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Every
month we get mail from a few new readers asking for help in buying a boat.
A lot takes the form of, “I can get this 32-foot Boat X for $125,000
or this 34-foot Boat Y for $150,000. Which should I buy?” There
is, of course, no right answer to that question, any more than there is
to which house I should buy or which car is best for me. Or for that matter,
which woman I should marry.
Buying
a boat is about taste, preference, and imponderables. The only person
who can decide if a boat is worth her price is the buyer, so in such cases,
often the best we can do is help determine priorities. (Do you need three
cabins if you’re only going to overnight? Are diesels worth the
money if you put 70 hours on your boat annually?)
When
the questions aren’t so owner-specific, we can be of more help.
It’s not that we’ve bought all that many boats—especially
compared to some of our readers—we’ve just heard enough success
and horror stories to intuit from them what works and what doesn’t.
For those of you on the cusp of a nautical purchase, here are five things
we’ve learned that may help smooth your way through the process.
Trust
your broker. There are no doubt bad brokers around, as there are in any
profession. But there are plenty of good ones, too, and a good broker
is your most valuable asset in navigating the shoals of boat buying. Find
one you trust and can work with, and listen to his advice. He wants to
make the deal almost as much as you do, and if he’s sharp, he’s
thinking about selling you more boats, so he’ll take care of you.
Don’t
trust your surveyor. Well, at least not totally. Most surveyors are competent
and professional, but they’re not psychic. They can’t find
everything that’s wrong with your boat. Hire a good one and consider
what he reports, but do your own investigation, too. Be involved in the
evaluation of your boat, ask questions about areas that concern you, and
don’t settle for answers that don’t adequately address your
concerns or explain them in language you can understand. Don’t expect
someone else to protect your interests the way you would.
It’s
not what you pay for a boat—it’s what you sell her for. Jack
Leek of Ocean Yachts told me this years ago, and it’s still true.
You cannot determine if a boat is worth her sale price if you don’t
factor in resale value. Some boats cost more to buy but historically return
a larger proportion of that cost to their owners when they sell; others
are great bargains at purchase time but depreciate quickly—and some
are damn near impossible to sell at all. Resale values are available from
a number of Web sites and knowledgeable brokers. You need this information
before you make the deal because…
No boat
is forever. You’re sure this will be your last boat. She has everything
you could ever want, so why would you ever trade her? But inevitably,
two years later you need more (or maybe less) room, power, range, equipment’whatever.
Despite your strong feelings to the contrary, the chances are high you’ll
trade your dream boat within two years. Once you understand this, you
appreciate the importance of resale value.
Speed
is overrated. Because of PMY’s testing regimen, we get a
lot of inquiries about performance. Many buyers are obsessed with a minimum
speed and will consider no boat that fails to meet that criterion. They
forget that the days when conditions and passengers allow you to actually
use all of that speed are relatively rare. They also often fail to consider
that speed is expensive, in both engine and fuel costs.
Don’t
be intimidated. Buying a boat is no more complicated than buying a house—often
less—and the result is more fun.
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