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Hi Friends,

I need to find the resale value of my Vacationer plus trailer.

The sailboat was built through ten years from about 1986 to 1996. The hull was registered with the state around 1996. The trailer is two axles.

I consider the boat to be in fair to good condition.


The boat has the following :

completed construction, has sailed just a few times on water;

has dacron sails;


but boat is lacking the following :

lacks engine;

cockpit interior not finished;

needs chain plates reinstalled;

ropes all need replacing;

wood surfaces need sanding and re- sealing;


I need to officially report its value- not really selling it ! I need something like a blue book value.


Thanks for any views or observations or suggestions !


Ahbleza Kevin


(01-31-2014, 05:44 AM)Kevin Ahbleza link Wrote: [ -> ]I need to officially report its value- not really selling it ! I need something like a blue book value.

What is the official reason for reporting it's value?

Generally, home built boats have no secondary market, so there will be no "Blue Book" value. If you documented the costs of the materials used to construct the boat, then that is the value of the boat. Generally, used home built boats sell for about the cost of the materials, frequently less. Even if you are a seriously talented woodworking amateur producing works of art with painstaking attention to detail, the upper limit for sales price is only about twice the materials cost. You can also make the argument that the boat is worthless, as it was not manufactured by a licensed boat builder, so there were no controls on the quality of the materials, methods, or workmanship, and therefore represent a serious risk of life and limb during usage.

So a nice "official" range of values for a home built boat are between Zero and Twice the cost of the boat. 

Anything more than that, and you are fooling yourself (or somebody else if they actually bought it!). And judging from the list of defects you volunteered, the value of your boat is probably closer to the Zero end of the scale.

You should be able to place a value on the trailer by looking up the asking prices of similar capacity trailers of comparable age in your local market.

Cheers,
Tom