60 Conv Unique ? ? ?

[Pete]

Brian buys a 60 Conv at auction for $125K. Thoward, a member of this forum, set the final asking price of $125K for his 60 Conv. in late 2008. Is there something unique about this model that is setting these prices or is the used convertible market just that deep in the ditch? And even more telling is you auction off one of these boats in Florida and only two people bid, one of whom can not complete the transaction!

Pete

 

[Passages]

Pascoe touched on this in his latest blog:

http://davidpascoeblog.com/2009/05/15/boat-prices-down-by-half/

Personally, I'd love to own a 60. Just not many slips available in that size range. If you find one, it won't be cheap. Probably north of of $10k for the summer season up here in CT.

I was talking to my local broker a few months back and he was saying there is NO market for convertibles & sportfish. The 30 something express cruisers are also not moving. Maybe it's worse in my area as Connecticut is experiencing Lots of job insecurity right now.

 

[captddis]

The two boats sold low but I think they are the exception. Brians boat was a Marshalls sale and there is a lot of unknowns with that boat as to mechanical cond that would scare most people.
Todd's boat was a Hurricane boat that still needed some cosmetics.

By contrast A nice 60C that I took care of sold for 375,000 in this market.

 

[st.tully]

The 60c is a damn big boat!!! It costs a bundle to own, maintain and use. Most folks with a purchase budget of 300-500k don't have the budget to actually use a 60c. So, they sit and sit until finally someone just can't resist the low price. This makes for a very limited pool of buyers.

As long as you know the cost of ownership and are ready to foot the bill, these are a great bargain. I think the 60 or the 65 with 1271's would be an awesome "long range cruiser". I'd rather have a 65c than the new Nordhaven Sportfish.

 

[Brian Degulis]

First there is no comparision between the 2 boats. The 1979 that was advertised here will require an awfull lot more work than the one we just purchased. When buying at a Marshals sale there is no survey so remember there can be no insurance. There is no sea trial or haul and the condition of all the systems can only be determined by a walk thru inspection nothing more. You have to pay in full within 72 hours or lose your deposite. So buying under these conditions is not for everyone. In March of this year a 60C with 1292s sold for 460K. I would guess it was in pristine condition. About a year ago a 1985 58 MY sold for 125K as a repo. And a 58 LRC damaged in Ivan sold for around 50K not to long ago.

Brian

 

[Genesis]

Its a damn big boat and comes with damn big operating and keeping expenses.

Most people with the scratch to do it right want a new(er) one. This makes the used market VERY tenuous at best, unless the current owner has kept everything PRISTINE.

There are a lot of dreamers out there with asking prices. Sometimes their offer gets hit, but not often.

If you find something you like a stink bid is more realistic now than at any other time in my boating career, save during the Oil Shocks when you literally could not GIVE away anything over 30', especially on the Great Lakes.

 

[krush]

I got a perfect slip waiting for such a boat. I'd love to get one but the purchase price is a lil out of my budget right now LOL.

Driving criteria for me will be wlak-in full stand-up engine room and a cockpit. I also want an elcosed bridge for year-round boating. 55c would be better, but few have an enclosed bridge.

 

[Boatsb]

I would trade the house for the 60 (enclosed bridge of course) and live on it if it were not so costly to keep it. I would probably have the smarts for a smaller boat to fish with since the 60 is just so big. Todd said it was at least a full day to clean her. Thats alot of time and work.

That type of investment as an active fishing boat is not for the faint of wallet.

 

[whaler23]

I was on Todd's boat and I can easily see a full day to clean her, plus maintaining it in that HOT Florida sun isn't fun. I get tired thinking about it. On the plus side everything on the 60C is extremely easy to get to, service, clean, etc... As previous poster pointed out finding a slip that is 18' wide in some areas is a problem. On the Chesapeake where I would have kept that boat I would have had one choice, T-Heads. Can't beat an enclosed bridge with A/C though, as a long term cruiser I think the boat is hard to beat in a sport fish.

