Cost per foot

[rsmitty814]

Re: Cost per foot

Wow!!!! You boys sure do get your feathers ruffled. Idonthaveaname, I can get the same condition boats up here. 37 yr. old Boston Whaler? Please. Mid 90's 18-20 ft. bowrider. That is the type of boat I want to restore. As for the reference to GTO and Skylark? I saw a run of the mill 40's or 50's chevy pickup barn truck go for over $100,000 in Nebraska.

 

[Teamster]

Re: Cost per foot

These guy's are just telling you how things work in the boating world,..........

It is what it is,..............

Take their advice or not,............

 

[jc55]

Re: Cost per foot

I think you'd have to find specific clients. I want a small trihull with a curved windshield...period. I believe that what I want and how I want it simply doesn't exist, so I will have $4500 - $5000 invested in a $300 boat which will be worth $1700. I worked part time with a friend who owned a street rod shop in Oregon. The customer had $300,000 invested in a '55 chevy. He had the third 600hp engine installed, smoothed block, hand built headers each time. People want what they want sometimes. Find those perhaps...

 

[idonthaveaname]

Re: Cost per foot

Wow!!!! You boys sure do get your feathers ruffled. Idonthaveaname, I can get the same condition boats up here. 37 yr. old Boston Whaler? Please. Mid 90's 18-20 ft. bowrider. That is the type of boat I want to restore. As for the reference to GTO and Skylark? I saw a run of the mill 40's or 50's chevy pickup barn truck go for over $100,000 in Nebraska.

Funny you mention the Whaler. My umpteenth boat ( I have owned dozens) was a 21 foot Whaler with a Johnson 200 hanging of the back. When I bought it the boat was almost 30 years old. The only thing I did was get it running in that she had sat in the boatyard for a year. I sold the Whaler 3 years later - without putting anything into it - for $1500 more than I paid for it. I did the same with an old Starcraft...2 years later, did nothing and more than I paid for it.

Bow riders...down here are at the bottom of the list. You will see the "same" boat - one a bow rider the other a center console and the CC will sell faster and for a lot more money. As far as a chevy pickup barn truck for over $100,000 in Nebraska...I have also built and restored street rods--several of them. Still you'd be surprised at what I price stuff on Craigslist and the profit I can make. My guess is some dude with too much money will see the truck and think it's the best thing in the world. There's a buyer for everything and most of the time there is no logic. I put boat items on CL for an outrageous price and I be darned if someone doesn't come along and but it. I asked a guy one time, "Are you sure you want to but this?" He said, "I have been looking all over and this is the only one I have found." Funny...I could buy the item all day long for less. Shiny pretty sells for a lot more money so if one decides to dump $3000 into a $1000 boat chances are someone someplace will but it for $5000.

That Whaler for $2200? I can almost bet you I could negotiate it to $1500 and resell it for $3500 without doing anything to it except a little spit and polish.

 

[Daniel1947]

Re: Cost per foot

There is a big differance between buying a boat, that only needs "spit and polish" instead of a complete deck, stringer, transom, etc., replacement. 5 to 10 hours of "spit and polish" is a lot differant than 100's of hours of complete demo and rebuild. The stories of the "barn" 1970 HEMI Challengers are few. I can guarantee that there are more horror stories about folks that bought the old classics for a premium price, and then years later lost money on them because the market changed, are more plentiful. Like I said, you can purchase a boat that only needs some "spit and polish" and maybe resell it for a profit; but I seriously doubt anyone can make a living out of buying, demoing, and restoring old boats. My experience in business is this....profit can only be determined when you have determined what the total investment is. If you spend one hour looking for a boat, that is one hour of labor and you have to determine what "your" hourly labor rate will be. If you are just going to donate your labor and just try to make a profit on original purchase plus materials, then go for it. You will probably make something on the deal. Of course, then again, their are fools out there that will buy just about anything because they don't have the knowledge necessary to make an intelligent decision. I was one of them with my first boat.....I can gurantee it won't happen again....and I won't do it to someone else.

 

[banshee owner]

Re: Cost per foot

i kinda eel the need to chime here.

