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Answer: Because nobody’s looking to buy
a new, 20-year old boat.
Question: Why
do boats seem to be more expensive than they should? You might want to
write down that Q&A if planning to be on TV’s Jeopardy. If you’re not,
but you are planning to become a boat owner, you might want to memorize
it. The thought might not ease your wallet, but it might ease your mind
about folks taking advantage of you.
Look at the cost of a boat thirty years ago. Even adjusted for
inflation, there’s a big gap compared with similar boats of today.
Factoring in higher wage and material costs still leaves you with a
significant discrepancies. Why? The simplest answer is because builders
can’t / won’t build those same boats today. In their minds (and it is
largely true) the marketplace would not embrace the minimalist
appointments of those 30-year old offerings. Before you start screaming
about how you love “simple boats”, I’d like a show of hands of who buys
cars with AM-only radios, hand crank windows, and no air conditioning.
Make no mistake, every upgrade increases cost. 30-years ago a manual
toilet cost less than $50. Today a similar hand pump unit costs about
$150. So, a 3-times increase in boat cost? Wrong! A 50-thousand dollar
boat then would cost a lot more than 150-thousand dollars today. You see
it’s not just the price of the pieces. It’s what pieces. The same boat
today would likely be fitted with a toilet costing closer to $1000 to
meet “market demands”. Ditto every one of the major (and minor) pieces
of equipment and systems aboard.
The truth is, boats are more expensive for a number of reasons. One big
one, often overlooked, is because most peoples’ idea of simplicity has
changed.
But then that’s my opinion.
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