Are small cheap boats about to get “cheap” once more?

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ontheplane

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Not so ever so long ago, you could pick up a fletcher 19 GTS Cuddy for about £6k, a Bayliner / Maxum / Sea Ray 19 ft bow-rider for about £4-5k and not total basket case projects, actual real, useable boats.

Then, Covid hit and now £10k is barely enough to get a working boat any more!

Given a £5-10k boat is not bought by the super-rich and therefore the current cost of living crisis is likely to hit the people who can just afford these craft (along with hikes in fuel etc) do people predict that the price of these boats may fall sharply as

1) People who bought when they couldn’t go abroad now can.
2) What cost £150 to fill up now costs £250 to fill up.
3) Less disposable income swilling round the system for people earning up to £100k (after which I suspect they will be buying dearer boats) and so on?

Interested to hear views
 
gordmac said:
Could happen and for pretty well all the "toys" like cars campers etc. I wonder though if you paid £10k for it would it sit in your drive rather than sell for £5k?
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Not at this level I don’t think. A £10k boat is probably a bigger investment for an owner than a £20m yacht in terms of how much of the “spare” money it takes up.

A mega yacht is one of many “toys” and whilst an owner may get rid of one or two it’s unlikely he will “have” to.... but if all of a sudden you are struggling to pay the mortgage and heating bills.... what will the missus say to £5k of cash sat doing nothing on the drive.... and how long will you wait if there is no guarantee it will go up again....... ever! I think in the next 12months we may see a real change in the market...
 
Important to remember that boat values dropped a LOT in the 2009 recession and stayed low for a long time. Current values might be high compared to 5 years ago, but they're pretty normal compared to where boat values traditionally sat.

Of course, if we get another massive recession...
 
ari said:
Of course, if we get another massive recession...
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Do we think it's an "if" ? I pretty much think it's inevitable. We basically have a perfect storm brewing and "spare" money - or excess disposable income I think is going to collapse at the very low-middle incomes (where I think I sit) - I.e. those with more than practically nothing (the state pretty much always steps in to help them) and the £150,000 a year + brigade who might have to adjust a little but I don't think they will be massively affected.....

But in the UK 90% of working people fall into around the £25k - £60k a year band and I think these are the people who will feel it most. Higher mortgage payments (I have an interest only mortgage that rose from £129 per month to £159 - that's a 20% rise - when the interest rates changed, If your mortgage is £300,000 then it will have gone up by £100 or so.... Add in 1% more NI, Increased Gas and leccy, increased Fuel for your car weekly, more on broadband, council tax etc etc.... it could just all get too much for the many many people who live on credit and ran it all pretty close to the limit before.....
 
Maybe, not convinced those living on credit are the ones buying the cheap toys though. I suspect those with money accumulating in the bank (which went up with covid) at no interest decided to buy something for a bit of fun. They may not be accumulating any more but not at the desperate stage and waiting to see how long it lasts.
 
stelican said:
I think alot of boats in that price range are owned by Jack the Lad types( and the older wannabees) and just consider it disposalable income. Always find the cash for fuel but maybe not the maintenence.
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Does that describe you? Or do you think it's just the other boat owners...

I can't say that it's my experience, at all.
 
ontheplane said:
Do we think it's an "if" ? I pretty much think it's inevitable. We basically have a perfect storm brewing and "spare" money - or excess disposable income I think is going to collapse at the very low-middle incomes (where I think I sit) - I.e. those with more than practically nothing (the state pretty much always steps in to help them) and the £150,000 a year + brigade who might have to adjust a little but I don't think they will be massively affected.....

But in the UK 90% of working people fall into around the £25k - £60k a year band and I think these are the people who will feel it most. Higher mortgage payments (I have an interest only mortgage that rose from £129 per month to £159 - that's a 20% rise - when the interest rates changed, If your mortgage is £300,000 then it will have gone up by £100 or so.... Add in 1% more NI, Increased Gas and leccy, increased Fuel for your car weekly, more on broadband, council tax etc etc.... it could just all get too much for the many many people who live on credit and ran it all pretty close to the limit before.....
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I've long since given up trying to second guess it since the government started meddling to the extent it has with things like property values.

But I certainly wouldn't fall off my chair with surprise if we did get one.
 
stelican said:
I think alot of boats in that price range are owned by Jack the Lad types( and the older wannabees) and just consider it disposalable income. Always find the cash for fuel but maybe not the maintenence.
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Hey peeps call me Jack innit.
 
When you buy your first boat , you either love it or sell it if you love it you are always looking at boats etc. then you ajust your life finance to use it as it is a way of life. Once you have the bug you are caput we are on our 9th boat in 38 years. jusy one mans opinion.
 
No doubt, I get your point…but there has surely never been a fletcher 19 SC for just a cheap as 6k. An 18 SC…maybe.
 
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ontheplane said:
Not so ever so long ago, you could pick up a fletcher 19 GTS Cuddy for about £6k, a Bayliner / Maxum / Sea Ray 19 ft bow-rider for about £4-5k and not total basket case projects, actual real, useable boats.

Then, Covid hit and now £10k is barely enough to get a working boat any more!

Given a £5-10k boat is not bought by the super-rich and therefore the current cost of living crisis is likely to hit the people who can just afford these craft (along with hikes in fuel etc) do people predict that the price of these boats may fall sharply as

1) People who bought when they couldn’t go abroad now can.
2) What cost £150 to fill up now costs £250 to fill up.
3) Less disposable income swilling round the system for people earning up to £100k (after which I suspect they will be buying dearer boats) and so on?

Interested to hear views
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if you are earning anything near £100k you should have plenty of cash sloshing around
 
QBhoy said:
No doubt, I get your point…but there has surely never been a fletcher 19 SC for just a cheap as 6k. An 18 SC…maybe.
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Maybe…

But imagine you earn £100k with a £500k mortgage and then suffer a life change. For me it was Divorce (no I don’t earn £100k sadly).

so my costs went up (child maintenance, having to pay all the rent instead of half a mortgage and so on)…

So there can be plenty out there with £100k income who can’t actually manage on it just as someone who has always been on £30k can manage fine….
 
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