 

[luckydave215]

I must say, I sure love mine.
Paying a boat washer (really cheap in San Diego) makes a 60C much more enjoyable. Overall though, compared to some other boats it's as was noted above, if you wanna play, ya gotta pay. What the hell, I've never seen luggage on a hearse.


Cost aside, she's DEFINITELY the fishing limousine......

 

[stormchaser]

edit...nevermind...

 

[thoward]

The 60C is a great liveaboard or extended voyage vessel. The costs of ownership are pretty steep. It is pretty slow by todays standard, beam and draw are drawbacks as well. When the economy took a chit our retirement plans and investments(could not pull out) took a pretty big hit. We were going to be weekenders longer than expected so needed something fast, trailerable and low maintanance, we ended up in a CC. Hindsight 20/20 a 45C would have been a better boat for us but we learned quite a bit. I also think the market has changed quite a bit. There are hotels everywhere and the CCs cruise 40+, have good range and seakeeping ability. I think that pulls a lot of people out of the sportfish market.

 

[luckydave215]

60C's are popular on the west coast for just the reasons Todd (rightly) sees as disadvantages on the east coast.
Here the water is deep everywhere, there's few hotels (or ports!) anywhere within CC range, and slow doesn't matter when you have to run that speed anyway to have long enough range.
Being overweight tanks they ride nicely when it's less than glass smooth out, and with ports far apart we don't have somewhere every fifteen miles to duck into if the weather gets up a little. We're jealous of you east coasters about that.
There are at least seven 60C's on San Diego bay that I know of. With ~10,000 boats in slips in the harbor surely there are more.
This is the boat made in heaven for west coast conditions, I guess it's because of this that they seem to be migrating here.

 

[nor'easter]

I would agree with you Dave. Still have my sights on a 60 for the future, for all of the reasons you ponted out. There is a new one listed, a 1978 with a 3/4 bridge enclosure. Not as nice to look at as a fully enclosed or an open, but pretty practical.

 

[Paul45c]

Cost aside, she's DEFINITELY the fishing limousine......

Just tagging onto that comment, I stepped up a year and a half ago from a 45c to a 55c and have spent the whole time since refurbing the 55. I just fished the first tournament with the 55, and man, what a difference the 10' makes. It was really snotty out on day 1, and it would have been a heck of a lot more uncomfortable with the 45, great seaboat though she was. The reality is that I live in an area that likes to blow hard a lot of the time, so it's easier to rationalize the bigger boat.

I'll be doing honey-do's for the rest of my natural life to pay back the admiral for all the time and $$$ that went into the project on the 55, but heck, you only get to piss off your wife in one life, I say!

 

[Sparky1]

So did you win?

 

[34Hatt]

I'll be doing honey-do's for the rest of my natural life to pay back the admiral for all the time and $$$ that went into the project on the 55, but heck, you only get to piss off your wife in one life, I say!

OH NO you can piss them off many more times then once!!!!!


Trust Me I know

 

[Paul45c]

So did you win?

Well, I hear we won an entirely new category of prize from the Rodeo officials this year -- most unique catch; it weighed in at about 180 lbs., too! It was a diver.

Lines had to be in by noon Saturday, and at about 12:15 we were cruising right near our inlet when we found this diver bobbing along in the water. He didn't exactly seem to be in distress, but there was no boat immediately in sight. He welcomed the pickup from us. As we were recovering him into the cockpit, I could see what had to be his boat about 400-500 yds. away with a towboat on one side and a Coast Guard RIB on his other side. In addition there was another Coastie RIB coming hellbent for leather to our location...and a helicopter. OK, looks like our CG brethren are looking for this diver, methinks. So I radioed in that we had their boy. Fifteen minutes of formalities later, we handed him off. They let us know that he's a dive master/captain and that one of his passengers was injured while he was separated from the boat. Uh oh. That boy was going to have a LONG day. I doubt it was exculpatory enough, but at least it wasn't a paid charter -- these were a few friends he had with him. Still bad to get separated like that, no matter the circumstances.