(With apologies to Joshua Slocum)
Issue 12 : May/Jun 2000
In the March 2000 issue of Practical Sailor editor Dan Spurr describes how he came to sell his Tartan 44, Viva. He concludes that he has lost money on the five boats he has owned, considering the purchase price, cost of upgrade parts, and selling price (in the analysis, his labor was not valued). He asks the question: “Is upgrading a smart investment?” and reasons that it is not. His evaluation suggests that you can expect to lose about 30 percent of your investment when you sell your boat.
We like Dan Spurr. We asked his advice when we started Good Old Boat and again several times since then. His advice was valuable and freely given. In addition to his contributions at Practical Sailor, Dan has written several books. The most notable and most recent of these is Heart of Glass, which is a well researched and well written history of good old fiberglass boats (see review in this issue on Page 74).
Nobody ever said that owning a cruising boat was a cheap hobby. No matter how you do it you are going to spend a significant amount of money. You can buy a new boat or a used one. You can look for one that is so far gone it won’t pass survey, take out a second mortgage for it, and fix it up, or you can buy one in sailing condition. No matter what the situation, you are not done spending money after the initial purchase. Dan adds that you are not going to recover what you spent either.
Karen and I have a concept we call the “carpeting and wallpaper budget:” Owner A buys a home and immediately papers the walls and carpets the floors. He believes he has increased the value of the home. Owner B buys the home from A and tears off the wallpaper and pulls up the carpeting. He likes hardwood floors and painted walls. He also believes he has increased the value of the home.
We believe you should make a distinction between maintenance and upgrades. Maintenance is essential. Upgrades should be viewed as optional and discretionary. Upgrades are most valuable to you if they are in harmony with the intended and most common use of your boat. The upgrades you make may be very important to you and not at all important to the next owner, depending on what he values and how he uses the boat. Upgrades are simply the carpeting and wallpaper budget. The minimum equipment list for most boats is a compass and lead line. As you add equipment beyond that, you add cost and complexity, so choose wisely. You won’t recover your investment in upgrades.
If Dan’s experiences are typical, and you do lose an average of 30 percent on your investment, there are some things you can do to minimize your loss. Don’t buy so many boats. Two-footitus is time consuming and expensive. Pick out a boat that will serve you well for several decades, fix it up, maintain it, upgrade it according to your tastes, and sail it. Sail it often. Minimize the maintenance and upgrading hours consistent with having a safe and enjoyable boat, and maximize the sailing. You are not going to get back some of the money nor any of the time. Go for the smiles, not the gleaming varnish or the equipment list.
While you are picking a vessel that will serve you for several decades, be careful to pick one whose size, cost, and complexity do not exceed your actual requirements. Take it easy now. Are you really going to sail around the world, or just around in the world, or more likely just around in the bay? Using a large expensive globe-circling voyager for coastal cruising is an expensive mismatch. The wrong machine for the job. My good friend Steve Dorsey would equate that to “a Porsche pulling a plow.” If you want to keep the dream of sailing over the horizon alive by having a boat that is designed and equipped for bluewater work, at least understand that this is not the lowest-cost option.
Picking the right size is important. The cost of most things associated with boats goes up roughly as the cube of the length on deck. With a big boat you will lose 30 percent of a big boat price. With a small boat perhaps the same by percentage but obviously less. Big boats are more comfortable, but not as easy to sail.
We bought Mystic in sailaway condition. She has since been reasonably well maintained and extensively upgraded. If I added up the cost of the discretionary upgrades, they might equal the original cost of the boat. (I won’t do that.) When I worked for corporate America and received steady paychecks, that kind of foolishness was easier. There were at least two expensive fiascoes. First we equipped her to receive weather fax (there is no good weather fax broadcast for our cruising area), and second we barrier coated a bottom that did not have blisters (until after we barrier coated it).
Will we make good on our investment? We already have. Will we get our money back? I doubt it, but Mystic is not for sale. I don’t want my money back. I want my boat.
Older boats are a fine way to get on the water for a lot less money. Dan Spurr does not dispute that. But they do cost money. For an investment, try stocks or bonds or T-bills. For efficient and economical transportation, fly coach class or take a bus. For pure smiles, pure pleasure, and priceless memories, a good old boat is a good buy. It is a buy, an involvement, a process, and a commitment, not a financial investment.
We like and respect you, Dan. We hope you get a little boat and go sailing purely for the pleasure of it. We suspect that you already know that differential GPS and radar are no help on the Real Voyage. Even the boat is a metaphor.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
