Help with Akerboom asking price?

[AkerboomRox]

It is very hard to find Akerboom leisure craft for sale online, and I am trying to get an idea of asking price for one. My father has been restoring one for the past 8 years or so, and has gotten as far as the hull and cabin roof and cockpit area. He is a cabinet maker so the wood work is top quality. The inside has not been done at all (as in no walls or proper floor, and doesnt have a motor). It is a stunning boat. Lovely lines. In 2002 she was out of the water and had the hull sandblasted, one small patch replaced, and any other pocks were spotwelded and ground flush. We put anodes on and primed and painted her. All the deck fittings were re chromed. My father has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and will never get to complete this project so she is now for sale.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55273814@N00/sets/72157624333855193/
will take you an album of photos from when dad first got her, up until a few weeks ago. The varnish needs to be fixed up at the front there, but the wood is Iroko timber, which is extremely hardy and water/rot resistant so will not have suffered.
The amount of time and money that has gone into it, we should be asking for £9,000+ however, as he is ill and we need the money we are asking for £5000. Does this seem about right? I know they are rare boats here in the UK, so I guess it depends on finding someone who can appreciate her.

Thanks for your time,
Roxane

 

[miket]

Project boats

My sympathies for your Pop.
I looked at one of these self same models of Akerboom some years ago. Still in serviceable condition but needing modernising inside and stripping (timber and hull) outside and we got down to £7,500 before I ducked out. So, I am familiar with the boat and have a keen interest in classic boats.
I would not be optimistic of finding a buyer quickly. With an incomplete project such as your father's boat, the cost of completing professionally would be well in excess of it's eventual completed value, so you are dependent on finding an amateur restorer, which is a very limited market.
I would think at £5k it might just tempt someone but probably price is less important than finding a buyer at all. Any truly interested person would haggle on price anyway.
Sorry to be the voice of doom.
Perhaps some of the "hands on chaps on here can be more optimistic?

 

[burgundyben]

I'm sorry to hear of the circumstances.

As one of the more 'hands on chaps' I should think finding a buyer at all might be trickey.

Sadly there are very few like me that are prepared to take on such a project.

You can advertise at 5k for a while and see how it goes, recently selling a boat I started the adverts at 8k and reduced it £100 everyweek until I got down to 6k, then I got an offer of 4.5k so I took it. Might be a tactic worth trying.

 

[AkerboomRox]

thanks guys. i was also wondering the ettiquite around surveys. if i had an offer of 3000 'without a survey' and the buyer would negotiate if i had it with a survey, what is reasonable to to ask with a survey? 4000?

 

[burgundyben]

thanks guys. i was also wondering the ettiquite around surveys. if i had an offer of 3000 'without a survey' and the buyer would negotiate if i had it with a survey, what is reasonable to to ask with a survey? 4000?

Very hard to say, its down to the haggling skills between you and the buyer, I haggle like my life depends on it! I've bought too much junk in the past!

I think you are best holding the price as high as you can for as long as you can, dont give and inch! (Until it looks like they are walking away, then call 'em back quick!)

 

[AkerboomRox]

lol, thanks ben. i guess i was wondering the buyers cost risk of an unsurveyed hull. if it was in poor condition (which it isnt) it could cost a grand (???) to get it fixed? so the survey is guaranteeing against this extra cost? i.e. the cost to repair 27' of steel hull.

 

[Tranona]

lol, thanks ben. i guess i was wondering the buyers cost risk of an unsurveyed hull. if it was in poor condition (which it isnt) it could cost a grand (???) to get it fixed? so the survey is guaranteeing against this extra cost? i.e. the cost to repair 27' of steel hull.

Survey does not work like that. You describe the boat as best you can. It is up to the buyer to have a survey if he wants to confirm the boat is as described. He may well come back to haggle the price down if the survey finds things unexpected.

However, your project will appeal to a competent person who will probably know what they are looking at, and given the low value may not have a survey.

There might be some value in you getting a surveyors report to support your description, but this would not be a guarantee to the purchaser.