Vacationer "Aurora" is for sale for $2500 in the Items For Sale Section. The boat looks fantastic and includes a 5hp, dacron, and a host of other stuff, gin pole etc. and a trailer.
How can this be? I've got almost $2500 in my 3/4 finished Vac and I have yet to get a motor and a new trailer is more than $2500. What gives here?
Welcome to the wonderful world of used home-built boat sales. If you can get 50 cents on the dollar for the materials you had in her, then you made a VERY good sale. Ten cents on the dollar is closer to the norm, and the labor is always free. Pay yourself minimum wage for the time it took to build her and add that to your materials cost and you can see how "expensive" these boats can be.
The problem is, potential buyers have no clue on how well made the boat is (or is not). Were the joints starved for glue? Were enough screws used? Were the plans followed precisely? Is the plywood ACX or marine grade? Is she rotting underneath the paint?
Also, there is no real market for used home-builts. If I want to purchase a used 18ft Chrysler Buccaneer built in 1979, I can look them up and see that prices range from $500 to $2000. And when I plop down my cash for my shiny used Buccaneer, I can be reasonably sure that the fiberglass hull will last another 20 years. Wooden boats are always a rot risk.
I almost bought a Weekender that was for sale here in Illinois. She was originally built in Ohio and might have been the best ever built - Okume hull, mahogany spars hatches rails etc, a tabernacled mast, a snap fit custom canvas cover, custom fit trailer with LED lighting, trolling motor, navigation lights, very clean sails, etc. Trouble was, the yard wanted $4,500 (easily less than the materials in her), and would not budge on the price. She sat there for three years.
Cheers,
Tom