Question: what a better boat to re-sale in 5 to 10yrs

[Badm]

I'm in the process of buying a boat but need to decide which boat is a better and would have better resale value in 5yrs or so and a boat that would hold higher resale value and not be under water on loan ?

Here's my choices a 1995-1999 370 sundancer 50gs to 70gs gas or 400 gas or diesel 100gs compared to early 90's thru 95 420 or 440 or 450 diesel power boat costing between 70gs and 110gs . I realize that you pay more for diesel boat compared to gas .. Your opinions pleases .. Thanks Badm It hard to make a choice ..

 

[fwebster]

You might as well ask "How high is the moon"...................! There will be as many different answers as there are responses.


Here are some comments that might help steer you in a direction:

1. You are looking at boats from 20-25 years old. The challenge isn't in finding a boat, but rather in finding the right boat that is clean and has a verifiable service/maintenance history. Something a simple as new risers and manifolds on a gas boat makes a huge difference in a.) value and b.) your risk for a future mechanical catastrophe that will break the bank.

2. Diesel powered boats are generally the better long term investment because they hold their value much better than gas boats. Then after you buy the boat, a well maintained diesel boat will cost you less to operate and maintain, particularly if you can and do enjoy doing some of your own maintenance. I'm not arguing the gas vs. diesel question again, just stating facts.

3. The model boat you choose may be impossible to find simply because there were very few of them made. For example there were very few diesel 1995-1999 370DA's built. Although they were great boats, most buyers couldn't rationalize paying the diesel option premium over a gas model because it added about 1/3 to the retail price. Finding a nice one is going to be nearly impossible.

4. Identify your long term needs and try to pick a boat that will suit you over the long haul in order to save trading up in 5 years. This means you need to get into the details, search Sea Ray archives, study specs, options and power options available and look at the interior photos. Some of the boats you listed happen to be some of the best boats Sea Ray has built........the 1995-1999 450DA is a superb boat that is easy to handle, has a ton of room, has 2 heads, has a wide bean and is a 50+ft boat measured the way boats are measured today. Another you didn't mention, but is near the top is the 1995-2000 370EC. This was Sea Ray's effort to be in the fishing boat market. The 370EC has a 14 ft beam.....nearly 2ft wider than the 370 DA's. The cockpit is huge and is a great fishing, diving, or play outside boat. They are dry and handle like they are on rails due to the hull shape.

5. Finally, don't just shop online. Go look at a lot of boats. Doing so lets you see your options as well as giving you a glimpse into what level of maintenance is typical in a 20+ year old boat which will make you a more discriminating shopper.

6. I am adding this one because a surprising number of people begin their boat search by looking at the cheapest boats first. They are almost never the best buy simply because the cheap boats usually are cheap because of their condition. That means you end up spending a large part of the difference between the cheapest and the more expensive boats in catching up the deferred maintenance and replacing things that out lived their useful life a long time ago.


Good luck with your search..............

 

[northshore]

Frank makes great points, and if I could add anything it would be to #5 - Once you have decided on the type of boat you want to go after, see as many of that type in person as you can. You will be amazed at the difference in up keep and what people will tell you is a 'creampuff'.

I'll throw in one more.....

7. Be patient.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Franks comments are spot on. I'll only add one thing and that is a piece of advice I always give to people looking to get into boating or upsizing to a much larger boat.....Buy your second boat first.

By that I mean don't do what a lot of people do. They find a boat and fall in love with it and buy it, only to find out it doesn't really fit their needs. It's the wrong size or underpowered or...... They keep it for a year or two then trade it on a boat that better suits what they want a boat to do for them. That gets to be very expensive and it can be avoided if you take your time (see Northshore's #7 above), do your homework, walk onto a lot of boats, determine your needs and ONLY then should you buy your boat.

It took me about 6 months to determine what make/model boat I wanted, then a few more months and two trips across the country to make sure of the boat I was looking at was the one I wanted to buy.

Good luck with your search.

 

[Badm]

Thanks , for all the good advice I've been looking at 1995-1999 370's and 400 dancers , some of the low ball 450's have some kind of issues . fiberglass, windshield leaks , etc ... I agreed diesel would be better than gas generally but not many 370's diesels ,,400 yes , and I'm going to be patient and fine right boat . Im looking at 370 this weekend , size wise 370 min and 450 max .. These 330's are a dime a dozen just to SMALL

 

[fwebster]

There is an extremely nice well maintained 450 for sale on this site right now. Look in the classifieds section for the listing by "endless seas". I know this boat and it is probably the nicest currently on the market.



http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/75237-450-DA-1997-Model-Year-139-000

 

[Sea Ray Mark]

Franks comments are spot on. I'll only add one thing and that is a piece of advice I always give to people looking to get into boating or upsizing to a much larger boat.....Buy your second boat first.

By that I mean don't do what a lot of people do. They find a boat and fall in love with it and buy it, only to find out it doesn't really fit their needs. It's the wrong size or underpowered or...... They keep it for a year or two then trade it on a boat that better suits what they want a boat to do for them. That gets to be very expensive and it can be avoided if you take your time (see Northshore's #7 above), do your homework, walk onto a lot of boats, determine your needs and ONLY then should you buy your boat.

It took me about 6 months to determine what make/model boat I wanted, then a few more months and two trips across the country to make sure of the boat I was looking at was the one I wanted to buy.

Good luck with your search.

