Why are Oyster Yachts so expensive?

Well I've spent a fair part of my career sailing Oysters professionally and it good to read the old anti-Oyster rubbish being spouted here. The answer to Magnum is go visit Oyster yourself and make up your own mind.

I was involved quite closely in the latter stages of a build for my owner and I know they really encourage any potential buyer to visit the build yards to see how they do things.

I don't know whether our light switches were the same as Beneteau (our screws were certainly marine grade) but what I do know is that the boats are very strong and yes the quality is about the best you will find.

Why so expensive? Well i guess it's hand-built product that takes typically more than a year to build and as said already, their after-sales support is truly second-to-none. Worth three Jeanneaus? No idea.

Of course new boats have snagging problems. Yes, we had plenty but Oysters dealt with everything without question and hey their boats are so complex nowadays most of the issues were technology related or failures of proprietary equipment.

Sure there are other good yards out there - in my opinion Oysters offer a good package at the top end but go check them out. They must be doing something right given how many owners repeat purchase.
 
Why are Oyster Yachts so expensive?
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Because enough people see enough value in their boats to view the price as reasonable.

Because the choice for a boat for luxurious world cruising is far more limited, and the price gap is not really Oyster vs Jeanneau, but Oyster vs HR/Najad/Malo/Regina/Discovery/whoever. In those circles, the premium is far less.

Because some people will value their brand, simply because it's Oyster. In the same way you can buy a touchscreen phone for £60, yet Apple charge £600 for their one.

Because if you are thinking of buying a boat to travel the world, and have the means to do so, then a company that will give you immense support over and above referring you to the nearest Volvo dealer/sailmaker/rigging company probably has some added value.

Naturally, I have nowhere near the money to worry about any of the above, but I understand the brand. If I could afford it, I'd definitely consider an Oyster. Why not?

The one thing I would say on Oysters from my position amongst the lower reaches of the boating fraternity is that they have my ideal layout that so few people appear to build to. I love centre cockpits, I love those big aft cabins, I love the bunk cabins forward (kids share bunks far better than one bed), I love the passageway galley, I love the masses of storage space. The 435, 45, 485 are all on the if-we-won-the-lottery list. Moody 46, 47 too.
 
Magnum said:
I know they have a fantastic reputation for quality and sturdiness, but is 1 Oyster really worth 3 Jeanneaus?
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Well, length for length, Oysters are about double the displacement, with 2mm more on rigging diameter, about ten times the fuel capacity, ditto for water. Built for longer duration cruises in fact, rather than two week cruises mostly making night stops. And with strength to survive the weather which may hit when you can't choose good weather windows for your sailing.

If you don't plan to do many 5 day plus voyages, perhaps you are better off with a Jeanneau. The charter company's favourite choice . . . with lots of helpers on tap to keep them runniing . . .
 
Hmmm. Not quite what I expected.

As soon as I hear the words "Private Equity" it makes me very nervous about a company's priorities.

The search continues ...
 
Just another AWB?

rallyveteran said:
I think I am the first contributor to this thread who has actually purchased a new Oyster, albeit more than a decade ago, so I can offer some additional information.

I don't think many people pay the full sticker price. 10% discounts are common in return for allowing the boat to be used in a show, and I guess bigger discounts are possible from time to time.

From my experience Oyster have a different attitude to warranty from other production boatbuilders. I was still getting their assistance long after the contractual year was up. A friend with a similar Hallberg Rassy said that after his year's warranty he was on his own. If you costed all my warranty work (including pressure put on other suppliers to support their products and international travel for technicians) you could probably get close to another 10% of the base cost of the boat. I think I was unlucky with the extent of my problems, but Oyster were unstinting in their support. Some have suggested that this support will be less than forthcoming now that the company has been sold to a private equity house, but in the last few days I have seen a new Oyster in the Mediterranean having warranty support provided by people who have flown from the UK. They also, famously, supply so many people to help at the start of the ARC, and other rallies that I have taken part in, that owners have been embarrassed compared with rally participants with other makes.

