flaming
Well-known member
Only if your budget allows you to write off the whole of the purchase price, on the assumption that once you're done with the boat nobody else will want to buy it.
What has happened to the boat market?
- Thread starter ash2020
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srm
Well-known member
My boat went to a younger guy, probably around 40, moving up from various types of board sailing and a Hobicat. He was happy to put in the time needed to tidy the boat as the low price means he bought the boat without need of a bank loan.
dancrane
Well-known member
Aside from that positive tale SRM, i think there's doleful light on the future of ownership generally. If you're young and working and are on a restricted budget, you'll likely have limited free time in your calendar, and the condition of the budget boat you can afford means much more time than you'd like will be fixing, not sailing...
...so on top of the already limited funds you were able to put into the purchase, and the whopping, ever-increasing cost of berthing (which will attend your boat as long as you own it (in fact even if you die meanwhile)), comes the obligation not simply to enjoy what the brochure showed the boat providing, but long days and weekends scraping, painting, re-rigging and paying for terrifyingly costly replacement kit which earlier owners wore out.
It's hardly surprising if people who are not accustomed (by having been brought up among that regime of outgoings and obligations), aren't attracted by the prospect of buying anything that needs work.
As we're now so close to long light evenings and better weather, I've definitely felt the urge to shell out on a cabin boat again...
...but my first thought wasn't even "what boat?", it was "where the hell can I keep it, without rapidly regretting buying it?"
I want one and I can afford one, but having done it before, I'm thinking how short our summers are, and how very soon I'll be glad I didn't ensnare myself again in the awful, inevitable machinery of maintenance and ownership costs.
I really hate admitting it to myself, but even with enough money and with 95% of my freetime to call my own, buying another "affordable" boat is not worth it.
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...so on top of the already limited funds you were able to put into the purchase, and the whopping, ever-increasing cost of berthing (which will attend your boat as long as you own it (in fact even if you die meanwhile)), comes the obligation not simply to enjoy what the brochure showed the boat providing, but long days and weekends scraping, painting, re-rigging and paying for terrifyingly costly replacement kit which earlier owners wore out.
It's hardly surprising if people who are not accustomed (by having been brought up among that regime of outgoings and obligations), aren't attracted by the prospect of buying anything that needs work.
As we're now so close to long light evenings and better weather, I've definitely felt the urge to shell out on a cabin boat again...
...but my first thought wasn't even "what boat?", it was "where the hell can I keep it, without rapidly regretting buying it?"
I want one and I can afford one, but having done it before, I'm thinking how short our summers are, and how very soon I'll be glad I didn't ensnare myself again in the awful, inevitable machinery of maintenance and ownership costs.
I really hate admitting it to myself, but even with enough money and with 95% of my freetime to call my own, buying another "affordable" boat is not worth it.
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mrming
Well-known member
One other thing worth noting is that, in the UK, it’s very difficult to pay people to work on boats for a sensible price at the moment. As someone who could afford to do this, I usually do the work myself (if I have the skills) because:
- Finding reliable people who are available to show up and do a great job is hard
- When you do find those people they usually need to charge hundreds of a pounds a day in labour in order to make their business viable
So it’s even more important than ever to be a PBO if you’re on a budget.
- Finding reliable people who are available to show up and do a great job is hard
- When you do find those people they usually need to charge hundreds of a pounds a day in labour in order to make their business viable
So it’s even more important than ever to be a PBO if you’re on a budget.
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Refueler
Well-known member
I had solved it by moving to somewhere I can afford a waterfront property.
mmmmmmm
What is it they say - you can never get enough ??
There's me - 25ft Motor Sailer nicely tucked up my private boat channel - no mooring fees - no obligations on anything other than what I put on myself !! Electric / water all there ...
What do I do ? I go and buy a bigger boat that basically is too much trouble to get past the bridges and would be touching bottom in my channel ... so she is in the Town Yacht Harbour ....
Now in process of being kitted out / sorted for racing in the Baltics ...
dancrane
Well-known member
Refueler, surely you could offset the cost of having a boat you cannot berth at home, by letting someone pay to use your shallower private mooring?
Quite neat, if you can be both a berth-holder and a berthing-master.
I won't say "I'm reminded of drug-dealers whose profits feed their own addictions".
Ooops, I said it.
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Quite neat, if you can be both a berth-holder and a berthing-master.
I won't say "I'm reminded of drug-dealers whose profits feed their own addictions".
Ooops, I said it.
.
Refueler
Well-known member
I am trying to buy a large plot of land further upriver - to create boat / camping / fishing / model flying area ...
The channel at home is not big enough area to invite in other boats ... they'd have to be motor anyway ..
The channel at home is not big enough area to invite in other boats ... they'd have to be motor anyway ..
dancrane
Well-known member
Weren't you tempted to get a lifting keeler like a Southerly, that would save you hundreds of pounds per month just by being kept at home?
Plus, non-yard maintenance could be done a stone's throw from the comforts of home, whenever you have a spare ten minutes.
Considering how much of the calendar (and of one's boating budget) is spent maintaining rather than sailing, keeping the boat at home free of cost would seem to be good, piled upon excellent.
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Plus, non-yard maintenance could be done a stone's throw from the comforts of home, whenever you have a spare ten minutes.
Considering how much of the calendar (and of one's boating budget) is spent maintaining rather than sailing, keeping the boat at home free of cost would seem to be good, piled upon excellent.
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BobnLesley
Well-known member
Glad to hear it's not just me. Besides, whenever the '...are you two getting another boat...' question arises, the First Mate and more importantly, Chief Anti-fouler, is invariably quicker with her 'Been there, done that, even got a couple of tee-shirts still' response than I am.
srm
Well-known member
Sadly, I have to agree.
I was fortunate in having achieved a few months short of fifty years continuous yacht ownership on a shoe string budget. This was only possible as a result of where I lived (Shetland then Orkney) and having to do almost all the maintenance etc. myself as we were a few hundred miles from the nearest yacht yard. The up side was the boats were always kept within easy reach of home and I enjoyed learning the skills needed. (I learnt to weld while owning a steel boat, but got a professional engineer friend to do a couple of critical jobs).
For the first few years the boats were on moorings I made up and maintained within sight of the house. Annual harbour dues were minimal and when marinas were introduced to the area they were community owned and run on a not for profit basis. Costs for the last few years here in the Azores have been similar. The boat was kept in a local authority owned marina with reasonable rates for residents, much the same as my local resident's rate in Stromness marina.
If I had stayed working in Taunton (in a research unit after university) my sailing life would have been very different, at best crew for someone with deeper pockets or possibly a shared ownership, but with a long drive to get to the boat.
