Used boat market "Demand Destruction"

[GEEBASS2000]

Exactly, he's so out of touch it's laughable.

What is laughable is that you could possibly think the marketing department for the marine industry are marketing boats well over $100,000 to weekend warriors. That is like saying
Ferrari markets to daily drivers.

[dean c]

What is laughable is that you could possibly think the marketing department for the marine industry are marketing boats well over $100,000 to weekend warriors. That is like saying
Ferrari markets to daily drivers.

Pretty sure they’re marketing them to anybody who has the money or the credit to buy one. Vast majority are weekend warriors. Come on down to Texas and show up for a Basschamps or a TTT. More 80-100k rigs than you can shake a stick at.

[wentbroketryingtogopro]

All I can say about that is, You must have missed the part EVERY PERSON I know of that has a boat listed regardless of brand of boat or outboard has zero calls regardless of price. I have since called a dealer I work with, and he told me straight up plenty of buyers for boats over $100,000 new and plenty for below $40,000 however the lightly used market is dead, dealer's words not mine.

As far as the Honda all I can say is I have owned all other major brands of outboards and it's the only one I have owned that did not blow a powerhead, every other brand I have owned regardless of 2 or 4 stroke blew a powerhead. I have never even heard a rumor of a Honda with a powerhead failure. They just don't blow it's a Honda pilot, you don't see too many Pilots on the side of the road.

you would probably see more honda engines if there were more dealers. if i were buying a bass boat(new or used) i would be looking for a boat with a honda or suzuki engine.

[c rig]

What is laughable is that you could possibly think the marketing department for the marine industry are marketing boats well over $100,000 to weekend warriors. That is like saying
Ferrari markets to daily drivers.

Sorry, hard to agree with you.

You ever priced saltwater boats? Just high end flats boats sell for a ton of money, offshore boats are very expensive.

[Roper56]

What is laughable is that you could possibly think the marketing department for the marine industry are marketing boats well over $100,000 to weekend warriors. That is like saying
Ferrari markets to daily drivers.

What is laughable is that you think YAMAHA is marketing to the tip of an iceberg and not the 90% of the people buying their products

The bread and butter for all sports / recreation industry that amateurs participate in, is and will always be the weekend warrior. It is a simple pyramid. The Pro side of it is the tip of the iceberg and 100% driven as marketing expenses. Most people want to have nice things that look like and perform like what the Pros use. Regardless of the activity, people spend way more money on shit than they can afford because of E G O before common sense. Those guys that can afford to write a check for a brand new boat aren't the meat of the industry.

[SouthernZ]

My opinion is this:

Cost of boats went up too fast. We went from years of relatively stable and predictable prices to where we are right now very fast. So it’s not that depreciation is worse, it’s that boats are not worth what they are selling for historically speaking in comparison to depreciation.

[Bill2e]

I have had two people fail to get financing on my 2017.

Still need to sell before new one arrives.

Has me checking my sanity as the new rig is more than double the cost of what I am selling my loaded 17 for.

[GEEBASS2000]

I have had two people fail to get financing on my 2017.

Still need to sell before new one arrives.

Has me checking my sanity as the new rig is more than double the cost of what I am selling my loaded 17 for.

100% spot on

[GEEBASS2000]

My opinion is this:

Cost of boats went up too fast. We went from years of relatively stable and predictable prices to where we are right now very fast. So it’s not that depreciation is worse, it’s that boats are not worth what they are selling for historically speaking in comparison to depreciation.

100% true causing demand destruction.

[ChuckTR21]

I don't know what the correction will look like but one has to be coming. A $70 or $80k boat at todays interest rates is not feasible for most people and a used one near this range is worse. Not sure if expectations will change and 17-18 foot boats come back or people quit buying but the 20-21 footers approaching $100k are competing with mortgage level monthly payments.

[davidsa]

I don't know what the correction will look like but one has to be coming. A $70 or $80k boat at todays interest rates is not feasible for most people and a used one near this range is worse. Not sure if expectations will change and 17-18 foot boats come back or people quit buying but the 20-21 footers approaching $100k are competing with mortgage level monthly payments.

smaller boats are less but not cheap either. I hear someone say an 18ft boat is good for a highschool kid. I'm thinking what HS age person can afford a 50k boat?

