Taking a boat over 1000 Hours before selling

[kfennell]

So I have a 2012 Carbon Pro and I am deciding what my exit strategy will be here. It has 630 hours now, will finish this year at ~8-900 and will be over 1000 by say late may next year at the worst.

 

I guess my question is what will the difference in the value and ease of selling the boat be at 850 vs 1100 hours, just wondering if I should be planning on running it through next summer. My only real concern is TCO, so if the depreciation from 850-1100 hours is more then putting the same hours on a newer boat I want to pick up something new.

 

Any idea what this boat is even worth? It has the newer Rudder and drives great. Engine is strong, interior is worn but not torn up, just faded. Exterior is good+

 

Thoughts?

[oldjeep]

33K for one with only 260 hours and a tandem trailer (and not sold yet at that price). I'm going to go with not worth much with those hours and a faded interior.

 

http://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?endless=summer&topic=Search&category=Comp_Boat&postid=24729

 

Edit - just so that doesn't sound super negative. Using the 33K boat as a benchmark. Figure deducting a few grand to fix the interior - not to many people are going to put up with a faded interior on a 3 year old boat, and a couple thousand for all the hours? Maybe 26K-28K?

[kfennell]

Maybe I shoudlnt have asked for thoughts on mine's value. I guess the main question is how much do ya'll think going over 1000 hours will affect things

 

[Bruce_Butterfield]

If your only real concern is TCO, by far the best option is to keep it well maintained for another 15-20 years.

 

But it sounds like you're more concerned with having a newer boat, so bite the bullet and get what you want. Resale is more affected by the brand name and how new the boat "looks" than the hours on the meter.

 

Also, the depreciation from 0-300 hrs is by far the highest in the life cycle. That is, the more hours, the less depreciation per hour you will have.

[swc5150]

I'd have it for sale now. The Carbon has an especially small market place, being a relatively new model, not widely advertised/promoted, not "family friendly" for non-ballers, and your hour meter is climbing rapidly.

[FracBurner]

Damn. He may be a little abrasive, but @OB seems to have his finger on the pulse. $12/hr is about exactly the hit I took selling a perfect 200. Coincidence?

[RichardDoane]

for someone who wants to do the math - we just sold our 2011 Malibu LXi with 820 hours for $30k, how does that fit into OB's $12/hr rule ?

[The_MS]

@OB is right, any time after 500 is time to move. If its my boat and I am keeping it, taking a boat over a 1000 is no issue but not knowing where or how the first 1000 were put on it is another story. Buyers are freaked out by high hours.

[FracBurner]

@richarddoane, did you pay $39840? Probably works better if you bought used. Thanks for sharing the price. So little transparency in the boat market.

[RichardDoane]

@FracBurner - we paid $43k with 200 hours after the 2011 season, it was a loaded promo with every option and loaded tandem trailer

[bishop8950]

The points of feedback I this thread are spot on. My guess is low to mid $20s as you approach 1,000 hrs and that's if it's clean. Youth may catch someone looking to get their first ZO boat on a budget who is mechanically inclined to understand the impact of the hours. It may just take a while to find that buyer.

 

We recently sold a 2009 196 with 1,500 hours and a fresh engine for $22k. Hull and interior were good but not excellent. We sold it fast at that price. Of course the 196 is well recognized from a brand and model perspective. We now have a Carbon Pro with 750hrs on it and plan to run it to at least 1250 and probably closer to 2,000. It will be difficult to sell but the cost of ownership makes sense, especially when you consider the entry price.

 

Our club puts about 500hrs a year on a boat and we figure we have a these options: 1) buy a promo with 100hrs and sell it a year later with 600hrs or 2) drive it to 2,000 or so and get what you can or 3) drop in a new motor and interior if needed and go as far as you can. We considered running the 196 well past 2,000 hrs (engine new at 1,500) but the club just wanted something newer. We are super happy with the Carbon Pro.

 

@OB just go to @Hortons with or without an invite. I invited myself down last weekend and it was great. That lake skis awesome and the company isnt too bad either....even if he publically criticizes my gate shot, which is still coming together for the season.

[spartanskier10]

@richarddoane math for you comes to 36 per hr. Substantially over that $12 range that was listed

[FracBurner]

@spartanskier10 Only if you went to public schools like me. At those fancy private academies it comes out to....

 

13000÷620

= 20.967741935

 

or approx. 21/hr.

 

 

[RichardDoane]

@OB - ready to upgrade is the preferred term, nobody ever told us that tournament waterskiing would be cheap, or easy !

[Wish]

http://forum.ballofspray.com/discussion/12132/at-what-point-does-motor-hours-give-you-concern-in-a-used-boat-purchase/p1

[swc5150]

Here are some words of wisdom I received this weekend from a buddy... "Purposefully keeping hours off your boat is like making love to your girlfriend only on occasion, so the next guy can enjoy her to the fullest." I thought he made a good point.

[Jody_Seal]

Being around ski schools the last 25 years or so I have seen a number of 1000 hour plus boats.

I believe in the late 80's until the early years of EFI an engine was pretty used up after 1200 hours, fuel metering and engine control along with old technology a engine just needed a freshen (light re-build) up after that type of service. Then we went into the EFI packages but still had 50 year old designs in overhead valve v-8's. the small block Chevy still in today's world a proven performer. The small block ford/GT-40 a proven performer. These EFI platforms and engineering updates made for a cleaner engine that could run nearly double the hours (properly maintained) then their carburetor equipped predecessors.

A New age of Engine is upon us. Long gone is the Ford GT-40 now Ford Modular/E-tec engines are being utilized (Indmar). The day's of the Small Block Chevy are numbered for Marine application. Now we have modern designs from Chevy as well as Ford. LS 5.3 and 6.2 Liter Platforms involving Catalytic exhaust and precise fuel management now allow for many more hours of service life then ever before. These same engines in the Automotive application's are touting 200,000. mile warranty's.

The problem we have in the ski boat world is that we have many people with the same idealism's from the late 80's propagating bad information.

I will take a 2000 hour LS engine over a 2000 hour small Block EFI over a 1000 hour carb engine any day!

[Razorskier1]

New boat prices being what they are I suspect more and more boats will go higher hours. No one can afford to flip $75k boats every two years. My ProStar will be around a long time at my dock.