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The boat market is crashing


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  • Super User

I went to the Mpls Boat Show for a couple hours this morning.  There was definitely a lack of fishing boats, and more specifically, a lack of bass boats.  Tons of pontoons and tritoons.

 

I was able to sit in a nice Pro V Bass Tournament Edition for a few minutes.  I took photos of some price tags.  Be forewarned though, these prices are enough to give a guy a cardiac.

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  • Super User

Nice looking Lund.

And those suggested monthly payments on the Bass Cat

are more than my new truck & mortgage payments combined. 

btw how many bedrooms is the Bass Cat ?

🙃

A-Jay

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I bought my house last year for only a couple grand more than that Bass Cat. I put a steel roof on it, and still came in about 9k under the price of that Ranger. I can't imagine spending that kind of money on a boat.

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I wonder how much it would actually take to buy one of those boats.   I suspect a couple years ago the "real" price would have been the one on the tag.  I suspect the "real" price now might be lower.   Last year a friend of mine bought a nice new Vexus for ~80% of the price when you "build it" on their website.   

 

2 years ago I looked a quite a few boats before I cheaped out on mine.  All of them were priced what the tag said.....but supply was a bigger issue then, and interest rates were lower.   

 

In Dec 2022 the $100K Caymas was $100K with people waiting for them.   There's several sitting at my local dealer now.   I suspect the $100K boat from 2022, not priced at $110K might be bought for ~$95K  

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1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

I can't imagine spending that kind of money on a boat.

Neither can I.  There must be a lot of disposable income and a big ass garage to buy a boat like that.  You should have seen the price tags of some of the new Wake Boats.  Pushing half a million bucks.

 

My guess is that it targets a very narrow demographic of the population.  Like millionaires or people without any kids.  I honestly don't know anyone that falls into those groups.

 

I will say that there were some reasonably priced aluminum fishing boats though.  Plenty of 16-18 footers in the $25k range.

 

I personally just like looking at boats.  It helps me get through the winter here.  I look at the boat show  as kind of a "halfway point" of winter.

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30 minutes ago, gimruis said:

My guess is that it targets a very narrow demographic of the population.  Like millionaires or people without any kids

Dual income no kids and I do not fit the 100k bass boat budget. We do well but not that well. With a 100k boat you’re going to have a 70-100k tow vehicle. If I put 100k into anything it’s a different house. 

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  • Super User

Those boat prices make me feel blessed to live around small waters. I bought my 20HP Suzuki in 20. Picked up my 16' Polar Kraft Jon in 21, built an all aluminum deck and floor in it, and I'm all in at 11K.

 It works very well for what I do.

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@T-Billy other than raystown and wallenpaulpack everything is small till you get west of raystown. Blue marsh is 1200 acres with unlimited rating but, it’s seriously a 2 minute run at 30mph through the wake area and a half hour no wake area. The guys I see with the expensive bass boats are 45 plus males who fish leagues every week and travel within 3 hours to fish tournaments. After that it’s TRACKERS. Jon boats, old 16’ tillers, older smoker crafts. You see a lot of G3 like mine on the river. They fill a great niche. 
 

the biggest thing people need to look for in a boat is can it do what you want it to do safety. I’m also sure when you’re a first time boat owner once you have this boat a few years you’ll see what you really want in a boat vs what you think you want. 
 

A brand new boat should out last you properly taken care of. No matter what brand. Quite frankly I see a lot of miss treated and “junk boats” that have probably never been taken care of still going. 

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2 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

the biggest thing people need to look for in a boat is can it do what you want it to do safety. I’m also sure when you’re a first time boat owner once you have this boat a few years you’ll see what you really want in a boat vs what you think you want. 

Agree with this 100%.

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By all means anyone who can afford this stuff go get it. It’s neat to see in person at the ramp than just seeing it on tv. No one should feel pressured to have to have it. I think that’s where a lot of people get in trouble. 

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22 hours ago, gimruis said:

I went to the Mpls Boat Show for a couple hours this morning.  There was definitely a lack of fishing boats, and more specifically, a lack of bass boats.  Tons of pontoons and tritoons.

