Why are Boats Expensive 

I'm a first-time boat owner as of 2022, and still licking my wounds from the purchase. After this very informative explanation, I completely get it. Another great video from Len's.

Ordered a boat at this year's Toronto boat show. Currently being built in Florida. You're right, boats cost big bucks. But hey, you can't take your money with you when you die, so you might as well spend all of it now.

Buying a new boat is also expensive because dealers are crooks. It’s a luxury item that nobody needs, it’s a want. Manufactures set the price and dealers profit from the luxury tax. I went to the dealer to put a down payment on a new boat. They wanted $4,000 for a “delivery” charge and another $3,000 for a “set up” fee. It doesn’t cost $7,000 to get a completed from the manufacturer to the end user. I could’ve picked the boat up myself for gas money or even contracted a privateer shipper for $2,000 and removed the shrink wrap myself. Dealer wouldn’t allow that. Factor off the lot depreciation and I stood to lose well over $20k right after signing the paperwork. I canceled my down payment for that reason. Dealer told me that he didn’t care because the next guy in the door would take my allotment. They make up prices just to see what sticks. MSRP on the boat I was looking at was $60k. My out the door price was $80k.

Excellent points and observations, now explain why a pontoon boat can cost upwards of 100k. They’re mostly aluminum and plywood lol

The boat I was planning on buying in 2020 went up 120K on a 350K boat. I told the dealer I will wait and make an offer when the bank shows up to repo his inventory. They have had no sales since Sept 2020 as they did not have any more inventory and zero sales at the boat show (lot of tire kickers this year). Now they are overloaded with inventory , no customers and have had to pass on build slots. They have to have at least 15 million in inventory and I bet their monthly interest cost on inventory is enormous now that interest rates have doubled.

Yes, boats last longer - they average owner barely uses them, and then continues to pay high loans and high interest rates for 20 years. I am in the market for a boat right now and am completely baffled by the costs. No matter how videos like these come across, the bottom line is that the prices are out of control (to be fair, so are cars and houses, but boats take the cake).

Really appreciate your insight!

Bought a $1,600 jon boat and does the same thing as an expensive boat: floats.

Buy good ‘used’ boats instead of overpriced new ones

It's cheaper to import a fishing boat from South Africa, they make cats which in fact handle better than monohulls (I have owned both). You can score big on the exchange rate even with tariffs!

I paid $112,000 (US) in 2021 for my 1997 SeaRay Sundancer 400. Since then I pay $4500 for heated indoor storage every year. This year I had to buy new canvas to the tune of $14,000, plus I had the canvas shop recover the three cushions that made up the couch. Another $5000 for that, but it’ll outlive me! This spring I paid $6.91/gallon to top it off (gasoline, not diesel) and will not have to fill up this season. ❤

Disagree, none of these reasons were any different prior to Covid. It’s pure extortion from the suppliers, manufacturers. I was looking recently but will keep my $$$ in my pocket till prices become realistic again I don’t appreciate getting ripped off. It’s not just boating it’s many industries.

I agree with the volume compared to cars...but that doesn't explain why the 25th largest car builder is selling cars for a significantly less amount on average ($29,000) than the #1 car builder ($51,900). And the cost associated with the manufacturing of boats has not increased in the past couple years at the rate of the price increases (+29%). As for the cost of boat ownership - this can range between 10 - 20% of the purchase price annually...significantly more than that of cars. Simply stated, boat prices are high primarily because they are a non-essential purchase (in most cases), combine with the fact that supply has underperformed the demand in the past 3 years.

Never buy a new boat, buy a new motor then find a used boat to put it on. Best way to do it. Boat motors suck might as well start off with the most important part first. Most boats will float just fine the motor is what’ll get you every freaking time.

I’d be more willing to buy a boat if they didn’t break down or leak every year. For the initial price I expect it to not fall apart in 12 months. Nonsense to spend 20% of the cost in maintenance starting almost immediately.

A used boat use not to be as expensive and the 2 stroke outboard motors were easier to manufacture and maintain ! It is an investment and if you have the luxury of a garage to protect it from the sun , rain & tree debris you can preserve that investment from the elements . It will pay dividends when you go to sell it ! Motorcycles are vulnerable to the elements in the same way .

You are an expert but I gotta disagree on a couple things. Some of the used older boat market is much lower than the new. Even a repower and electronics put them much lower. ie 1990 Hatteras 41 Sportfish @ $100k and a 2020 is $1.8M. Additionally, summer slips, winter storage, fuel, maintenance and upgrades are all super expensive and repeating. Those expenses are generally not incurred with car ownership or home ownership. Some $100-300k cars actually appreciate over 10-20yrs, not a boat. Thx for the video content.

First of all. Anybody that's ever looked at the price tag of boats knows that they're expensive. They've always been expensive no matter what the price of petrol was. And comparing the quantity of boats being sold to cars is disingenuous. I'm sure if boats where to cost $30,000 like cars. There would be a lot more boats being built. Because of the affordability. Go to any boat manufacturer's website and go to BUILD a boat for an eye popping experience. Take for instance a Bayliner T22CC. With a 300 horsepower, trailer, options, not all of their options, $90,000. You could buy three cars for that. One car for each child. Then there's the options that cost four times what you could pay for yourself. Granted the manufacturer has to install it and run the electrical wire. But a $550 GPS costing $2000?? A $400 TV costing $3,500?? If a person buys a brand new boat. They usually hold on to it for no more than 6 years. Otherwise they take a tremendous hit in trade value. Then there is the maintenance and upkeep. The two happiest days in your life are buying a boat and getting rid of it.

I think everyone knows boats are expensive and major money pits! I also highly think that fiberglass should NOT be used in anything because it's not good for anyone. Last summer my brother and his kids almost got extremely hurt by fiberglass that was in our pool in our backyard and i got in their skin, eyes and thankfully nobody really got it too bad in their eyes or ingested it all due to my brother quicky realizing something wasn't right when he was in there first after not long at all because it was coming out of the pool wall and liner etc which is extremely dangerous like dead serious. We also used to have a few fiberglass boats growing up but i remember 1 green 1 we had that was nothing but fiberglass that we constantly had issues/problems with and that thing ALWAYS got into our skin,made us itch and it felt like terrible splinters and shards of glass was always pricking you and it was VERY annoying,very dangerous not that i know better all these years later and i told my dad many times that i absolutely hated that boat and anything that was fiberglass and told him to PLEASE get rid of it and get another 1 that clearly wasn't fiberglass!! STAY far away from anything fiberglass people and I'm not joking especially if you aren't familiar at all with what it's capable of doing and NONE of it in which is good,ALL BAD!!!

Makes sense ! 👍

Doesn't explain why an outboard new in the frame at 250 hp is 35k. Plus rigging. Just an engine with a foot no prop $35k or more wtf.

Boats are also generally a luxury whereas cars are seen as practically essential

This helps you understand value and ownership but doesn't reflect material and labor cost.