Breaking a small sailing boat for parts

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Big-Bang1

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Hi all!

I'm trying to sell a small sailing boat without much luck and I'm wondering if I would be better off breaking it and selling it for parts? In the past I've done this with a motorcycle and made almost double what I would have as a complete bike with MOT.
The boat is a Leisure 23SL with a Tohatsu 9.8HP four stroke extra long shaft sail drive with a four bladed prop, I'm thinking outboard, Mast, Boom, Sails (Main, Genoa, Spinnaker+pole, Storm Jib) DSC VHF, Garmin GPS182, NASA depth and transponder, winches&handles x 3, cooker, heads, solar pannel and controller, battery isolator, pulpit&pushpit with good safety wires, really heavy duty outboard bracket and I'm sure there's more plus it would leave me with plenty of rigging, fenders etc for my next boat.
I appreciate it's loads of work but I'd rather do that than give the boat away.
I'm trying to make back the £3500 it owes me. Dooable??
 
No experience, but I can well believe that selling the parts will make more than the boat as a whole provided you price your time at zero. However, you do also need to consider what you will do with the hull itself after stripping everything off it (don't forget weighing in the keel(s) for scrap). It's a big lump of glass-contaminated polyester that nobody will want, so you'd better have a plan for it.

Pete
 
If all the parts are sound and in good order I would have thought you should get that money quite easily and with a lot less hassle by selling the boat as a going concern. Have you looked at Leisure Owners Association website? You can advertise for free I believe. The average selling price seems to be around £7000. Maybe you are in a far-flung and remote place, but even then transporting mast and boom etc can be costly.
 
It's already advertised on on the Leisure owners association and Ebay. Had a few people to look at it but no serious interest. I'm on the south coast of Cornwall and have offered to deliver between Falmouth and Plymouth. It's the second cheapest 23SL on the net that I can find, the first cheapest looks like a right project! Perhaps I've under priced it and it's putting people off who think there's something wrong with it?? Yes the hull is faded and it needs some love but nothing wrong with the actual fabric of the boat.
I hadn't given a thought to trying to post a mast!
 
TBH I can't see that you would be able to get £3500 from that list. Bearing in mind that you would presumably also have to pay listing fees, it looks a bit optimistic
 
Personally I would spend some time making it look as bright and shiny as possible, and clean and neat inside with no clutter. Make it look as if you are a proud owner. Then take some fresh photos as if you were a buyer, to show the layout and shine. Would you buy a car that was dirty? No. So would they buy a dirty boat? No.

Then relist it with a good write up on ebay as a classified listing at say £5,000, as if it has just been placed on the market. This time of year and going into early autumn are the best time to sell secondhand.

Best of luck.
 
I've just looked at your Ebay listing. Concerto is right. You highlight that it needs a clean up and, TBH, the boat is better than the impression you have given. Some better pictures, with some more external shots. Highlight the positives as the main features and just mention the anti foul and the need for a polish in the small print. I think that, out of a desire to be honest, you have done yourself down. As Concerto has suggested, you may well have also priced it too low.
 
I think your right, polish the hull, clean and oil the rubbing stip and relist. The only problem I have is time - so much to do! (That and I want to spend time on the new boat, not the one I'm trying to sell)
Time to be diciplined and get on with it.
 
I feel your work will be doubly rewarded as firstly it should help sell your boat and you should get a lot more money for it. Then you will have more pennies to spend on your new boat.

Have a look at the photos of Concerto being renovated to see what can be done, but I certainly do not expect you to be so thorough. Start on page 4 and then look at page 1.
http://s1294.photobucket.com/user/C...3&page=1&_suid=140568033488900982271479949054

The previous owner saw me sailing recently and could not believe his eyes at how much smarter she looked. Still have plenty more to do on deck, in the cockpit and down below.
 
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