used boat prices & new boat designs

[bobk]

What do you all who have cruised/owned both small and large Hats have to say to folks in our position????


Regards, Bob K

Bob, your questions seems directed to me. My wife and I bought a new 41' Hershine sundeck trawler with a single 135HP Lehman in 1986. The boat was to be our last and largest vessel and would be the retirement 'home'. I retired in 2002 and we moved aboard and cruised from Baltimore to the Keys each year until we bought the 1981 48MY in 2006. I was perfectly happy with the trawler. Maintenance was easy (once I corrected ALL the many inherent defects) and we burned 2.2-2.7 gph at 7.5-7.8 knots. Life was good, but the admiral wanted a dinette and a third stateroom. So after lots of looking we bought the 48. It has made 2.5 round trips now at 5.5-6 gph at 8.3 knots.

The Hatt is great, but is more than enough space for a couple as a permanent home. I also think the 41 was more than enough and believe it or not, it had much more storage space than the 48. So bottom line, I think you can be comfortable and not feel like you are camping with an aft cabin/sundeck in the 40' range. The enclosed sundeck provides another large room that gets more use than any other on board, but you still feel like you are outdoors enjoying mother nature.

And by the way, when you get far enough south you no longer have to spend a lot of time cleaning the exterior. The air down here doesn't rain soot, so the boats get washed once a month or less.

But the best advice is to live the dream now. Later you may not be able to.

Bobk

[krush]

Maintenance was easy (once I corrected ALL the many inherent defects) and we burned 2.2-2.7 gph at 7.5-7.8 knots. Life was good, but the admiral wanted a dinette and a third stateroom. So after lots of looking we bought the 48. It has made 2.5 round trips now at 5.5-6 gph at 8.3 knots.

That's a big difference in fuel burn!

[eclipsarkanna]

I had a friend inspect and photo the 70 Hatt. If they gave you 229,000.00 and the boat you MIGHT be able to put it into some kind of condition. It is a terribly neglected vessel.

You and your friend were dead accurate - just found out from my broker when I inquired about the $229k 70 Hatt - it was just under contract but the buyer backed out because it was in such bad condition. Apparently the contract price was well under the $229 k so it must be in pretty poor condition. In a way that is good news and it means that good quality Hatts are still holding their value.

[bobk]

That's a big difference in fuel burn!

Yep, but that's what happens when you push a bigger, heavier boat with a pair of two stroke engines running at an inneficient rpm. I knew that going into the 48MY and decided it was worth the extra fuel. What the h..., if I don't spend it the kids will.

Bob

[Brian Degulis]

You and your friend were dead accurate - just found out from my broker when I inquired about the $229k 70 Hatt - it was just under contract but the buyer backed out because it was in such bad condition. Apparently the contract price was well under the $229 k so it must be in pretty poor condition. In a way that is good news and it means that good quality Hatts are still holding their value.

That boat is actually a 61 MY with an extension of the aft deck and a cockpit. And yes it's really sad in all respects. Stop and think about for a moment. Complete paint job 60K Rebuild 2 6000 hr engines 70K Replace 2 gen sets 40K. So now you've got an 80s boat for 400K that needs a complete interior and probably a lot more.

I've found that on every grossly under priced boat I've looked at and it paints a false picture of how much values are really dropping. If you go by internet photos just about everything looks pretty good when you go look you see the real story. And for sure values have dropped and there are some good deals to be had but not as good as you might be lead to believe by some listings.

Brian

[labrador]

There still is that 61 motor yacht in Boston that Roger Weatherington told me about in pretty good shape. Jarrett Bay called me the other day and said it could be had for 225,000 as the owner is in tough finiancial straits. Roger said that the 12/71s still had life in them, he wouldn't run them on the pins all day however for someone who wants to cruise the ICW it would be a great boat.
Skip

[Robert Lotstein]