Great advice, a friend of mine told me many years ago to carefully figure out what would be the perfect boat for your needs and then go out and buy one the next size up. In the OP's case I guess if he really thinks a 370 would be the ticket he should maybe buy a 400. In most cases 2 foot itus (sp?) is an up disease not down. Mark

 

[northern]

Buying a boat is like buying property in a country you are not familiar with. Our first boat cost 25K spent 20K fixing it up sold it for 12K 5 years later, it was in good working order but there were so many similar boats for sale price was down. Present boat was 105K in 2005. Spent 60K on upgrades. It is now worth 50K. Boats are not a house they are a motor home that floats. The older the boat the more work but lower initial cost.
As suggested by others buy your second boat first. I feel the first boat we got was a good starter boat and learned what we need in the next boat. We put almost 900 hours (at an average speed of 22 knots) on it in 5 years and went place we did not know about. The present boat is not perfect but it works well and is fixed to the point it should last until we are out of boating. We have out 2000 hours on it at an average speed of 6 knots.It too has taken us places we never expected to go. No matter what you buy it will not be 100%.
We looked at this boat being worth ZERO when we get out of boating. Any thing we get will be a bonus. We feel if you can not afford to walk away from a boat you can not afford it.
Renting is a good way to see what works for you.
When you look at boats think of what it would be like with all you stuff on it.

 

[Bob & Sue]

We looked at this boat being worth ZERO when we get out of boating. Any thing we get will be a bonus. We feel if you can not afford to walk away from a boat you can not afford it.
Renting is a good way to see what works for you.
When you look at boats think of what it would be like with all you stuff on it.

Great advise by all.
We looked at many boats and decided on a smaller one that fit our needs and wants, when we do decide to sell it our feelings our the same whatever we get out of it will be like getting a rental deposit back. We've put over 50% of the purchase price into it in upgrades and maintenance cost. We use our boat a lot compared to a lot of boat owners when we purchased it with 384 hours on it 5 years ago it now has over 1400 hours on it.
Nobody can predict the future of what might happen in 5 years with the economy might be great or it could be in the crapper that will have a lot to do with re-sale value.
One way to look at it has to do with what type personality someone has as an example you go looking at cars you see one you really like and buy it a couple days later you see another car going down the street and think to yourself I should have bought that one in this case you'll never be satisfied with what you have. The same goes for a boat your going to see a lot of boats out there buy what fits your needs and not someone else's. I see a lot of yachts I would love to own then I think of what the costs are not the purchase price moorage, maintenance, upgrades, equipment failure the larger the boat the more it costs per year.
Just a couple months ago a dock neighbor has a 43 Hatteras double cabin in immaculate condition for sale he stopped by one day and asked if I might want to do a partial trade with my boat as he was having to move to Arizona and wanted a boat he could trailer down there. The offer was great it was 10,000 more than I paid for my boat and vey little cash to purchase his boat. I thought about for about 20 minutes and declined. He has now moved with the boat still for sale at a garage sale price.
Good Luck on your hunt.

 

[Badm]

WOW,, thanks everyone I'm overwhelmed at the positive response and honest answers and other people experiences with boating. Thank u all again ,, Boat forums aren't like car forums "negative" towards member questions and experiences . One thing I do see in boating is the more you spend the more you can lose, We have decided that the 370 is the min in size and 400 max due to cost . Everyone has told me the bigger the more expense to operate and maintain and sometimes hard to sell because of cost . I agree with the comments on the economy and household incomes determining boat re-sale values and sales period .. and our economy is shaking and always will be now days. When I talk to boat salesmen in Mi & OH their selling boats like hot cakes so "BUY" right now, But when I look at ads on boat websites including marina websites and Cl the boats sit for months even years and they don't move until their at a certain price break if than . Salesmen have told so many boat owners are very underwater in their loans ,and can't or wont lower their price to sell and end up stuck in a financial dilemma .. This weekend I'm going to look at another 370 in MI and another in OH , I really appreciate everyone's info and support .. Badm

 

[fwebster]

There is a minor misconception in your logic that says "bigger boats cost more to maintain"..............

There are some costs proportional to size that you cannot escape. Anything that is priced by the foot like detailing, bottom jobs, etc. will obviously cost more on a 450 than on a 370. However, beginning in the early 90's, buyers demanded the same creature comforts and functions on everything in the 28 and up ft category. That means that a 450DA has the same number of engines, same number of bilge pumps, same number of air conditioners, same number of sinks, same amount of plumbing, same number of water heaters, same electronics, etc as a 370DA, and not only that, the same type of equipment was used on almost all models, except for perhaps electronics where larger boat are generally better equipped because they can go further in bigger water. I've got a diesel 400DA 2 slips down from me and his maintenance and operational costs are identical to mine except for insurance and by the foot services we use.

 

[northern]

I read once at 16,000 pounds dry weight you will find diesels more efficient. For us we burn about 25% more fuel than a same size diesel but we go slow. If we went fast it would be twice the cost.
If you are to get a 37 or bigger consider a bow thruster as it will make life a little less scary when docking in wind or current.
When we got our fist boat I sat on it for an hour or so at the dock and envisioned what it would be like on the boat.

 

[dpmulvey]

I'm in the process of buying a boat but need to decide which boat is a better and would have better resale value in 5yrs or so and a boat that would hold higher resale value and not be under water on loan ?

Here's my choices a 1995-1999 370 sundancer 50gs to 70gs gas or 400 gas or diesel 100gs compared to early 90's thru 95 420 or 440 or 450 diesel power boat costing between 70gs and 110gs . I realize that you pay more for diesel boat compared to gas .. Your opinions pleases .. Thanks Badm It hard to make a choice ..

Buy what you want that suits your needs. Unlike most real estate, where you are constantly buying for the next guy as you move up, boats are personal. The next guy doesn't want your boat.