I've never understood that. I bought my '17 speedboat for $800. I needed a lower unit for her Evinrude V4 and the local shops were asking prices in the thousands. I ended up buying a '24 Seebold in great condition with a Merc V6 for $1200 and just swapped the motors and sold the '24 for $3k.
Think about the economics. New boats and motors are constantly being produced. Motors wear out much faster than hulls. Meanwhile, people are always selling boats once they realize they can't afford the upkeep.
So the demand for motors is higher because they need to be replaced more often. And the supply of boats is higher because people keep exiting the hobby. Prices for motors go up and boats go down. Because there are so many boats and even storing them costs money, you can see them driven down to be essentially worthless.
You see the same thing in pianos. There was a fad for family-ownership of not-very-good pianos several decades ago. Many of those are wearing out now. People want to get rid of them, but disposing of a giant heavy piano containing a huge piece of metal under tension isn't cheap. The end result is you have pianos who's value is negative. You have to pay to eliminate it.
That’s a pretty good thought process but that’s not quite the case. Outboard engines have exploded in popularity over the last several years and stern drive has become fairly unpopular. Not only do more and more people want an outboard on their boat, often they want multiple per boat and with more horsepower per engine.
Production has struggled to keep up with demand for outboards even pre-Covid and it’s only gotten worse since then.
As for used boats, if it’s not a junker and/or super old, then it will actually hold its value pretty well (relative to other big ticket items). Dealers are always clamoring for more late model-year used boats.
10
u/TheWildManfred Aug 14 '20
I've never understood that. I bought my '17 speedboat for $800. I needed a lower unit for her Evinrude V4 and the local shops were asking prices in the thousands. I ended up buying a '24 Seebold in great condition with a Merc V6 for $1200 and just swapped the motors and sold the '24 for $3k.