[Kskeet]

"Demand destruction" assumes a permanent reduction in demand for a product or service. Not sure about destruction in the boat market. But a correction is certainly in the future. Commercial office space??? Now that's demand destruction.

[Highcentered]

I don't know what the correction will look like but one has to be coming. A $70 or $80k boat at todays interest rates is not feasible for most people and a used one near this range is worse. Not sure if expectations will change and 17-18 foot boats come back or people quit buying but the 20-21 footers approaching $100k are competing with mortgage level monthly payments.

Wasn't that long ago a 17-18' boat with a 150 was what the pros used and that's what people bought to have a pro level boat. Now it's the 20-21 foot boat with a 250. Makes me wonder how many people look at the price of the pro level boats and say "if I can't get what the pros use I'd rather not have a boat at all". One thing I've learned over time is a boat that you can easily pay for but still pretty nice too is better than that top of the line rig like the pros use that you struggle to pay for. As a guy at the ramp told me years ago one time in conversation "we pilgrims take what we can get".

[ThomasD]

Wasn't that long ago a 17-18' boat with a 150 was what the pros used and that's what people bought to have a pro level boat. Now it's the 20-21 foot boat with a 250. Makes me wonder how many people look at the price of the pro level boats and say "if I can't get what the pros use I'd rather not have a boat at all". One thing I've learned over time is a boat that you can easily pay for but still pretty nice too is better than that top of the line rig like the pros use that you struggle to pay for. As a guy at the ramp told me years ago one time in conversation "we pilgrims take what we can get".

Since when is 35 years ago not that long ago.

[skeeterator]

I have had two people fail to get financing on my 2017.

Still need to sell before new one arrives.

Has me checking my sanity as the new rig is more than double the cost of what I am selling my loaded 17 for.

So it's double the price but will it do twice as much as your current boat? The simple answer is no. If your 17 floats, gets you from the ramp to your fishing spot and back then why's the new one double the price for doing the same thing?

[Highcentered]

Since when is 35 years ago not that long ago.

You got me there. Still find it funny how some will say they NEED that 20-21 foot boat when people did fine before the 20-21' boat with a 250 was even a thing. No one NEEDS a 20-21' boat but they can sure WANT a 20-21' boat.

[Highcentered]

So it's double the price but will it do twice as much as your current boat? The simple answer is no. If your 17 floats, gets you from the ramp to your fishing spot and back then why's the new one double the price for doing the same thing?

It depends on a lot of things and it's his money to spend as he pleases. The boat I have now cost me nearly double what the 2016 Tracker it replaced did but the new boat is a huge upgrade in the areas I was wanting to upgrade in. It's really a floating tank.

[Thamelau]

So it's double the price but will it do twice as much as your current boat? The simple answer is no. If your 17 floats, gets you from the ramp to your fishing spot and back then why's the new one double the price for doing the same thing?

Will a 2015 bass boat do X times as much as a 2000 aluminum Basstracker? No, no it will not. So then why would anyone buy anything newer, bigger, faster, etc.?

[CaymasCobaltKen]

Demand destruction is a great theory, but I believe we have a case of High Anxiety.

[davidsa]

It depends on a lot of things and it's his money to spend as he pleases. The boat I have now cost me nearly double what the 2016 Tracker it replaced did but the new boat is a huge upgrade in the areas I was wanting to upgrade in. It's really a floating tank.

On thing I notice across the board with most main stream boats, alum or glass, is that they are all big vs the counterpart of the 1990's. I think your H18 is so much wider then a 18ft boat of the mid-1990's that it is a no comparison. By the same token, a 21ft boat of year 2024 looks like a small aircraft carrier vs a big bass boat of 1998. Our electronics and features are hugely upgraded as well.

Inflation is part of the reason boats cost so much but the bigger factor is the "arms race" going on to make the biggest fastest boat. Like everything else, when we see someone else with something, it normalizes it for us and we look past the cost frequently.

Just imaging if you were out on the water in 2000 with two graphs on the front deck and 2 at the console. You would have gotten some looks.