 

I was able to sit in a nice Pro V Bass Tournament Edition for a few minutes.  I took photos of some price tags.  Be forewarned though, these prices are enough to give a guy a cardiac.

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The SP model of the Basscat Caracal is advertised at $79,900 on the Basscat website. There's $40k in add-ons on that boat show model.

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48 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

@Craig P the bummer is I’d have to treat nock like an electric lake. I wish they would have mph restrictions not HP ones. 


Yeah, that restriction keeps many off of that lake. It’s one of the reasons I switched boats and went down to a 20 so that I could fish that lake more effectively, more often. I still fish BM and Beltzville, the 20 moves that boat 22mph so plenty fast for those places.

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@Craig P I fish blue marsh because it’s 32 minutes from pulling out of the boat launch to backed into my garage. I usually on fish it for a quick trip or if the river is at an unsafe level. 
 

nock is about 1.5 hours from me. I went there when I had my old boat before I put the jet on that. Sadly a 20hp jet is a paper weight. 60/40s get you on plan and run decent. It just feels like it takes forever to get on plane.   My 115/80 jet is slow but, it two boat lengths gets on plane which is crucial 

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1 hour ago, slonezp said:

There's $40k in add-ons on that boat show model.

I think the other one I posted is the same.  The Ranger base price is $115k but there's add ons that bring it to $140k.

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11 minutes ago, gimruis said:

The Ranger base price is $115k

What kills me is that's 3x what I originally paid for my house.

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It’s 5+ times what we paid for our house in Omaha.

 

No such luck when we moved to Ma.

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5 hours ago, slonezp said:

The SP model of the Basscat Caracal is advertised at $79,900 on the Basscat website. There's $40k in add-ons on that boat show model.

I've heard that the SP is going to be discontinued in the future which I think is a shame.  That Caracal SP layout is one of the best if not the best in the bassboat market.  At least if it is continued it will make my next boat decision quite easy- the Lund Pro V Bass.  And I'll even save 20K or so.  

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While I would love a new boat and I could certainly afford one with the contacts I have developed over the years making it a little more affordable, my conservative mind just won’t let me spend that kind of cash on a hobby.  Add I fish with a buddy who has to have the “latest and greatest” so I get the benefits of that as well and we take his boat and my truck on our trips to Florida and St Clair.  Finally, my garage won’t fit either a 20 or 21 footer so my boat has to sit outside covered on an extension I had poured for it.  I couldn’t do that to a new boat even though my current boat is no worse for the wear being outside.  My buddy just upgraded his troller to a Power Pole Move and I am buying his Lowrance Ghost as an upgrade to my Fortrex.  It’s hard enough shelling out $2,500 for the trolling motor swap. 😂

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Anything that I drop $100+ grand on will most definitely have a zip code.

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37 minutes ago, volzfan59 said:

Anything that I drop $100+ grand on will most definitely have a zip code.

Class A motor home and a boat. Best of both worlds 

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I was trying to justify it in my head somehow, like if my wife really loved fishing and we went out nearly every weekend but even then I cant imagine what a 100+k boat will do that a 50-70k boat would do just as well. A boat for just myself currently and occasionally a joy ride with my wife and daughter....no, I'm more the 30-40k used market at BEST 😅.

 

As everyone else said the 100K towards a house that could bring in more income would be more worth it. Now if you had 1 or 2 of those already then 100+K boat might not be out of the financial question but still...why that much when plenty of other boats provide the same for much less. 

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I don't have a problem with anyone buying anything at any price that they can "afford". But we have a family that owe the school system because they can't pay for their two kids school lunches, but they post photos of their new bass boat with 250 hp motor, show screen shots of their forward facing sonar, and talk about all the local tournaments they're fishing in.  When confronted about the lunch bills, the mom told me "we have bills to pay and have to prioritize them."  They know the school system has to feed their kids, but the boat dealer doesn't have to let them keep the boat.

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Don't worry about a 140K boat, I'm sure that rich people who can afford it will get a nice tax brake on it or will be able to fully deduct it.... they will be OK. 

 

 

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