Why are boats so expensive ?

[westernman]

What is the Tata Nano of yachting?

Tent and windsurfer.

Been there and done that on a Greek nudist beach. And it was good fun. But I am somewhat older now.......

 

[Kurrawong_Kid]

I couldnt afford one ( i had the new brochures ) settled for the Silhouette that was rotten around the gunnel's i later found. mended her sailed her the summer & sold @ £300+ profit in September

Was that at the time of wild inflation!

 

[truscott]

Tent and windsurfer.....

Seen the prices of Windsurfer's lately?

You can buy a perfectly serviceable Limbo 6.6 for less than the price of a new board, carbon fiber mast, sail, boom, board bag, and harness. Windsurfing isn't cheap anymore (but it's still a major thrill).

PT.

 

[petersboats]

LOL ,I am still waiting to go and collect my Debutante from Newhaven .Can't wait to get started on my "Paupers boat".

Hello, We are based in Newhaven, so if you need any assistance, please let me know. We can lift you out onto transport and will try to beat any price you have been quoted.
Drop me an email if we can help. info@plmarine.com

Good luck with your new boat. They are nice boats.

 

[Seajet]

Savageseadog,

'The market is open for a visionary like Branson or Dyson' ?!

Branson I can go along with - no personal connection but I know people who have, both professionally and personally, and I've never heard a bad word.

Dyson...you mean the one who binned his British workers once they'd given him their all, and went for Chinese labour ?

The one whose products were described by a consumer magazine as " a triumph of clever marketing over quality or design " - have a look at any vacuum cleaner supplier, in the line for repair or the skip at the back will be any number of his wonder-kit.

A Dyson boat ? It'd be easier to just use Clifton Bridge and cut out the middle man !

 

[nathanlee]

Oh, and as we don't make anything in GB anymore, all of the components come from overseas at an unfathomable exchange rate.

xe.com

Exchange rates, fathomed

 

[Lakesailor]

You don't get it do you?
There is no profit in supplying the ordinary man with boats. Whilst there is a finite supply of berths and moorings it is sensible to raise the cost of boating until there is vacant berthing. Then you are operating at maximum profitability.
Why struggle to make a cheap product with low unit profit and all the come-backs. You will have to crowd out the available berthing and moorings all for sod all profit.
Boaters are a cash cow.
If you can't afford a boat, you're out of the equation.

 

[ukmctc]

Boating isn't expensive, i bought my 1st yacht with trailor for £1200, spent £500 doing it up, sold it for £7000,(Hunter 701) swapped an MG Midget (car £400) for a folk boat 28ft (£8000 boat) then bought a Trapper 500 (£7000) spent £1000 on it and swapped it for a Moody 33 (£30000), You just need to look around, and buy when the price is right.
Use caravan shops and outdoor shops, B & Q, Home base and alike for chandleries.
Don't get tied down by old fashioned ideas that the boat is a money pit, its only that if you have no imagination and don't do things for yourself.

 

[DownWest]

Spot on LS.
The budget sailer is marginalised and a target for his use of slips and other facilities that used to be for free.

 

[Ubergeekian]

Spot on LS.
The budget sailer is marginalised and a target for his use of slips and other facilities that used to be for free.

It's also the case that the expensive bits of sailing are generally the most visible. Marinas. Big gleaming boats. "Royal" yacht clubs playing silly snobby buggers over flags and seniority. The cheap end of the market is huge in numbers (there are a couple of thousand Westerly Centaurs out there) but low in visibility and spending power.

The RYA doesn't care, much - they want more marinas and more training for newcomers in 35' "starter" boats. The magazines don't care much - they want more advertising aimed at people who honestly believe that a Huge Scary Sea Monster will eat them if they do their annual Hamble - Cowes cruise without five grand's worth of electronics.

 

[idpnd]

For instance, the latest copies are showcasing a jacket which include a couple of panels which light up using internal batteries. And the cost?......over £400! For a jacket. Which will probably never light up in the water anyway. Or take the reviews of 'passage planning software', which conclude that paper charts are better anyway, but how many people will already have forked out hundreds/thousands for the latest 'must-have' kit?

The outfits do make me laugh sometimes, I was sailing with a couple of people from my hometown's sailing club and they were sporting "henry loyd" outfits or something like that. I spotted same outfits in the shops later and noticed they were each wearing in excess of a grand worth's of gore tex (boots, bottoms, jackets, gloves, hats etc) - silly really

I get my foul weather stuff from a fishing gear supplier, if its good enough for people working on the water throughout the year its probably good enough for my fair weather cruising tactics..

 

[Madhatter]

LOL ,I am still waiting to go and collect my Debutante from Newhaven .Can't wait to get started on my "Paupers boat".

Hello, We are based in Newhaven, so if you need any assistance, please let me know. We can lift you out onto transport and will try to beat any price you have been quoted.
Drop me an email if we can help. info@plmarine.com

Good luck with your new boat. They are nice boats.

Thanks for that Peter but I think your neighbours would have something to say about that
Anyway keep an eye on my boat across the water (it on the hard at C's yard)
Derrick

 

[FullCircle]

You don't get it do you?
There is no profit in supplying the ordinary man with boats. Whilst there is a finite supply of berths and moorings it is sensible to raise the cost of boating until there is vacant berthing. Then you are operating at maximum profitability.
Why struggle to make a cheap product with low unit profit and all the come-backs. You will have to crowd out the available berthing and moorings all for sod all profit.
Boaters are a cash cow.
If you can't afford a boat, you're out of the equation.

Erudite, very erudite.

 

[wotayottie]

Dyson...you mean the one who binned his British workers once they'd given him their all

 

[wotayottie]

Or take the reviews of 'passage planning software', which conclude that paper charts are better anyway, but how many people will already have forked out hundreds/thousands for the latest 'must-have' kit?

If they have the money to spend, why not? What else are you going to do with money but spend it? Whats the purpose of earning it if you cant fritter some of it on things you fancy?

 

[Cloona]

they are not expensive - generally there are small yachts that are almost given away -

not sure that even if I won millions I'd want a big monster - it would all be a big hassle

 

[FullCircle]

not sure that even if I won millions I'd want a big monster - it would all be a big hassle

It is.

 

[prv]

The outfits do make me laugh sometimes

Me too, particularly the boatloads I see in the Solent in full brand-name oilies and lifejackets and tethers[1], on a sunny day when I'm bimbling around in cheap walking trousers and a T-shirt.

Pete

[1] let's not have that argument, I just want to emphasise that they're dressed for a North Sea gale.

 

[petersboats]

Me too, particularly the boatloads I see in the Solent in full brand-name oilies and lifejackets and tethers[1], on a sunny day when I'm bimbling around in cheap walking trousers and a T-shirt.

Pete

[1] let's not have that argument, I just want to emphasise that they're dressed for a North Sea gale.

I am sure someone will start one!

 

[Seanick]

It is.

How bigs yours then?