| May Brokerage Sales Highest in Five Years |
| U.S. brokers sold more boats in May than in any single month since 2007. Sales had improved in March and April, compared to 2012, but in May they climbed significantly, with 3,730 boats reported. This was well above the five-year average for May, of 3,293 boats sold, and also more than 100 boats above 2012, when 3,589 were sold. |
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| Sailboat sales continued relatively strong, with 607 boats sold, a 5 percent increase compared to May 2012. More importantly for the market as a whole, sales of powerboats also rose 4 percent, to 3,123 boats. Better sales were reported among all sizes of boat 45 feet or shorter, with 1,691 closings for boats under 35 feet, a 4 percent gain. In the 36- to 45-foot range, sales were 3 percent higher, with 759 boats sold. The only size range to record lower sales was 46 to 55 feet, down 3 boats compared to May 212, with 178 boats sold. Big-boat sales were also strong. Among superyachts (over 80 feet), 20 were sold, up 10 from the year before. And in the 56- to 79-foot size, 82 boats changed hands, up from 76. The total value of boats sold in May rose by $98 million, mainly on the strength of superyacht sales (up $91 million). By contrast, boats 56 to 79 feet sold at a total price that was $6 million or 10 percent below the previous May. The market under 55 feet made up the difference, with a total value gain of $13 million. Through the first five months of the year, overall sales were 1 percent lower than in 2012, with 12,659 boats sold. The total value of the boats sold was 15 percent higher, with $1.66 billion changing hands. |
May Yacht Brokerage Sales The Highest In 5 Years
Hurricane Season Dry Storage For Catamarans
Contact Gary Fretz for mre information: bigyachts@gmail.com....we can also arrange for delivery here if you don't have time....this is the safest way to weather the hurricane season....
Comparing Cats: The Short List
I was asked for a brief list of how I'd rank the various brands...I've owned and/or lived-aboard and cruised Lagoons, Prouts, Leopards...Here is a brief list comparing the major brands:
Pro Con
Lagoon: More interior space than any other/Achieves huge economies of scale in the build process so you get the most for your money Some people call them "Clorox bottles" meaning they are finished "too plasticky"
Leopard: "Wear the best"/stay looking good the longest/rigged for 1-2 to sail.Yacht-like finish not as much room as Lagoon
FP Lavezzi: Low in price/Lotta boat 4 the $ Tiny salon/galley. Fit and finish like a "mobile home"...a step below the others
FP Orana: Low in price/has improvements over older FP's Not as much room as Lagoon. A step below others(in finish)
Prout: forget them. They went bankrupt in 2000 and the new builder in China is a cash-strapped group who haven't ever built boats before...they leak, don't hold up well and are not well-thought out even though the design appears to be excellent. Nobody in the factory knows how to sail.
My wife and many cruisers would agree with me 100% that the absolute most important factors to choosing a cat are in this order:
1. Comfort and usable interior space are of paramount importance..amount of storage space is VERY IMPORTANT
2. try to acquire the newest biggest boat for the budget
3. gotta be easy for 1 person to sail
4. Speed is not important because the difference between the major production boats is small
I can elaborate on the above for hours ....
What Does It Really Cost To Own A Catamaran?
Q). This question was posed:
It varies from person to person and by type of yacht...If Donald Trump owned the same boat as me, he'd probably see the need to spend double what I think needs to be spent.....if we are talking about a 20 year old cat that was not maintained well, then there could be major refit money needed justto make it insurable ... I have heard very general estimates of "10% of the value of the yacht on an annual basis". But that really doesn't make sense when you consider that a new boat has very little maintenance in the first year ...and boats are like cars...once they get to a certain age (7-10 years) all the components start to fall apart...so maintenance becomes a larger issue "late in the life of the boat"...you will find a discussion about holding/running costs at the end of my report I sent you...the major ones are:
| "Gary one thing that I would like to get to grips on..is the holding/running costs of owning a Cat? Might you have that information??" A). Here is the condensed version answer.... |
- financing/cost of money...if you don't have a loan then it's the foregone returns you would have made investing the money elsewhere
- insurance (some people "self-insure" or get "liability only" coverage so you'd have little/no out-of-pocket expense)...for "full navigation coverage" it is 1.5% of the declared hull value (as an annual premium) if you go with a major underwriter. If you are not using the yacht for part of the year be sure and tell your agent to convert to "port risk" coverage and you may get a refund of half the premium for that period...
