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Old 04-12-2014, 03:40 PM   #35
N4061
Guru
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,161
Quote:
Originally Posted by hollywood8118 View Post
John,
This may seem to be a smart question ... and it is in no way meant to be that way.. but how much do you budget to loose every time you do one of these boat changes?
I go through a few boats, but I do it at the lower end of the financial scale.. and I do a decent job of getting my boats for a good value.. but switching boats rarely is even a close to break even deal. I do ALL my own boat work and I on rare occasion break even on the equipment/parts/supplies that I "invest" in a boat... never the labor.

I as obviously do you love Nordhavn boats.. but unless one is doing real blue water passages they rarely are a necessity.

HOLLYWOOD
Sir, recognizing that you never make money with boats, we have been fortunate with all our boats (even prior to Nordhavn's)not to take the "bath" that many incur. An example is when I purchased our 22' Mako Center Console a long time ago. I found a west coast dealer who could not give the boats away, bought the new boat below cost, kept it about 4 years and sold it for more then we paid. Fast forward to Nordhavn's and we sold N1 for what we paid for her 18 months earlier, didn't incur taxes, and paid a very small commission so that boat was close to a freebie. When we sold N2 we did incur a little depreciation but overall not bad and we had to sell due to health reasons. N3 was a fortunate find for us and now in near new condition. Even with all our investment in her she is reasonably priced, will serve her next owner well and we will not sell her if means loosing money. I will be the first to admit we are not the normal trawler buyer/seller and that is what allows to play in this expensive market. I learned a long time ago how best to navigate the cycle of boat ownership and while no expert have done OK. The limited investment we do not recoup I write-off as the cost for all the priceless memories boating has provided us. We also have the added requirement of needing a second home in SD which for us is a boat over another land based home. Without this need we likely would not have entered the trawler market in our early 40's and stayed with much smaller boats. In the end it comes down to finding a way to do what makes us enjoy life.

John T.
N3522
La Tempestad
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