I am one of those guys that saw a boat loved it knew it needed work. i started by putting a steering cable in and decided i would do an impellar. Thought it was ready for water found a rats nest of wiring fixed that up made as pretty as could be. again thought it was water ready back the truck up to the boat hooked er up and thought i would fire the motor again just to be sure and couldnt shift it from neutral. Throttle cable and shift cable seised up and part of the shifter inside broke. So then i decided its going sat for the better part of a year and didnt do a thing to it. went on a guys wekend this past summer and hit a few marine repair places up north and found exactly what i needed for my boat all in near new condition. that was 150 bucks far cheaper than new. AGAIN thought it was water ready hauled to the lake took it for a dunk and saw water flowing in thru the tow hook on the port side. thank god i put an automatic bilge pemp in. fearful of sinking it i siliconed the holes to salvage the weekend and had a blast tubing with kids. One of the old guys at the lake looked at the boat and informed me the transom was shot. I was completly blind to the fact that these are thing you need to check. hauled it back home and now this is were i am. In the poker terms IM ALL IN cant turn back now. i know i will never recover the cost of the repairs but in the end i will have a boat that is sound and do my family well for years to come. right now at this stage of the game with purchase and parts fiberglass tools etc. im into 3000, 1500 of which was purchase. only reason im doing this repair is not for profit that went out the door when i sunk the first 1500 into it. right now im salvaging what i personally call a gem i love this boat and the looks of it. if i use for 5 or 6 years i may still get 1500 for it but that i think is a pipe dream. i also know why repair places charge 1500 to 2000 minium to replace a transom . i have 50 to 60 hours just to point i am at now (stringers,transom and deck) even if i figure just minimum wage pay (10.25 here in ontario) thats just over 600 dollars and im less than half way thru. thats not even laying one piece of fiberglass.

Maybe what all these fine gents here are really trying to say is if you wanna turn a good profit and not tie up mass amounts of money theres better options out there. I have yet to find one but i know they are there. Then again maybe your one of those guys that have the gift of gab so to speak and will be extremly lucky and turn good profits proving everyone wrong. I for one would like to see if its possible

Sorry to ramble but those is my .02 worth. best luck of whatever ventures you partake in

 

[Daniel1947]

Re: Cost per foot

Banshee,

That is pretty much what I was trying to get across. Yeah, I bought a 24 year old boat, had no idea of what laid in store for me, paid $3000 for it. I like the boat, and I figure I will have $2000 - $3000 in materials in it, plus at a minimum 100 hours labor. If you figure $10 an hour, that is another $1000 of my time. Boat would never sell for $7600 (have over $600 in engine) But when I am done I will have a boat that is worth $15,000 to $20,000 to me, because that is what a "new" boat would cost me, and I truly believe that with the help of all my "friends" here on Iboats, it will be better than what is available "new" now. LOL, I had $25,000 in a 69 Dodge Dart (426 Hemi) drag racer....didn't get anywhere near that out of it when I sold it.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Cost per foot

How did you get an elephant block in the A body? The RB blocks barely fit

 

[rsmitty814]

Re: Cost per foot

So....let me summarize. Boats are not cars. I will not make a profit unless I do. RB blocks barley fit. My favorite....go to Florida if I want a $1500 boat that doesn't need any work. Thanks guys. Very entertaining

 

[idonthaveaname]

Re: Cost per foot

And God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Cost per foot

My favorite....go to Florida if I want a $1500 boat that doesn't need any work.

Nah, rotten boats are universal... and the cheap ones down in Fla. are just as rotten as the cheap ones up north. Some people just don't have enough experience to know the difference between a rotten boat and a good seaworthy boat... even if they've owned dozens of rotten boats.

 

[Daniel1947]

Re: Cost per foot

Scott, I don't want to make anyone mad on Iboats by downloading pics of the car, but you asked, and considering I didn 98% of the work myself, I am pretty proud of it...Don't have it anymore. But as we say on Iboats, "No photos - it never happened."

 

[idonthaveaname]

Re: Cost per foot

Sweet!! Reminds me of my favorite build - 1937 Chevy coupe with a 350 stuffed under the hood...what a sleeper!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Cost per foot

My buddy and I put a 525hp 383 into his '68 4-door dart.

we had the stock inner fenders, a dual 4-barrel intake and had the doors pop open from body twist, even with frame rails.

removing the fenderwells not a good idea if driven in the rain - shorts out the crappy mopar alternators :facepalm:

 

[Daniel1947]

Re: Cost per foot

Scott, Vehicle wasn't streetable: Fiberglass fenders, hood, doors, deck lid and bumbers; all windows were lexan, 10 point rollcage, 4 link coil over Dana rear end. fake headlights (decals) car's best 1/4 mile was 9.86 secs. at 136mph. I bought the car in 1969 when I came home from Vietnam. Broke my heart when I had to sell it. LOL

 

[bryanwess2000]

Re: Cost per foot

Thread has ventured a bit off topic but I think you could make some profit on boats needing minor repairs. 1st ones that come to mind are boston whalers. They have a cult like following. Many owners claim they never lost money on their whalers. I like seacrafts and formulas. Bertrams are another. I prefer starcraft or some other aluminum due to the fact I can repair the floor and transom easily. I would love a restored seacraft or bertram though. Problem with seacrafts and formulas other makers have used their old molds or made one from an existing boat.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Cost per foot

Boston Whalers can present fairly large, very challenging problems for the DIY boat 'flipper'. Esp 'bargain' priced Whalers........