Would you buy a new yacht?

Great comments in this thread and I pick "all of the above." I know of several manufacturers who have a dealer demo on hand that can be bought at bargain pricing. And there are manufacturers who are absolutely cutting great deals on new builds to keep their yards busy. There are numerous owners who need to sell and are still properly maintaining their yachts because they can afford to and because it's the right thing to do. And then the are the unfortunate boats whose owners haven't been able to weather the storm so to speak and their boats are priced accordingly. There is still retail pricing on some vessels and some owners hoping for the best, but in general if you're looking for a deal, take your pick.

Judy

I don't think you want it delivered to Hawaii. And that's coming from someone who lives in Honolulu! New boats always have some "owner preference" items that will be added after delivery (electronics, watermakers, dinghy, and so on). Yes, you could ship these things to Hawaii to meet the boat, but the choice of yards to commission your new boat in Hawaii is very small.

How big of a boat are you considering buying (sorry if I missed that somewhere)? It's important to figuring out the freighting costs.

Dan

My Father did. I don't have it in me. He did it with a very well known larger boat builder though. I may be convinced based on similar sister ships from the same builder in the same class, similar if not same hull or mold, but never from a 1 off type or new(er) builder.

Holding payment until shakedown is the only stake of sanity you'd have. One indeed needed.

It's about (give/take) $45k for something like a 42' Grand Banks to $100k for an 80' MY........

you have a very good point; but should i ask you whether you would like to buy a flat built to satisfy general wishes or a house built not just to your wishes but also to your desires?

you have similar risks when you are building the house as building a custom made boat, but in order to avoid the risks as best as possible, i assume you go for a seasoned architect and assure that he has some previous work that you like and then most probably try to engage a builder that has built other buildings; which you may again check for quality. of course there are the building control units of the public administrators, which will try to regulate the quality as well.

custom boat building is not much different, as you very well put, one needs to be more careful, because the boats float and move and they are more complicated than a building in the construction process.

i have gone through this process; after owning several production boats i realized that i wanted something more. to be on the safe side and to satisfy my quality hunger i visited several good pedigree yards in different countries for the type of boat i was planning to build and then decided on the one that gave me the most comfort. during the design and build process i was heavily involved and i even had the chance to attend the tank testing (which nearly took 3 months) in one of the major marine institutes in germany. so, there was quite an extensive design effort to ensure that the boat floats to the conditions that are desired. actually design costs are constituting about 10% of the total costs of the boat if they are carried out properly. it is not just a nice rendering that makes a boat great, but the other details that is put into the design!

needless to state that this is a more costly process, but it is also a process which you can influence and ensure that you achieve better quality (if you do your homework right) and a product that you will somewhat be able to identify yourself with.

One humble suggestion is to have the design comply to the Germanischer Lloyd yacht certification if the yard is in Europe. It might be a good standard level for the project.

Also you might wish to consider the time frame involved for a custom project from the conceptualization to the delivery processes, will you be willing to wait a long time? Procurement might take time for each part, a serial production boat might be with you in 4-5 months.

We're on our first serial production boat, planning for a second one from a higher quality manufacturer. I agree with AMG's rule of third and Nilo's enjoyment concept, try to charter a similar yacht for a week if possible.

Regards
Vr

Absolutely, if it is from a good naval architect AND built in a good shipyard. Although I've seen a lot of hull #1's with both where the COG is way off, and they didn't run right. They were fixed with moving weight around, mainly adding or moving a fuel tank foward or back.......

Historically, and normally, it makes better financial sense to buy a very well maintained, but nearly new boat.

However, these are not normal times. For the past 70 years or so, fuel has been plentiful and cheap. Energy costs will continue to rise due to the obvious and tremendous growth in the developing economies (especially China, India, Pakistan, SE Asia), the obvious fact that peak oil occurred 6 years ago, and the obvious fact that global warming will need to be addressed radically.

Therefore, existing boats are not what you will want to own today, much less than in 5 or 10 years.

Not that most builders or naval architects would build you a new boat today that you'd want to own in 5 or 10 years either. That's the problem: the suppliers are still asleep, driving into the future looking in the rear view mirror.

One can easily design and build a very efficient and comfortable boat that is far cheaper to build and own than virtually any existing vessel. There is nothing mysterious here: "long, slow, and light" is all it takes, but these are essential. By long and slow: 50 feet to go 7 knots, or 100 feet to go 10 knots. By light: shoot for a DLR of 10 to 12, not 100 or 300.

If you go this path:
1) Figure out the absolute minimum accommodations and systems you need. Do this while camping or cruising, not while at home. Very important!
2) Figure out the widest thing in the interior arrangement. That gives you the max beam. For example, a queen berth on centerline with 18 inches either side is 1.5+5.5+1.5 or 8.5 feet.
3) Spread everything else out linearly. The longer it is, the faster you can cruise efficiently (at a SL of 1.0, or knots = sqrt(LWL)).
4) Keep everything as low as possible.
5) Calculate the engine and generator capacity needed, don't choose a sexy number like 1000! Assume you'll slow down in rough seas, because you must! A 20 HP outboard is probably better in every way than an inboard diesel. Be careful with power, and its easy to have enough solar panels on a long, thin, low, simple boat.

I think that's very far off. The deciding factor is whether you're an "I want new" type person and can afford that luxury. Just a matter of choice.
Used to be that a big boat was a once in a lifetime purchase. Now 3 yearitice has grown in size. But, whether you buy a yacht designed to you or one that's 2, 3 or more years old, in good shape and appealing to you, in 10 years it'll be in need of a new interior and new technologies. 10 years ago who'd have imagined IPS on a 70' yacht?

I don't believe that. The majority of 2-4 year old boats still have 90% of their life left on all of the major items such as generator, engines, etc. A lot of owners just want new, because it's a new model, or because they feel a used boat is like a used car. I've also seen some owners want new because they want a certain interior color and certain electronics or whatever......I've seen some owners bought their first yacht used, decided they enjoyed the heck out of it, know exactly what they want on the next one, and have it built to their specifications.

With today's technology, there are a lot of owners who could do the great loop (with a Captain) and still work via internet, etc. Maybe fly out for 2-3 days, conduct business, fly right back and keep on going. I had internet 95% of the time with my verizon aircard for example. I run a yacht for 1 owner that's the CEO of a company with 1200 employees, we've pulled into a marina more than a few times at a certain time and sat at the fuel dock for 1 or 2 hours so he could do his scheduled conference call, then tipped the dock attendant and kept on going.

Other owners would rather the first person took the hit, and realize even though the yacht isn't exactly the way they want it, it suits their needs. Every yacht is a compromise after all.

Right, but nobody is buying it. It is about dreams, not transportation.