What will happen to all those early Superyachts?

Nautorius

Nautorius

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I have witnessed the rapid depreciation of the 50-65ft 1990's GRP flybridges over the last few years as the cost of ownership increases whilst their value decreases.

You can get a nice. post 1990 mid 50ft Princess/Sunseeker/fairline etc for less than £200k. Eventually they all find a level where someone will buy them. In their favour is that they can be driven on an ICC, be looked after and operated by a competent couple or small family and if moored in the right place cost effective to own (especially if DIY minded).

But what about similar aged early Superyachts of the 80-110ft range. They need a crew to operate and a commercial license holder to helm, need crew to moor/clean look after. need a very big (therefore expensive berth) and presumably parts are not cheap! So what will happen to them? I see lots on Yachtworld which have often been refitted around the £500k mark. But who is going to buy one given the need for crew and costs of at least £100k a year. For example

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1987/Cantieri-Navali-Lavagna-CANTIERI-2290135/ATHENS/Greece

and

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1995/Falcon-92'-2381358/Greece

Personally I would love one to live onboard here in the Med. However due to Practicality about 68ft is the longest I could have and at that size I feel it a squeeze for a Family to liveaboard who are used to a large house/flat with space for young kids. Of course I would insist on using any liveaboard as a boat as well so would need it operational. Bit like a Caravan....we just move Marinas for the Weekend/Holidays and am always at home.

I just cannot see who buys these old girls over 80ft! Has anyone come across people who do buy them and if so how do they use them. A few Repos have been brought to Gib and bought by dreamers. Everyone has ended up on the Market again within 6 months having had £1000S spent on it to update...then reality hits and they are put up for sale again.

Where do you put one of these old girls, she will not fit up the essex backwaters....

Paul
 
Interesting question. I guess some of them may end up in places like Shoreham, to replace existing houseboats? When I were a lad (dons cloth cap) Valsheda and Lulworth were moored at Crableck on the Hamble and they must be round the hundred foot mark, though I think that the mudberths they were in have now been put to other uses.

I wonder if we will end up with elephants' graveyard type places, like Alang in India, where low wages will make the dismantling of large GRP boats a commercial proposition?
 
yes an interesting question

A plastic boat has no scrap value at all other than what the engines are worth and odd items like clear view screens and quality compass and that sort of thing - but nickels and dimes compared to a steel hull.


Commercial steel vessels at least have a lt wt scrap value roughly $500/mt today in india etc slightly less in China.
 
dont you think the fibreglass will make them even more attractive to refit ?

Eventually the boat yards will stop producing new hulls and concentrate on refitting.

The only one I know details of was built 1997
refitted by the original builder 2004
refitted by the original builder again in 2006
refitted by the original builder again in 2009 ( cost over £3m ).

Now for sale @ £11m and the new owner will no doubt send it back to the yard in order to put his own touch on it.


Even with heaps of money it does appear some are prepared to spend a few £m on a fixer uper and then send it back to the yard for a £ms refit.
Perhaps its hard earned new money that still demands good value.
 
First you brought up two models which bring there value quite well.

The Lavagna Admiral, as well as the Viareggio Falcon all keep very good values, as they have a big name going around them world wide. And that is not by design but it is also surveyor talk who says this.
To be honest that Falcon 92 is a steal at 750k, considering is still very good looking design. The Admiral is built in alloy and for me they remain among the best planning boats ever built. You can find cheaper to this if you look for more commerical known names IMO.
Still I think these boats ex fuel can be kept at under 50k a year. Depends where you moor them. Another thing which you forget is replacement cost. To build a Falcon 86 you might if you are lucky (subject current luck in sales) manage for about 3.5 million EUROS.
You also can helm these as many have waterline length of under 80 feet, or 23.99 m. So you can have a single crew all year round doing the cleaning and routine maintenace and if you want get a captain for the season which is what most owners do.
Depreciation in sizes over 70 feet and yachts of a certain name is usually more about power, and maintenance. If you let them bad they loose if not they keep there money.
Actually these prices are not far away from what these yachts asked in better market conditions about five, six years ago.
 
Never mind 3/4 of a million, what about this for £170k?

http://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/1991/Falcon-Versilcraft-80-2283309/Greece

3021309_0_20101105105133_1_0.jpg


3021309_0_20101105105133_2_0.jpg


That's a lot of boat for the cash. Stick it in spain and trundle around ant displacement speed - the perfect holiday pad :)
 
What a cracking looking boat. Looks like £2m worth in the photo - well at least from the outside of the boat! Hmmm think I want it! LOL
 
One of them,
A 20yo Canados 70s
Went for a bargain price to a fortunate Belgium guy

But yes I’ve been wondering myself what will happen with many of these,
That are still in immaculate condition (permament crew)
But look old fashion, or have old features so that the Ultra rich don’t want them,

I’m afraid (and experienced) that at a certain level / age,
for the seller it will be very hard to get rid of them,
And for the buyer who’s searching for that kind of boat, that bargains can be done,

I’m wondering where owners and sellers keep them, while the mooring and maintenance continue to cost a fortune, and they don’t use the yacht anymore…..
I also believe that the number of that type of boats for sale is growing constantly,
The super rich customers for such a yacht, only want the best , the latest and preferably brand new, also for reliability and service backup, don’t loosing valuable quality time, ….

After 20years of perfect maintenance, many of them are in very good condition.
And even at 2000hrs or more engine hours,that’s very light use, compared to what can be expected from such engines,
So they certainly don't need to go to a boat grave yard

So yes I’am back at the OP’s question,
What will happen with them ?
 
The obvious route for old superyachts is to be shipped to low wage economies with reasonable coastlines - China/India/Brazil/Mexico/Thailand/etc. This would adjust the balance between how much they cost to buy vs how much they cost to run. I haven't seen much evidence of this happening though. Maybe the shipping cost makes it uneconomic?
 
Many of them have aluminium hulls, a number are timber hulled, both are recycleable and both the aluminium and timber have secondhand value.

Engines and gearboxes have a usuable life, so could be sold for spares, or weighed in for scrap if the prices are right.
 
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