Seacock Advice

[JumbleDuck]

Long way behind having patterned Corian (only an extra £250, madam) for the galley worktop rather than the standard solid colour!

You ought to be a fly on the wall for a few days at a boat show to get an idea of what potential - and actual - buyers consider important. Think you will find a different discourse than on here. I remember when I was buying my new Bavaria the head of the dealership remarking that I asked questions nobody else did!

You've just prompted me to look (at the VAT receipt, natch) and remind myself what the original buyers of my boat specified as extras. All quite sensible stuff, really, and the only cosmetic things were a blue stripe on the hull and blue upholstery. I am mildly surprised to see that the steering compass, jackstays and harness strong points were optional extras and very surprised that "Double clamp all below waterline hoses" is on the list.

 

[Tranona]

I recall a conversation with Mrs Gregory (? think that was her name, wife of the original Victoria builder) when she was complaining about resistance from a buyer to the price of teak decks - less than £1000 extra at the time - with the comment "you should see what she has just spent on her kitchen, and she complains about our prices".

Having been through it once, new boat buying, if you can only afford a production boat is a game, picking your way through the extras list but having virtually no control over the basic boat once you have decided on the specific model.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Having been through it once, new boat buying, if you can only afford a production boat is a game, picking your way through the extras list but having virtually no control over the basic boat once you have decided on the specific model.

Victoria were different in that respect, as they let you have any interior you wanted as long as it could be made in the allocated time - which was quite high, as it was all hand-done. There were standard layouts, but there are a LOT of variations on them around. Perhaps it would be fairer to describe Victoria as "semi-custom" rather than "production" ... which difference was reflected in their prices ...

Memo to self: check skin fittings.

 

[Tranona]

Yes, and explains why their boats were typically at least 50% more expensive than similar sized mass production boats at the time.

 

[Sailfree]

As SWMBO is only 5' 2" she wanted a front opening fridge door on ours. IIRC the door alone was £625 which I considered a stupid extra. SWMBO suggested deleting the alacantara upholstery saving some £3000 and if no fridge door as she couldn't reach I would always have to clean the bottom of the fridge each time we left boat (charter boat).

We have a £625 fridge door (2004 prices!!).

Alacantara (or equivalent) going on this year in refurbishment.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Yes, and explains why their boats were typically at least 50% more expensive than similar sized mass production boats at the time.

A list Centaur cost £10,200 ex VAT in 1980 and a Victoria 26 (same length, same weight) cost £17,500 ex VAT in 1986. The RPI increased by 37% in that period, so a 1986 Centaur should have cost £14,000. Not quite 50%, but a hefty difference all the same, and Centaurs were probably at the labour-intensive end of the mass production market by then.

Mind you, boat inflation is not particularly well connected to real life inflation. The table of Centaur prices at http://www.westerly-owners.co.uk/guides_6.php is interesting - a four-fold increase between 1969 and 1979. Thanks, oil crisis and VAT.

 

[Tidewaiter2]

What really surprised me was that HR do the same, on a boat costing 4 or 5 times Jeanneau's. When queried they said that nobody had complained and that checking the seacocks regularly is an action every skipper should take!

Given the short Baltic season, and the tendency to store ashore in heated sheds, most of their 'new' buyers didn't worry either, i suspect?
Further down the boat life, it becomes a worry for someone else.