Boat market

[m1taylor]

I am trying to sell a really good condition 17ft wooden clinker two berth sailing weekender. I just can't get any interest at all, even though the boat would be an absolute bargain at around £1200. Is the market for wooden boats dead? Not so much as whisper of an offer on either ebay or boats and outboards. Any other ways of selling recommended?

 

[alan006]

I think its the weather. Once we have a few days of sunshine its a lot easier to get some interest. On a rainy day no-one wants to buy a boat.
Good luck.

 

[Casey]

Thanks for that input. I have had Kala Sona up for sale all year but have not had anyone to look at her. Two people enquired but she was not the boat they were looking for but I have had no other interest except for the con merchants who want to send you an inflated cheque and for me to send the balance elsewhere! If she hasn't gone by the end of the summer I will have to think about breaking her up and selling the bits for what I can get.

 

[Black Sheep]

[ QUOTE ]
I am trying to sell a really good condition 17ft wooden clinker two berth sailing weekender.

[/ QUOTE ]
Is that this one on eBay ? She does look good. The normal eBay routine is for no interest until the last day, then a flurry of bids in the last 2 minutes. But a vessel like that really does need viewing. Patience.

[ QUOTE ]
I have had Kala Sona up for sale all year but have not had anyone to look at her.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hmm.. starts to get dispiriting. I think the market is flat, particularly for wooden boats. But Kala Sona looks gorgeous (and more like what I'm looking for, size-wise). Have you tried re-advertising with more information & photographs? It would be a crime to break her.

 

[m1taylor]

Yep, you got the right one on ebay. This is the third try - up to 44 watchers on the last day on the second try, loads of questions which I was able to answer all positively - but no bids. So maybe the market for wooden boats is really dead? There's no shortage of money in Salcombe - perhaps she's too cheap for the Kinghtsbridge weekenders in their BMW 4X4's?

 

[oldharry]

It took me six months to sell my wooden Eventide. Ebay sparked a flurry of interest, then nothing for nearly three months. Boats and Outboards produced four responses - all in the six weeks after I had sold her. Apollo Duck produced nothing until three weeks ago when 3 people in quick succession enquired - again after the sale.

The sale actually went through from the local boatyard Adverts board.

But yes the wooden boat market is very difficult at the moment.

 

[Peterduck]

It took me two years to sell 'Swallow', my 1917 gaff ketch. While not completely dead, the market is very small indeed. For me a mention in CB's 'Getting Afloat' did the trick.The buyer's wife saw it and alerted her husband, would you believe! I found that the various advertising media are widely variable in their effectiveness. A local magazine of 'Boats for Sale' ads circulating throughout Australia brought no response for $100/month, whereas a similar website brought several enquiries for $34/ quarter. I dropped the magazine very quickly. I think that it helps to advertise where the market is 'targeted', such as in CB.
Peter.

 

[Casey]

You are right Jiminy, Kala Sona is gorgeous and it would be a crime to break her up. What is one to do? I would love to keep her but age (mine) and circumstances dictate otherwise and to keep her ashore would devastate her in less than a year. I am going to have to bring her ashore early next month as I will be away in August and September and I will, some time after that, have to make an uncomfortable decision.

 

[Lakesailor]

If you think that breaking her will realise some value, and when you take into account the time and labour, plus advertising costs and buggeration value, why not reduce the price to a similar level to what you would (realistically) realise from the parts? It must be better to keep her whole even, if you lose a bit of perceived value.

 

[jhughes]

I know its putting in more money but a trailer would increase your market. A lot of potential purchasers are put off by mooring cost etc. A trailer would also encourage buyers from further afield.

 

[Lakesailor]

That's a good point. Many people would be very wary of making a long trip with a borrowed trailer just to find there was no way to get the boat to fit the trailer.
If you had one you know it fits on, then punters would be much more likely to be interested.
I bought a boat from 300 miles away as it had it's own trailer. I just turned up, checked and greased the bearings and drove home with it.

 

[m1taylor]

I think you are right, but buying a trailer is quite a hassle. What I have said is that there is no hurry to move the boat as the mooring is paid up. Hmm..food for thought though.

 

[Casey]

If I did break her up it would not be because I hoped to realise a great sum of money but because I have no other option. In a perfect world we all would get back what we paid for everything save for a charge for the pleasure we have had. I am looking for someone who is interested in wooden boats and then we will talk price. Trouble is I have had no-one to even look at her. The price mentioned is simply a guide as it was when I bought her; negotiation always brings the price down to what the purchaser thinks she is worth to him (or her).

 

[akirk]

[ QUOTE ]
The sale actually went through from the local boatyard Adverts board

[/ QUOTE ]

Is it possible that many people are put off by the possibilities (in their mind) of condition of a wooden boat - maybe they assume with plastic boats that condition is likely to be basically fine, but with wooden boats the other way around, that condition is likely to have issues...

possibly then the reason the boatyard advert is more likely to work is because the purchaser is more likely to have seen the actual boat...

Is it also possible that generally people who want wooden boats have got them, and that for those coming into the market, they are drawn more to plastic boats for a multitude of reasons?

Both of these are boats I would happily own, but with no money, and no mooring / other space, not likely!

I would guess that the secret is to try and get people to actually see it - how you do that I am not sure...

 

[oldharry]

Yes, I think that is right. Advert on the board, boat just round the corner for people to go and have look. Apparently there were people going to 'have a look' almost every fine day (perhaps not all that often! )

 

[Keith 66]

Why break a perfectly good boat up? I have a similar problem with a 1938 Rye Beach boat i have had her on the market for 3 years on & of but no takers but i am buggered if i will ever break her up.
I used to do the wooden boat show at Greenwich and after the Recreational Craft directive came in the wooden boat market effectively collapsed i am afraid that the majority of punters will not even consider owning a wooden boat due to perceived maintenance costs.

 

[Rum_Pirate]

Take and post some pictures of her with the cover OFF.

You could also try posting some pictures of her under sail.