Centaur prices

Have to agree with Dylan it's not the quick and dirty boat he wants and nothing on the overall condition (osmosis etc). No interior shots either. Five years ago I might have been tempted myself, before buying my current boat. Solid boat without rig AND fin keel!
Perfect candidate for a junk conversion methinks:
http://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j...=HwAC8mLNxmE0mLjTiZe9qw&bvm=bv.59568121,d.Yms

Judging from Yachtsnet the Longbow seems to have a sensible layout too
 
So, what is the typical price range for a seaworthy Centaur then? eg. - basic old Centaur with limited kit and bits missing £3k, later Centaur with bells and whistles £8k? Why does everyone think they're worth £10k? :confused:
 
mystery

Shakemeister said:
So, what is the typical price range for a seaworthy Centaur then? eg. - basic old Centaur with limited kit and bits missing £3k, later Centaur with bells and whistles £8k? Why does everyone think they're worth £10k? :confused:
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there are lots of them on the market at higher prices

the highest I have seen is `13K

and if I wanted one and I had enough money in the bank I would pay that

why not?

new sails, new engine, fixed keels, best electronics money cn buy

brilliant value

there are plenty of oldish functional boats for 8K - but with old engines

it is the engines that keeps the prices up

D
 
dylanwinter said:
probably too good given the price of keeping it there

you never know though - maybe she is there because of the engine

that looks like a summer and two winters ashore - maybe more


D
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Yeah. Reckon you've got those trees in pics 1 and 3 to thank for the "neglected" look. A jet wash wash and possibly some weeding would quickly reveal the inner beauty hiding below.

Hull to keel joints look v.good.
 
Slight drifty post this one, but as a Centaur owner I feel weirdly entitled!

I always wanted to buy and make ready a neglected Wharram cat. For me the process of doing up appeals, I know the current crop of threads about Centaur/Dylan are for a different purpose but there must be almost as many people out there enjoying doing up boats as there are sailing them. I can't see that there are many more practical canvasses for someone to do this than the Centaur (or Wharram in my case) and the equation seems to be one of inverse proportionality between effort/time and money.

If boats had anything to do with cold hard return on investment, none of us would own a boat - we'd buy a second house or an OEIC or a nice painting. Lots of posts saying Centaurs are terrible value for money ignore the fact that so are the boats that the posters are sailing around in - they are intrinsically rubbish investments!

We must therefore build in an intangible measure for pleasure - which could be 'beautiful cruising quotient' or 'manly shedyness', it doesn't matter. The price equals value plus pleasure measure.

That is why Centaurs hold their price as they do - I can with my hand on my heart say she is tough, she will go further than most crews and she can be worked on without damaging her value, without being a craftsman or wealthy enough to employ a yard. The price is what it is because to someone, somewhere they are worth it and always be aware for every 'overpriced Centaur' one man sees advertised there are are hundreds of people watching 'Homes Under the Hammer' that think your pride and joy is overpriced and poor value.

So the only parts of the argument that remain are 1) that compared to other boats it is poor value and 2) compared to the cost of parts, all that effort will, at best, deliver a boat that is worth no more (less) than you have spent. A lot of people don't care, and I say again IMO every boat I have known is not worth the money we spend on them - they are a depreciating asset. Whatever turns you on!
 
well written swanrad

An exercise such as this really makes you confront your perception of value. Money is such a lousy measuring stick when it comes to value.

I would not normally go anywhere near these wrecks I am looking at - but I have a job for the boat to do. There is a price at which I can make the project happen and a price at which it will fall by the wayside.

I aim to get this boat sailing with the maximum effort over the minimum number of days. I need to account for every penny and every hour

obviously if I had loads of money I would just buy one of those £13,000 Centaurs and be sailing it right now - rather than chasing around boatyards looking for boats that have been discarded by other sailors.

For some blokes watching their old Centaur rot is something they are prepared to pay good hard cash for in terms of storage - this one in the dry stack - you can see how much a year that boat is costing not to sail.

I know why they are doing it. As the bloke down in Bembridge said, they are happily paying because it keeps the dream alive. Swallowing the anchor or letting go a boat you have (nearly) ruined is not an easy thing to do. Better it dies with me rather than lives in the hands of another man".

