What value are expensive additions to an old boat?

[longjohnsilver]

Looking at an almost 20 year old boat, bought 3 years ago by present owner for about 200K. He's spent probably 60 - 70K on new nav gear and stabilizers but is now marketing the boat for 220K. Now I know that after spending that on the new gear he probably feels that he wants to recover some of what he's spent but to me he hasn't really added value to the boat, all he's done is to make it more attractive to sell. And it's a one off in the UK so nothing to compare it to.

What do you reckon, now 3 years older, should it go for more than before, roughly the same as what he originally paid for it or less than what he paid?

 

[Medskipper]

Well if its a one off, that may keep the price up. However as you say adding lots of expensive toys is really only going to help it sell, he is unlikely imho to "get his money back" surprising how many people think that by adding new engines to a boat they can recoup the whole cost of the installation! who the hell would buy a boat with no engines!! No I think the boat market sales is depressed and likely to stay that way for quite a while, make him a sensible offer and see what happens!

Good Luck

Barry

 

[Whitelighter]

He doesn;t want his money back - he wants an extra 20k for 70k worth of kit!!!! It really depends what it is, if it is state of the art Radar or electronics etc then yes, I ythink it does ad value. Stabalisers, ask Gludy, but I reckon they also add value.

Don;t know how much it would have gone down, is there a huge difference between a 17 year old boat and a 20 year old boat? Probably not.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

[ QUOTE ]
He doesn;t want his money back - he wants an extra 20k for 70k worth of kit!!!! It really depends what it is, if it is state of the art Radar or electronics etc then yes, I ythink it does ad value. Stabalisers, ask Gludy, but I reckon they also add value.

Don;t know how much it would have gone down, is there a huge difference between a 17 year old boat and a 20 year old boat? Probably not.

[/ QUOTE ]

so true, what I always say is that once the gurantee is over it just not make big difference the age, it is more the condition which is important and what heppens on or before the survey

 

[rosssavage]

What he paid for it three years ago. My boat is also 20yrs old, and I have spent a lot upgrading electronics / replacing worn parts (new g/box for £6k in may for example) and I would consider myself lucky if I get what I paid for her when I sell. Upgrades and maintenance are essential expenditure on a boat, so they only maintain the market value, not raise it.. IMHO..

 

[hlb]

For a start, no boat is worth anywhere near what it was worth three years ago.

Renewing electronics etc, is just maintainance, obviously would help the sale. But who wants a 20 year old GPS even if there is such a thing.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Aha, reappeared out of the woodwork! How was Dubai and more importantly how's MF coming along?

 

[blueglass]

I agree. Somebody once told me that with used boats - if well maintained will return something like your original outlay when you sell on. Anything spent during your ownership is lost. I can live with that.

 

[gjgm]

who the hell would buy a boat with no engines!!
---------------------

Might be quite attractive proposition by Nov 08
No fuel, no servicing.No vast capital outlay. Saw the sort of thing at St Kaths dock this year.. quite nice, in fact!

 

[Nick_H]

It all depends on the boat of course, but if he's spent 70k on upgrades there's also a good chance he's spent money on maintenance and fixing stuff, so it may be a better boat now than when he bought it, as well as having very useful extras like top end nav gear and stabilisers. If he got a good price when he bought it, then it may be a very good deal now at his asking price.

I think its difficult to generalise, particularly on boats of that age.

 

[benjenbav]

If he paid £200k and is advertising at £220k, perhaps his expectations are that any offer is going to be at max. 90% and, hence, back to £200-ish?

 

[Whitelighter]

there is a simple answer to all this of course.

If you think the boat is overpriced, don't buy the boat.

 

[jimg]

How about a link so we can have a look ourselves?

 

[MapisM]

Just a warning...

...on the stabilizers:
They are a damn expensive piece of equipment.
Depending on their make/size/difficulty of installation they alone could be enough to justify the amount you mentioned.
But they do add BIG value to the boat, assuming she's either a displacement or semi-D hull.
On the other hand, they aren't as trivial to install as a new chartplotter, because there are very difficult points to evaluate: positioning of both fins and internal equipment, structural strength of the hull, etc.
Bottom line:
Would I spend 20K more to have the same boat with rather than without stabs? Yes of course.
Could an installation not planned and made at the origin by the builder be fully trusted? I'm rather skeptical.