[quote]MaloVerde wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:
apwsearch wrote:
BTW, DO NOT buy a new boat.
Unless you like losing $$$$$.
Although I love both boats and fishing, my old man always said that boats are a “huge hole in the water that you throw money into”.
That, and that old joke about how the two happiest days with a boat are the day you buy it and the day you sell it…
Either way, good luck guys. I’d love to have one one day
It’s true that boats are money pits, but, FightenIrish, you don’t give a reason not to buy new. My first boat was used and that was a huge mistake. I inherited every previous owners’ mistakes and lack of maintenance. My second boat is brand new and now I can keep a log. Same thing goes for a car. I will never buy a used car again.
To the OP, a few quality boats in my opinion are, of course Skeeter, Nitro, Triton and Champion. Yamaha and Mercury motors rule the boat world right now and I don’t think you can go wrong with either. 4 stroke is my choice due to emmissions and fuel economy.
Good luck!
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It sounds like you had a bad buying experience, and that happens.
Boats and RV’s are much different animals in terms of resale. Comparing them to a car is not even close.
Basically, a boat is worth what someone will pay you for it. That’s it.
NADA values are all but meaningless. Buying a current model year at close to retail is something most people only do once b/c two seasons later they want something else and get absolutely killed on the spread.
Compounding this problem are boat shows and the fact that dealers typically have holdovers from the previous model year which end up on the lot in the Spring pretty significantly discounted. So, the price you may be asking for your 2 year old boat, that you are sure it is worth, may not be much less than a brand new previous model year, or the price you can negotiate at a show if you are patient. Who’s gonna buy it?
Additionally, unlike an automobile where I want a Mercedes and there are very few other cars that are comparable, in the world of boats, there are tons of options. Unless someone is dying to have the make and model you currently possess, or in other words, are buying on emotion, their options are almost limitless.
Additionally, it is very easy, IMO, to determine if a boat has been kept up well. They either have it serviced regularly by a marina and have paperwork, or you engage in a two minute converstaion with them to determine how much they understand about the boat and required upkeep. For example, if the current owner doesn’t know what the lower unit is, and handled maintenance themselves, you have a problem. Condition of fluids is very easy to determine and can tell a lot about upkeep. A couple simple questions could have saved you a ton of trouble.
My formula for buying a boat is I basically troll around for suckers who bought a brand new boat 2-3 years ago, hardly used it, and now need to get out from under it for what ever reason.
I show up with a pocket full of cash and basically lowball the shit out of them. I then usually end up leaving, but leave my phone number in case they change their mind. Approximately 30% will call you back within 3-5 days to renegotiate. If I get them to a price I am comfortable with, I buy it.
The lure of being able to finance a boat over 10-15 years leads to some pretty bad decisions, IMO.
I would never buy a boat I could not pay for outright. Having payments on something seasonal is retarded, IMO.