Boat depreciation

[wonkywinch]

When I retired a year ago, I had already been chartering for 6 years, was a member of a boat club and had £150k to spend on a holiday home, motorhome or boat.

I enjoy travelling but hate driving and dislike flying. Spending the money on a boat was an easy decision as we get the holidays and enjoy the journey too. I don't want to be the richest man in the graveyard.

 

[WoodyP]

Look on the bright side. At least boat aren't as bad as horses for upkeep and depreciation. We have both.

Me too.

 

[RogerJolly]

Me too.

Pegasus 800 anybody?

 

[Refueler]

Look on the bright side. At least boat aren't as bad as horses for upkeep and depreciation. We have both.

Worst thing my Wife ever did was get a Horse .... when it finally passed away - she dug up one of the best Strawberry Beds ever - to bury it ....

But the Horse had the last 'laugh' ... it was old and basically at end of life, could not stand / walk properly .. Vet came and shook his head ..

I was away in Singapore at the time ... but anyway - Wife decided that it was time - we knew this months before - but ...

JCB came and dug the pit ... Horse was next to it ... Vet administered the necessary and horse settled on the ground ... OPPOSITE way to what was intended ! Horse should have settled so it was just a simple 'nudge' into the pit .. but no - it needed full use of the JCB to move it ...

Boy do I miss those Strawberries !!

 

[Baggywrinkle]

What makes you happy? Serious question .... messing around on my boat, be that simply sitting in the sun, pottering from bay to bay, or longer passages - I feel at peace. For me my boat is therapy - at least once I've got it into a condition where I can rely on it and all it's systems.

That therapy, lack of stress, and general feeling of wellbeing that I get from being on my boat has value to me beyond the monetary cost, it's an integral part of a healthy lifestyle so I'll allocate a considerable amount of my disposable income to it.

The beauty is that this is also scalable, 20ft to 20 metres, a boat can be had for a huge range of budgets, and the happiness you feel is not proportional to the money you spend.

For these reasons, everything that I have spent on my boating before today is sunk cost and fantastic memories, I don't keep records of how much I've spent, I just look forward. What do I want/need and can I afford it now or must I wait a bit.

There is no logic to owning a boat, I do it because I enjoy it - period.

 

[Poignard]

There's a phrase used in various projects. Sunk Costs.
Once you have spent the money, forget it. Anything you get back is a bonus.

That's the way I look at it.

I have owned my boat for 27 years and had an enormous amount of pleasure out of it.

"It owes us nothing" as they say, and anything I get when I sell her is, as you say, a bonus.

 

[Bobc]

Worst thing my Wife ever did was get a Horse .... when it finally passed away - she dug up one of the best Strawberry Beds ever - to bury it ....

But the Horse had the last 'laugh' ... it was old and basically at end of life, could not stand / walk properly .. Vet came and shook his head ..

I was away in Singapore at the time ... but anyway - Wife decided that it was time - we knew this months before - but ...

JCB came and dug the pit ... Horse was next to it ... Vet administered the necessary and horse settled on the ground ... OPPOSITE way to what was intended ! Horse should have settled so it was just a simple 'nudge' into the pit .. but no - it needed full use of the JCB to move it ...

Boy do I miss those Strawberries !!

We have 9

 

[Bobc]

That's the way I look at it.

I have owned my boat for 27 years and had an enormous amount of pleasure out of it.

"It owes us nothing" as they say, and anything I get when I sell her is, as you say, a bonus.

That's exactly how I look at it. The money is long since spent and gone.

 

[Tranona]

That's exactly how I look at it. The money is long since spent and gone.

Perhaps a bit different for people who are just retiring (like the OP) with a hard earned lump sum to "invest" in a retirement boat when looking at a future with largely fixed income and no way of having a second go. While I subscribe to "no pockets on a shroud" I would still hope that my pockets are not completely empty by the time the shroud is needed. Fortunately I have enough in reserve for that eventuality, but not everybody does and would still like to enjoy something like a nice boat while they can.

 

[john_morris_uk]

That's the way I look at it.

I have owned my boat for 27 years and had an enormous amount of pleasure out of it.

"It owes us nothing" as they say, and anything I get when I sell her is, as you say, a bonus.

We’ve only had our current boat for 18 years but if I add up all I’ve spent (no chance) and look at how many holidays and days of pleasure we’ve enjoyed and then add up how much we might have spent on foreign holidays etc and compare the two, we might not be on the right side of the line but it’s a lot closer than some people might think.

However we don’t pay £££ for Marina fees so that helps the equation significantly.

 

[Poignard]

That's the way I look at it.

I have owned my boat for 27 years and had an enormous amount of pleasure out of it.

"It owes us nothing" as they say, and anything I get when I sell her is, as you say, a bonus.

But just to be clear, and before I get inundated with PMs from people hoping to get a free Twister, I will make reasonable efforts to get the best price I can.

 

[Bobc]

I've always had this romantic notion that we would end up with it in the Caribbean living aboard, and when the time came to quit, I'd just give someone the keys and fly home. Somehow I doubt that is what will happen.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I've always had this romantic notion that we would end up with it in the Caribbean living aboard, and when the time came to quit, I'd just give someone the keys and fly home. Somehow I doubt that is what will happen.

Sounds fantastic though. We are stuck here in cold, rainy Blighty with a massive house renovation, we cannot just vanish. One reason we have no notion of buying an ocean crossing yacht. Still, it’s one of the fun bits soon, and one that gets a lot of brownie points off Mrs C. New kitchen in 10 days, I enjoy bolting them together.

 

[Stemar]

We have 9

And I thought owning a boat was daft

 

[WoodyP]

And I thought owning a boat was daft

I must be half daft, we have 4.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I've heard they can be made into passable lasagne ..... horses, not boats that is.

 

[Seastoke]

We have 9

You don’t need a plotter if you have a horse, ie Horses for Caurses.

 

[Bobc]

And I thought owning a boat was daft

In fairness, only 3 actually belong to us.

 

[Bobc]

I've heard they can be made into passable lasagne ..... horses, not boats that is.

Tesco seemed to think so

 

[DownWest]

One of the reasons that boats have bloomed in size, is the cost of keeping them in marinas, along with bigger ones are more profitable.
The boom days of 20 to 30ft and slightly bigger have been reduced to a few enthusiasts keeping their hobby boats in good condition, as opposed to the rotting numbers abandoned in yards and creeks. It is not a cheap hobby, like horses are not, and more subject to the weather.
If one likes yachting, get real, rather than worry about depreciation.
Campervans are a more stabile market, and a bit dryer.