- dockage (anchor the boat somewhere and that cost can be zero...stay in a fancy marina and it can be $20/foot per month...so, in the full service marina, a 40' cat costs $800+tax/month...I can find homeowners with docks behind their houses who charge $10/foot/month and you can save some money)
- maintenance (some people delay annual recommended maintenance but you have to be careful about that because sometimes it comes back to haunt you)...best to budget for bottom jobs, servicing sail drives/engines/new zincs, replace sails in year 5 (I know some sailors who can get 10-20 years out of a sail), periodic detailling-cleaning
- fuel is usually a minor expense on a sailing cat....not so on a power cat
When you narrow down a particular make/model I can quantify the expenses noted above so you know what dollar amount to expect...
One way some people eliminate the holding/running costs is to buy a new yacht in a charter fleet. They will have no expenses whatsoever for 5.5 years (the normal length of a charter program)...they will get a guaranteed income for 5.5 years (between 8-10% of the new cost of the yacht...So, if it cost $500k new, you get to $40k-50k/year in income for 5.5 years)...they use the boat when it's not chartered out....they can also use similar boats at 30 other locations worldwide...by the end of the program you either sell the yacht or sail it away ...
There you have it!
Satellite Is Now The Best eMail Solution While Cruising Remotely
I think this is the best way to stay in touch while cruising in remote areas... get yourself an Iridium satellite phone. Prices are falling on these and the last lowest price I saw was $1150. Then buy 500 minutes (usually costs $1/minute)...then install apps called Ocens Mail and Ocens Weather ($59) ... Now you have satellite voice, eMail and weather forecasting capability. This is 100% reliable (unlike those old-fashioned SSB based eMail programs). When receiving and sending eMail just connect the phone to the satellite for a minute and the outgoing mail blasts out and incoming mail zooms in.... so you only use a minute of satellite time. You also have the ability to make satellite phone calls which comes in very handy in emergencies. And you can get weather forecasts worldwide...
I lived on a catamaran recently for 6 months and this is an awesome way to stay connected to your business, family, friends yet still cruise to the best areas... I know cruisers now running businesses using this strategy and as costs come down it becomes more practical to leave the crowded, polluted, noisy, tax-overwhelmed, overly complex, crime-filled world. Vote with your feet and get out!
Island Spirit Introduces New 38' Power Catamaran
Old Vs. New
Here is a discussion I had with a buyer who has a budget of $150k and he is considering an older catamaran vs. newer:
Let me try to be succinct.... if you can find a really well-maintained Lagoon 37 or 42 then none of what I'm about to say matters.... but the ones in the price range you have been looking at generally need a lot of work and have not been well-maintained. Yachts are like cars in that: at a certain age, everything starts to fall apart. And the repair bills can be endless and you can spend all your time dealing with that and no time sailing/cruising. If you are a "tinkerer"/engineer-type then maybe this is quite alright ...(Are you?).......Different models reach the end of their "maintenance-free life" at different times (Leopard has the longest useful life) but generally the manufacturers have recently been using better materials and components so that the newer boats last longer. If I were in the market now and had to stick to a certain budget, I'd look for the newest boat possible by the best builder possible. The best production builders for 1999 onwards are Lagoon, Privilege, Leopard and Fountaine Pajot can be OK but stick to as late-model as possible and never buy one of their hull #1-5's (when new model comes out they always have screw-ups/leaks/issues and these dont always get remedied 100% by the manufacturer...FP has a terrible warranty reputation)....
The 37 and the 42 had some flaws which are not limited to the following and maybe these aren't deal-killers for you:
- their salons are small compared to more recent models....i.e., the newer-designed Mahe 36 has a larger salon than a Lagoon 42! But the 42 has a longer waterline and will sail a little better
- the headliners were constantly falling down and the replacement headliners can almost never look decent
- the flooring lasted about 15 years and needs replacing
- the way the windows are designed creates a "hothouse effect" in the tropics that broils you when sitting in the salon...there are some partial remedies for this (Note: that is why Lagoon went to vertical windows)
- on some 42's the engines were placed under the bunks and the inevitable oil spills/fuel spills on the engine stink up the interior. Some people get sick inhaling this....by the way, when I ran Moorings Yacht Brokerage for 10 years we went to Lagoon about this and they moved the engines aft and sealed them off from the living space but there are only a few models like this
- the 37 can hobby horse (pitch) quite a bit in certain seas
It may sound like I dont like these boats but I really do and have really fond memories of my 42 and 37....but I'm just saying a newer/smaller boat can usually give you the same amount of usable space and will "wear longer"
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