I am also very pleased there are fettlers and fiddlers - as long as they know that their fettling and fiddling is hopelessly cost innefective

for me boat work holds no pleasure - I do it because I can shave hundreds of pounds every year off my sailing costs - and I reckon that £100 buys me three extra days afloat (allowiing for petrol, food, harbour dues).

On the other end of the spectrum from the boat abusers are the poor blokes who have a Centaur that is good in every department save the engine - like me towards the end they are losing confidence in it.

Some are saving up that £6,000 for a new engine and observing what I am doing and hoping that it will work as it will let them out of their predicament - others just think what I am doing is plum crazy.

The reason I want to sail the Centaur for a summer is because it is Britains most successful yacht. I hope to better understand my fellow Brits just as sailing a folk boat helps you to understand our northern continental neighbours or sailing a Cal 22, a Mac or a catboat might help you to understand American sailors

plus of course with four adults and a dog I need a boat with more room in it than my little Hunter

D
 
Swanrad2 said:
Slight drifty post this one, but as a Centaur owner I feel weirdly entitled!

I always wanted to buy and make ready a neglected Wharram cat. For me the process of doing up appeals, I know the current crop of threads about Centaur/Dylan are for a different purpose but there must be almost as many people out there enjoying doing up boats as there are sailing them. I can't see that there are many more practical canvasses for someone to do this than the Centaur (or Wharram in my case) and the equation seems to be one of inverse proportionality between effort/time and money.

If boats had anything to do with cold hard return on investment, none of us would own a boat - we'd buy a second house or an OEIC or a nice painting. Lots of posts saying Centaurs are terrible value for money ignore the fact that so are the boats that the posters are sailing around in - they are intrinsically rubbish investments!

We must therefore build in an intangible measure for pleasure - which could be 'beautiful cruising quotient' or 'manly shedyness', it doesn't matter. The price equals value plus pleasure measure.

That is why Centaurs hold their price as they do - I can with my hand on my heart say she is tough, she will go further than most crews and she can be worked on without damaging her value, without being a craftsman or wealthy enough to employ a yard. The price is what it is because to someone, somewhere they are worth it and always be aware for every 'overpriced Centaur' one man sees advertised there are are hundreds of people watching 'Homes Under the Hammer' that think your pride and joy is overpriced and poor value.

So the only parts of the argument that remain are 1) that compared to other boats it is poor value and 2) compared to the cost of parts, all that effort will, at best, deliver a boat that is worth no more (less) than you have spent. A lot of people don't care, and I say again IMO every boat I have known is not worth the money we spend on them - they are a depreciating asset. Whatever turns you on!
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+1
 
If I'm not mistaken Drunken Duck was given away for £1000 when it left Windermere, I was told by the broker after the event. It had been for sale >12 months and had a jetty mooring so it was costing money sat there doing nothing.
 
£800

aquaplane said:
If I'm not mistaken Drunken Duck was given away for £1000 when it left Windermere, I was told by the broker after the event. It had been for sale >12 months and had a jetty mooring so it was costing money sat there doing nothing.
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what sort of condition was she in?

one changed hands for £800 -good boat apart from the duff engine apparently

I am prepared to pay double that for a goodish one

maybe 3 x that for an excellent one

so they are out there......

D
 
Drunken Duck is the Fleetwood one in your link that didn't sell for £4000, or did you know that?

When I was aboard about 4 years ago she looked in sailaway condition. It's an early one with round portlights, lowers attached above the windows etc. IIRC the upholstery was in decent condition but not to my taste, but I could be mistaken.

It probably had a Volvo engine when I saw it, I hope so if it went for peanuts, he won't be making much on it if he has put a Beta in it.
 
aquaplane said:
Drunken Duck is the Fleetwood one in your link that didn't sell for £4000, or did you know that?

When I was aboard about 4 years ago she looked in sailaway condition. It's an early one with round portlights, lowers attached above the windows etc. IIRC the upholstery was in decent condition but not to my taste, but I could be mistaken.

It probably had a Volvo engine when I saw it, I hope so if it went for peanuts, he won't be making much on it if he has put a Beta in it.
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ha - did not know that it was the same boat

no wonder he does not want to let it go for 4K - especially as he has put a new engine in it

however, one thing about ebay, it is a good measuring stick for the price (as opposed to the value) of something.

I confess that I thought that most of the blokes who were letting these old boats rot would be prepared to sell them on

but I guess they still love them in some deep way

D
 
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