A new large boat would drive us back to work so that's out, but we are looking at the great prices on used Hats. Every time we get tempted to join the 53 and up club, we think about how much work we have put into our 36C over the last 17 years (and the new diesels, gen set, etc.) to get the boat to where it is now. Even if we could find a "mint" large Hat, the thought of that much more exterior surface, interior areas, etc. to take care of makes us pause. We have never lived aboard for longer than about an 8 week ICW cruise (loved it), but I think Nancy, the cat and I could do a winter over (6 months) in the south no sweat on our current boat. We down-sized the house from 6000+ sqft & 7 acres into our smaller house (less than 3000 sqft & 1 acre) and are very glad we did. Some of that may have been from owning/maintaining the 2 properties vs the one now. Point is I don't know if bigger is better especially for a mid 60s retired couple. We are looking forward to cruising south for 6+ months one of these years, and are talking about the great deals we see on the 53s and larger Hats. What do you all who have cruised/owned both small and large Hats have to say to folks in our position????


Regards, Bob K

Look at the 52C. We have had ours for 1.5 years. Falls under most "big" boat fees in the marinas. Has some size if you need it. Very stable platform. And she has enough room. My wife wantaed a 60+, too much work, I want to fish not fix anymore stuff than I have to. Cruises 9-10 kt 0.7-0.8 gallons per kt with a 9kw genset running. If the 20 kw is running its a bit more. Last winter took the boat from misson bay to Cabo 680 gallons, and we fished for a couple days ran the boat up for 20-30 min every morning and afternoon. Then proceeded to PV and now the boat lives there. I thought my math was all screwed up butn this is reproducable time and time again. I have put on over a 1000 hours this year. Bought mine well below market at the time, we knew what was coming, but put a 120k into it. And it is under 53'.

Good luck, Rob

[Robert Lotstein]

A new large boat would drive us back to work so that's out, but we are looking at the great prices on used Hats. Every time we get tempted to join the 53 and up club, we think about how much work we have put into our 36C over the last 17 years (and the new diesels, gen set, etc.) to get the boat to where it is now. Even if we could find a "mint" large Hat, the thought of that much more exterior surface, interior areas, etc. to take care of makes us pause. We have never lived aboard for longer than about an 8 week ICW cruise (loved it), but I think Nancy, the cat and I could do a winter over (6 months) in the south no sweat on our current boat. We down-sized the house from 6000+ sqft & 7 acres into our smaller house (less than 3000 sqft & 1 acre) and are very glad we did. Some of that may have been from owning/maintaining the 2 properties vs the one now. Point is I don't know if bigger is better especially for a mid 60s retired couple. We are looking forward to cruising south for 6+ months one of these years, and are talking about the great deals we see on the 53s and larger Hats. What do you all who have cruised/owned both small and large Hats have to say to folks in our position????


Regards, Bob K

Look at the 52C. We have had ours for 1.5 years. Falls under most "big" boat fees in the marinas. Has some size if you need it. Very stable platform. And she has enough room. My wife wantaed a 60+, too much work, I want to fish not fix anymore stuff than I have to. Cruises 9-10 kt 0.7-0.8 gallons per kt with a 9kw genset running. If the 20 kw is running its a bit more. Last winter took the boat from misson bay to Cabo 680 gallons, and we fished for a couple days ran the boat up for 20-30 min every morning and afternoon. Then proceeded to PV and now the boat lives there. I thought my math was all screwed up butn this is reproducable time and time again. I have put on over a 1000 hours this year. Bought mine well below market at the time, we knew what was coming, but put a 120k into it.

[eclipsarkanna]

There still is that 61 motor yacht in Boston that Roger Weatherington told me about in pretty good shape. Jarrett Bay called me the other day and said it could be had for 225,000 as the owner is in tough finiancial straits. Roger said that the 12/71s still had life in them, he wouldn't run them on the pins all day however for someone who wants to cruise the ICW it would be a great boat.
Skip

In my humble opinion, large yacht prices have still not come down to the insanity levels of the stock market yet. When that happens and we all find a clear "market bottom" (in the stock market; in the housing market; in the vacation home market; in the large yacht market; etc etc) then we can all start safely deploying our limited funds where we are comfortable. Until then, I see fear and panic continuing to prevail in all markets. Just my 2 cents worth.

Bill