at upgrading and buying another boat other than brand new. What's left is what people don't want or has problems. Then you are also in competition with other buyers. Our broker has said that he has had buyers purchasing boats simply from a video tour without ever seeing them in the flesh. Crazy times.

 

[Nito]

We're in the market to buy at the moment, who ever thought that buying a boat could be so difficult.?!?!

We've made offers on three in the last 6 months and viewed countless boats over the last year. First had issues pulled up by survey, second we were pipped to by a matter of hours after it had been on sale for 18 months already and the most recent one we had an offer agreed and survey arranged and the seller sadly just pulled out yesterday (not wanting to be boat-less for the season) after having lost the only larger space he had reserved at the marina and having made an offer on 4 larger boats all of which turned out to be unavailable or already sold!

This against a back drop of instant buyers snapping things up unseen and at full price and an alarming shortage of mooring spaces and boat stock. It is definitely a sellers market. The boats that are lingering seem to be either overpriced or problematic or a combination of both. The new vat rules has limited the pool of boats to effectively UK only sourced. Anything half decent is being snapped up very quickly which makes it difficult for a cautious buyer to view, arrange survey and actually conclude a deal traditionally because there will be someone who will just purchase instantly and unseen which for something with as much to go wrong on as a boat seems bananas!

 

[lynallbel]

We're in the market to buy at the moment, who ever thought that buying a boat could be so difficult.?!?!

We've made offers on three in the last 6 months and viewed countless boats over the last year. First had issues pulled up by survey, second we were pipped to by a matter of hours after it had been on sale for 18 months already and the most recent one we had an offer agreed and survey arranged and the seller sadly just pulled out yesterday (not wanting to be boat-less for the season) after having lost the only larger space he had reserved at the marina and having made an offer on 4 larger boats all of which turned out to be unavailable or already sold!

This against a back drop of instant buyers snapping things up unseen and at full price and an alarming shortage of mooring spaces and boat stock. It is definitely a sellers market. The boats that are lingering seem to be either overpriced or problematic or a combination of both. The new vat rules has limited the pool of boats to effectively UK only sourced. Anything half decent is being snapped up very quickly which makes it difficult for a cautious buyer to view, arrange survey and actually conclude a deal traditionally because there will be someone who will just purchase instantly and unseen which for something with as much to go wrong on as a boat seems bananas!

Maybe a lot of the buyers are newbies, and have yet to enjoy the fun of the meaning of the word boat!

 

[Momac]

Maybe a lot of the buyers are newbies, and have yet to enjoy the fun of the meaning of the word boat!

Boats certainly come with a significant commitment but also a significant wellbeing payback as we know . The commitment element doesn't suit everyone. Certainly people do enter into boat ownership without prior research and they often find it is not quite as easy nor as glamorous as they imagined it would be.

 

[oldgit]

How do you feel about Ford Anglias? Just in case anyone is thinking about buying a new Ford?

Outdrives !
They must be so much less trouble these days, when did you last see any mention on the forum of anybody having a problem .
S41. just returned to our pontoons, the second major attempt to sort the outdrives (no idea which model) by a Volvo Penta dealership.
Insurance paid the first bill, have refused to cough up again.
Similar Sealine detained down in the Solent due to outdrive failures ,pre lockdown, two goes by the owner to get the boat back round to the Medway. No idea where boat is at the moment.
Small Sealine F33. Both outdrives replaced due to corrosion.
Older Fairline Fly. Owner given up.Outdrives are down and will stay down, given up on trying to keep them working.
Bavaria 32 ? , followed him up to local boatyard , easy task, just follow the trail of gearbox oil. Bill 9K to sort both outdrives and some engine work. Boat now back on mooring.
Suspect Volvo Paul and Spannerman will be very busy indeed in the immediate future.

 

[driver0606]

Difficult to imagine the Yachtworld statistics can be so far wrong. Perhaps most of the forum replies relate to uk sales and/or smaller, perhaps newer boats.