Second hand market must be DIRE

Auctions account for a much larger proportion of transactions for cars, both classic and ordinary. This means all prices are public and knowledge leads to better prediction of future selling prices. Much the same with houses where selling prices are in the public domain. Less so with boats where a large proportion, even a majority are private. Add to that the low number of transactions of a particular model and you end up with a wide spread of potential selling prices even if asking prices are in a narrow range.
 
Going by that....... am I right in thinking you can pick up a Hanse 301 for under 20k?

Bernie .... The link ... http://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/category/type/Hanse/301/United+Kingdom shows that two Hanse 301s have sold for a list price of £24K and £25K. Of course, there is a possibility that one of the owners may have accepted a lower offer, so you may get one in the low £20K area but under £20 would be a bargain. (You will notice, that in this crazy market, there is also one for sale for £37K!) There is one listed at £25K on Windermere. it might be worth contacting the owner to see if he is open to offers. You should be able to get a 291 for under £20K.

I am interested in your comment about the 301 being a good sea boat. I had a think about the Windermere boat but one thing that put me off is the light weight of the 301. Although I am very much a fair weather sailor but I have a penchant for heavy sea boats and the 301 seems very light.

If you are looking for a boat in Ireland, under £20K, there are a few around at about the 30 foot mark. Have you considered a Westerly? I am sure that I saw a Renown for sale in NI for around £15K.

Happy boat hunting.
 
About an hour ago, I called up a broker about Boat A which turned out to be 'under offer'. He pointed me at 'Boat B', a similar model, also on his books. "The one that is listed at £26K?", I asked. "Yes", he replied, "but it will sell in the high teens, so you may want to take a look at it."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I probably will - and would have, months ago, if I had known that it was available for 66% of the asking price!

These brokers are crazy! Toc. Toc. Toc.
 
I sold a fair pile of boating and classic car bits on eBay a couple of years ago. I soon found that very low priced stuff doesn't sell. I really just wanted rid of stuff to a good home, so I started by putting it on with starting prices of 50p. Rarely any interest. Relist the same thing with a starting price of £20 and it would sell. In some cases it would sell very well; I sold a set of repair sections for a Triumph Herald bonnet for about 50% more than the manufacturer charges (note present tense).

If someone wants a Contessa 32, sees one listed at £25k and buys it for £17.5k he'll be thinking "Oooh, what a bargain, aren't I clever?" but if he sees one for £17.5k to start with he'll think "Blimey, what's wrong with that?" and steer clear.

Funny you should say that, cos I spoke to a broker today with one for sale (his own) at that very price.
He did admit it was a bit tired.
 
I love this thread....I really do.

It makes me chuckle every night :encouragement:

There are ALWAYS lots more used boats than buyers, sometimes that figure changes a bit, but supply ALWAYS exceeds demand.

There may only be one or two buyers for a particular boat once or twice a year

That's why good brokers who know what they are doing have very particular methods and happy clients :)
 
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I am interested in your comment about the 301 being a good sea boat. I had a think about the Windermere boat but one thing that put me off is the light weight of the 301. Although I am very much a fair weather sailor but I have a penchant for heavy sea boats and the 301 seems very light.

.

If you go on the hanse website you will see that the 301 is a brilliant heavy weather boat
For its size it is one of the best in its class ( no! I do not have one) I think PBO mag will confirm that in an article written some years ago
There are some interesting entries under the name "Holby" which will dispell any comments about being a poor performing boat in any weather
 
When I started this thread I was in the process of purchasing a Hanse 301 . This was to replace our Trapped Ts240. I am happy to say that a realistic price for a well specified and looked after 1980s trailable yacht.has resulted in a sale dubject to Survey. I was very happy with the response from a Apollo Duck ad which has cost me considerably less than any Brokerage deal. Incidentally a sister ship has just come first in class in the RTIR! Only two completed the course.

With regards the 301. We have been out in 40 knots apparent and survived. We have also been out in the Trapper TS240 in similar conditions when I experienced fear! The 301 is considerably heavier and not as flighty or wide beamed. The hull is based on the Aphrodite which was and still is highly regarded for its sailing ability when conditions get tougher. Oh and it also has a shallow draft wing keel.
 
