Would you rather? Selene vs North Pacific

[Matthewpdavis]

I’m currently boat shopping and torn between a 2003 Selene 47 vs a 2016 North Pacific 49. Both are in excellent condition and more or less turnkey vessels. Cruising plans are Pacific Northwest and eventually up to Alaska. Would likely have the boat for 5 years or less. Strong resale ability is important. Any input would be appreciated. Pros/cons? Thanks.

 

[READY]

Both good boats that would be suitable for your plans but many other factors would factor into a buying decision. Price, condition, equipment...

 

[Jklotz]

I really like both makes. I bought a 2022 NP45 because it checked the most boxes for what I was looking for. For instance, being on the East coast, I wanted 5' or less draft. I also really like the layout and styling of the interior, Cummins QSB, etc. I had some "shakedown" issues, but overall, have been really happy with the boat. The service provided to me by NP has been top notch.

The NP you are considering will most likely have more modern systems. The Selene is 22 years old. A lot of it will come down to how they have been maintained, once you pop the hood and take a deeper dive. It'll be difficult to know for sure until you've done a survey and sea trial.

Don't get me wrong, Selene makes a great boat that I very much admire, and if I owned one, I'd be very proud.

 

[ranger58sb]

I’m currently boat shopping and torn between a 2003 Selene 47 vs a 2016 North Pacific 49. Both are in excellent condition and more or less turnkey vessels. Cruising plans are Pacific Northwest and eventually up to Alaska. Would likely have the boat for 5 years or less. Strong resale ability is important. Any input would be appreciated. Pros/cons? Thanks.

Which one meets your must-have, would-like-to-have requirements list? Which one offers the fewest dislikes. Which appeals more to your heart? Which might be the easiest to operate while cruising your plan? Which might offer easiest access to all the systems you'll have to maintain? And the ever-present which is friendlier to your budget (including all the likely stuff you might have to address in the more immediate future)?

 -Chris

 

[SteveK]

Neither appeals to me as I am not looking. However if I have to choose between the two it would be the newer one. Tried to find a 2016 Selene for apple to apple comparison but could not.

 

[ktdtx]

As said already..both nice boats but one is 13 years newer. This can be negated by crappy maintenance on the newer one and excellent maintenance and upgrades on the older one.

 

[Mac2]

Selene has the more recognizable name and good reputation. This will come into play for resale. Is the NP semi or full displacement? Based on this, it could make a difference if you need more speed. Build quality is more important than age when it comes to used boats. Example: my previous boat was a Krogen Manatee. Core material is PVC. No water damage to worry about. Manatees sold for 80k brand new in the mid 80s. It is for sale now at 144k. Name and build quality is everything.

 

[mvweebles]

Tough choice. A lot depends on how the OP feels about full width saloon vs walk-around decks (id take the full width saloon any day since 99.9% of my time aboard is not underway, but preferences vary).

Since resale is top priority for the OP, if one owner is eager to get out, a good deal would swing my preference.

If the older Selene has original electronics, you will either upgrade or give a substantial credit at resale. $30k isn't a bad planning assumption.

This is a question that a good broker could help the OP middle through.

Best wishes for whatever you decide.

Peter

 

[slowgoesit]

Peter, $30k for new electronics is on the low side. That's what retail price was when we refitted all the electronics in our boat two years ago, and we did all the installs ourselves. If we'd had it done by "pros", add another $10k to $15k, then you would just need to go back and fix all their screws up to make it right.

If it were me, and the condition of both boats were equal, I'd go for the North Pacific.
Oh, also not sure if the larger Selene has a better engine room, but the smaller ones are really short, and cramped.

 

[Jklotz]

I’m currently boat shopping and torn between a 2003 Selene 47 vs a 2016 North Pacific 49. Both are in excellent condition and more or less turnkey vessels. Cruising plans are Pacific Northwest and eventually up to Alaska. Would likely have the boat for 5 years or less. Strong resale ability is important. Any input would be appreciated. Pros/cons? Thanks.

Out of curiosity, how much asking price difference is there between the two?

 

[SteveK]

Out of curiosity, how much asking price difference is there between the two?

I saw same age and boats about $200K difference. OP will have the exact boat difference.

 

[READY]

Keep in mind that systems such as air conditioning are probably at end of life on the older boat if they are original. That can run $30k-$40k. Less if you are just dropping in replacement self contained units but still significant $$. Also new tech in batteries, stabilizers and even toilets may not be in the older boat. But I would guess that you could upgrade everything in the older boat and still be under the ask for the newer one. But at resale you are not likely to recover a lot of that investment.

 

[Matthewpdavis]

Thank you everyone for the input. It gave me many things to consider that I had not even thought about prior. $200k spread in asking prices. They’ve both been on market for quite some time. Both have had considerable $ reductions during their listings, so far. Plan to view them both in the coming month and will report back with my findings.

 

[slowgoesit]

Just curious, which is the higher asking price? I am assuming the NP?

 

[GMS]

Selene's have a long history of maintaining good resale value, I am not as familar with how well the North Pacific's hold their value (I suspect they also do well, especially in the PNW).

Both boat have a fair number of hours, not a concern if good maintenance was done. Often Selene's have a heavier duty engine which could have pushed the engine hour situation in favor of the Selene, but that Selene appears to have a recreational rated Cummins 330 hp engine (a good engine, but not a QSL or more industrial rated Cummins).

The QSB 6.7 in the NP is likely also consider a recreational rated engine. We had QSBs (5.9 version) in our previous boat and really liked the bit better fuel efficiency of the electronically controlled common rail diesel. Importantly, the 6.9 QSB in the NP is setup at the lower end of the HP rating for marine use of that engine (up to 550hp) - which would seem to favor the NP in terms of engine configuration.

$200k is a big price difference, but so is 2016 versus 2003...

If the price difference isn't an issue budget wise, I would probably go with the NP - but in the end it would come down to which boat I liked better, had better maintenance history, and suited my needs better.

In the end, it is a very personal decision - will be curious to see which way you go (if either of these boats).

 

[Jklotz]

That NP has an FCI watermaker ($15k) and Westmar stabilizers ($80-100K). That'd be a big plus for me.