Boat buying and selling

[98Shabah]

Well, I put our little 18' '98 Mariah out on Craigslist 2 weeks ago at $2,000 above Kelly Blue Book just thinking to myself "that is what it's worth to me", but not really expecting any bites.. Two days after I listed it I had a couple show up, they complimented me on the condition of it repeatedly, told me they'd been boat shopping for over a month and hadn't seen anything in this condition, not even boats that were only 5 years old. They bought my reliable little Mariah and we closed on the deal last Friday. Saturday the family and I hit the boat searching hard, we looked at probably a dozen boats in two days, none of which had been taken care of AT ALL.. The last boat we looked at on Sunday was like that rare find that you hear stories about but never seem to come across, a used boat in absolutely brand new condition. Tomorrow we close on a "new" 2008 Caravelle 217 LS, 5.0 mpi Volvo Penta powered, with every option we were looking for, and only 39hrs. This boat looks as though it's been sealed in a bubble since new. There is not even a rock chip on the trailer, no scratches anywhere on the boat, not even on the keel, no sand marks on the skeg, the prop still looks new. The seller knew what he had, he wouldn't budge on his asking price, but being pretty much a new boat at used boat pricing I just couldn't walk away from it. The wife & kids and I are all giddy, and here my wife was worried we'd miss too much of the boating season by selling our old boat before shopping for another.

 

[oldjeep]

That was my same experience selling my 05 Bayliner. Lots of calls and the first guy who actually looked at it and saw the shape it was in bought it, I likely could have listed it for another $1000-$1500, but I had already bought the new boat and wanted it to sell quickly.

 

[Brian 26]

I agree condition plays a huge roll. Even more so when they bring the wife with.

 

[greenbush future]

It's rare to find a boat that has been cared for as many of us do on here. I take great pride in just about everything I own, but my last boat purchase was a mistake. The boat wasn't cared for, and I became the fixer of the mess. The reality is, I don't have the time or desire to fix this boat to bring her back to her original glory. In fact I have 2 boats that fall into this "needs love" category. Both are heading out the door, and I will buy the boat I have always wanted, and will take good care of it from day one instead of fixing other folks messes. Life is too short to spend fixing other peoples messes, I guess I have changed a bit too. I would rather be on the water than working in the garage on the boat.

 

[Pony]

Similar experience here selling my Alumacraft this spring. The first person who looked at it bought it and made numerous comments about how nice it was to look at a boat that was taken care of.

I often had wondered why so many people will still go through dealerships when buying from owner can be cheaper....especially if you take the time to learn what to look at. When you actually get out there to look at used boats.....so many are in terrible shape and are completely different than the pictures, like the pictures were taken years before when they bought it.

 

[98Shabah]

Here is the follow up, we picked up our "new" boat last week and plopped it in the water on Saturday. I have to say, going from a carb'd 3.0 4 cylinder to an MPI 5.0 v8 is a HUGE difference! I was all smiles on Saturday. The most comfortable cruise speed at 3500rpm is 40mph.

We love all the features of this boat, it's very well laid out, has tons of storage, and seems to be of a pretty high quality compared to many of the other brands of around the same model year. I must say though, the quality of the fiberglass and gelcoat on my old Mariah is still the best I've ever seen in a fiberglass boat, you could look down the sides of that hull and see absolutely NO imperfections, not a ripple or a bump, nothing but a mirror like surface.

And now for the pic.