The boating desire has changed, the 40 something person does not want a 20 year old boat that has a lot of maintenance to consider, he want a more modern boat that gives safe sailing and good accommodation. technology is changing the market, along with buyers desire to live more comfortably, is am 6 ft. and 15st, so is don't want to crouch down every time go down below,

marinas are empty for 2 factors, they are way over priced for what you get, and secondly the weather in the UK is unpredictable. having just purchased a new boat, i looked at it in 2 ways, i could upgrade to a bigger house, and spend more time cutting the grass, on a ride on mower ( i love them) or put my money in a boat, i chose to have fun in life as we don't know the end date.

during my search for a new boat, and i used this site for allot of the information, i found that boats 20 or more have been looked after, but require more looking after.

After discussing with my father in law on my new purchase and the cost, he fell off the chair, once recovered he actually said, he wish he had spent time enjoying life instead of worry about tomorrow, because now it too late in life to change he is 74. yes he has money in the bank and a lovely big house, ( government rubbing hands)

So the second-hand market is in trouble with boats over a certain age, because only the more mature gentlemen over a certain age appreciate the build quality and have the time to maintain

This is only an opinion
 
Not sure where these empty marinas are! Ours recently added a new line of finger berths and most are already sold. We had to rearrange our holiday plans and had difficulty finding a free berth in the South East for early July.
 
It is certainly true that there are a lot of boats that are rarely used.

I do wonder about that. Are they genuinely not used or on the basis that many people perhaps only use the boats at weekends and can only get down perhaps 2-3 times a month then they could easily miss many users.

Years ago, we always thought our neighbour in shamrock quay never went out until we took the day off one Friday and got down after breakfast. Neighbour was not there but arrived just after lunch. Turned out to be a retired couple who sailed most Mondays to Fridays - returning home every Friday afternoon to see family and avoid the Solent when it was busy. Neither of us thought the other went out, turned out we both did.

That said, there are far too many that def do seem to never move.
 
It is certainly true that there are a lot of boats that are rarely used.

I do wonder about that. Are they genuinely not used or on the basis that many people perhaps only use the boats at weekends and can only get down perhaps 2-3 times a month then they could easily miss many users.

Years ago, we always thought our neighbour in shamrock quay never went out until we took the day off one Friday and got down after breakfast. Neighbour was not there but arrived just after lunch. Turned out to be a retired couple who sailed most Mondays to Fridays - returning home every Friday afternoon to see family and avoid the Solent when it was busy. Neither of us thought the other went out, turned out we both did.

That said, there are far too many that def do seem to never move.
 
I do wonder about that. Are they genuinely not used or on the basis that many people perhaps only use the boats at weekends and can only get down perhaps 2-3 times a month then they could easily miss many users.

Years ago, we always thought our neighbour in shamrock quay never went out until we took the day off one Friday and got down after breakfast. Neighbour was not there but arrived just after lunch. Turned out to be a retired couple who sailed most Mondays to Fridays - returning home every Friday afternoon to see family and avoid the Solent when it was busy. Neither of us thought the other went out, turned out we both did.

That said, there are far too many that def do seem to never move.

It's not unknown for ours to not move for several weeks at a time, but we are on the boat for several days a week, every week of the year. I do some of my best work from the boat.
 
There was a thread on here some time ago where a couple of people who worked in marinas/boatyards (and hence were well placed to know when boats went out, whether weekday or weekend) agreed that a high proportion of boats were rarely used. I can't remember the exact figures, but I think it was something like 10% used often, 30% used fairly often, 40 % used only a few times a year, and 20% hadn't been out in more than a year.

Any marina/boatyard workers/lurkers on here able to confirm or deny?
 
It's not unknown for ours to not move for several weeks at a time, but we are on the boat for several days a week, every week of the year. I do some of my best work from the boat.

Hopefully you are not in a Premier Marina. Latest rumour is that, if you are on your boat more than 40 nights a year - that is 20 weekends a year!!!, they are going to charge an additional 10% on top of the mooring fee...
 
Hopefully you are not in a Premier Marina. Latest rumour is that, if you are on your boat more than 40 nights a year - that is 20 weekends a year!!!, they are going to charge an additional 10% on top of the mooring fee...

They could try. As much as I love Chichester marina, if they tried something like that I'd leave.
 
There was a thread on here some time ago where a couple of people who worked in marinas/boatyards (and hence were well placed to know when boats went out, whether weekday or weekend) agreed that a high proportion of boats were rarely used. I can't remember the exact figures, but I think it was something like 10% used often, 30% used fairly often, 40 % used only a few times a year, and 20% hadn't been out in more than a year.

Any marina/boatyard workers/lurkers on here able to confirm or deny?

Yes, and I would agree those figures seems pretty accurate, around here anyway.
 
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