Impact on value if you can't prove the boat was designed by the claimed designer?

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NealB

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Suppose you're interested in a smart little dayboat. She's advertised as amateur built, to a design by a well regarded designer. Price is around £5000.

You've seen her, you like her, but the owner (who didn't build her) cannot provide any evidence that she was actually built to drawings by the claimed designer.

She looks like his work, but she isn't identical to any of his standard designs.

You've tried a few other leads to prove her pedigree, but got nowhere.

So now she's amateur built, and possibly amateur designed.

Would this put you off?

Would it change your view of her value? If so, by how much?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
 
Most dayboats I'm familiar with are racing classes. Any non class boat will have significantly less value, because it cannot race. £5k is a lot for a non class dayboat unless it is vgc and you have particular use for it. Unless you race, not many people can get enough mileage out of a dayboat to place a great value on them, or to justify the maintenance. Such boats can be very hard to sell, so you may lose most of your money in the time you own her, although running costs will exceed capital over a few years anyway.
I don't think being an unknown design by a known designer would help much, provided she is well built and has good scantlings, a design by an unknown boatbuilder styled after a popular designer should stand on its merits rather than a dubious paper trail imho.
But its always nice to know the history of a boat. Just not necessarily valuable!
 
NealB said:
She's most definitely not designed for racing.
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Then her value is harder to gauge. I suppose it's like any other purchase, if the buyer and seller agree on a figure, that's the value.
If they can't agree the value is undefined.
The harsh test nowadays is 'what would it fetch on ebay?'
If a seller is forced to sell then the price can be low.
Any boat is starting to become a liability for the winter now, as by the time you have completed the purchase, days will be shrinking and yard costs looming. However if you want a boat, particularly wooden, to be as you want it for next year, you may need to buy it quite soon.
Good luck if you go for it.
 
lw395 said:
Then her value is harder to gauge. I suppose it's like any other purchase, if the buyer and seller agree on a figure, that's the value.
If they can't agree the value is undefined.
The harsh test nowadays is 'what would it fetch on ebay?'
If a seller is forced to sell then the price can be low.
Any boat is starting to become a liability for the winter now, as by the time you have completed the purchase, days will be shrinking and yard costs looming. However if you want a boat, particularly wooden, to be as you want it for next year, you may need to buy it quite soon.
Good luck if you go for it.
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Thanks for your thoughts!
 
Fantasie 19 said:
If you like her then my advice would be:

1/. Sea test to see what she sails like
2/. Survey (at £5K it would be worth doing??)
3/. Haggle the price..

...in that order.... :D
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My thoughts exactly!

Step 1. Done that, though the wind was so slight as to not prove anything very much.

Step 2. I'm not that worried about a survey. I've spent lots more in the past without survey, plus she's such a simple little thing.

Step 3. This is the one I'm struggling with!

In the meantime, I'm still hoping that the vendor can convince me that she's not mutt dressed as pedigree.
 
orbister said:
Have you done so? What was the response?
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Yes, I contacted the designer, who gave very prompt replies.

I gave him a description of the boat, and three photos, from which he wasn't to categorically confirm or deny any anthing.

I've asked the owner for some more details, in particular about the first owner/ builder, but no news yet.
 
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