“Thinking
of selling?” I asked.
“Just
wondering,” he said vaguely. He plays his cards very close to his chest.
I
didn’t dare venture an opinion of how much someone might be prepared to pay
him. He doesn’t take bad news too well.
The
fact is that the market value of some boats drops quicker than others, and his
is one of the quick-drop ones. This often comes as an unwelcome surprise when
it’s time to sell your boat.
Here
are some of the things about sailboats that give them good resale value:
Fiberglass
hulls; first-class workmanship from reputable manufacturers; white hulls;
conservative rigs; good sails; expensive fittings; clean diesel engines with
low hours; sweet-smelling cabins and lockers; dry clean bilges; good
ventilation; pretty sheerlines; low coachhouses; and bronze seacocks.
Here
are some of the things that lower a boat’s resale value:
Hulls
of steel, concrete, or wood (with the exception of modern wood/epoxy
construction); one-off racing hulls; blistered gel coat; flimsy construction; a
reputation for weather helm; hull colors other than white; experimental rigs;
blown-out sails; cheap fittings; neglected gasoline engines; musty smells down
below; worn upholstery; dirty, wet, oily bilges; lack of ventilation; unknown
designers; ugly deckhouses; in-mast or in-boom reefing; centerboards; unusually
skinny or beamy hulls; gate valves instead of seacocks; rust anywhere; and
smelly heads.
According
to the experts, the resale value of the average 10-year-old steel boat declines
by about 50 percent, and ferro-concrete hulls slightly more.
The
same experts maintain that you can increase
a boat’s value by 10 percent when you want to sell by moving all your personal
gear off and scrubbing everything spotlessly clean.
Today’s Thought
If you don’t sell, it’s not the product that’s wrong, it’s
you.— Estée Lauder
Tailpiece
Television
is the device that acquaints you with all the things going on in the outside
world that you would be part of if you weren’t sitting inside watching
television.
(Drop by every Monday,
Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)
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