I've never been to an Owners Rally, which are often pictured in Oyster News, but they look terrific fun and worth a lot more than the modest participants fee. It would take a few of these to make much of a dent in the cost of an Oyster but they look to me like an experience that you wouldn't normally be able to buy at any price.

Oyster always used to say that it was only when owners came to re-sell their boats that they realised what good value for money they had had. There have definitely been periods when that has not been true, because there has been a glut of second hand boats of a particular size and vintage, but I know a number of people who have successfully owned several large Oysters in succession, all bought new and sold on a few years later. One assumes that these people have thought the answer to the original question is yes.
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Apart from ALL the stuff (pipework/cabling/etc) below the deck being properly labelled when you lift a cover up + Oyster logging ALL equipment details/serial numbers/codes into their system for the history of the boat + fantastic back-up service, you will have noticed they are just like any other AWB!
 
andymcp said:
Because enough people see enough value in their boats to view the price as reasonable.

Because the choice for a boat for luxurious world cruising is far more limited, and the price gap is not really Oyster vs Jeanneau, but Oyster vs HR/Najad/Malo/Regina/Discovery/whoever. In those circles, the premium is far less.

Because some people will value their brand, simply because it's Oyster. In the same way you can buy a touchscreen phone for £60, yet Apple charge £600 for their one.

Because if you are thinking of buying a boat to travel the world, and have the means to do so, then a company that will give you immense support over and above referring you to the nearest Volvo dealer/sailmaker/rigging company probably has some added value.

Naturally, I have nowhere near the money to worry about any of the above, but I understand the brand. If I could afford it, I'd definitely consider an Oyster. Why not?

The one thing I would say on Oysters from my position amongst the lower reaches of the boating fraternity is that they have my ideal layout that so few people appear to build to. I love centre cockpits, I love those big aft cabins, I love the bunk cabins forward (kids share bunks far better than one bed), I love the passageway galley, I love the masses of storage space. The 435, 45, 485 are all on the if-we-won-the-lottery list. Moody 46, 47 too.
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Can I interest you in a lovely pre-owned Oyster 49 with island berth in the forward cabin???????????????????????????????????

I can vouch for build quality and the fantastic after-sales. They treat all owners the same, whether they own small or big, new or second hand. The regattas are also a hidden bonus.

TudorSailor
 
Magnum said:
I know they have a fantastic reputation for quality and sturdiness, but is 1 Oyster really worth 3 Jeanneaus?
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If someone is mad enough to pay the price, then I suppose that defines what "worth" means.

However, Oyster's are known to depreciate considerably in the first few years so I personally question the original price. There are many better built boats in that market sector, but none have Oyster's excellent marketing behind them. I think that, and the fact that the current owners paid a huge price for the company, just before the markets crashed, are the key factors in the high price.
 
Magnum said:
Care to name one or two?
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I'm going to name the Contest, not that I have ever been on one.

We'd had ours for a couple of years and was visiting some friends near Belliure's shipyard so we called in. We we're treated very well and they gave us a tour round the yard. They only build motor yachts now so I asked the question why have stopped building sailing yachts.
Victor Belliure's answer was they had priced themselves out the market because he did not want to lower there standards which would put the price well excess of a million euro's. He followed this up by saying that anyone who approached them for a yacht he would tell them to go and buy a Contest.

Now if a Contest is built to anything like standards which I believe we've got, they must be good. I don't even know how much a Contest is but seem to command a fairly high second hand price though and they definitely not AWB......
 
Magnum said:
Care to name one or two?
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Sure,

At the lower size end Rustler, Fantasi, Discovery and Contest,

At the top end you are essentially looking at custom builds, so anything from Pendennis, Hinckley several Dutch yards............

These things, are of course a matter of opinion, and I am sure any Oyster owners on the forum may choose to disagree. I cannot comment on the older Oysters that may be very well built, but from a new-build standpoint I do not think the build quality is market leading.
 
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