Why Buying a Boat is NOT Like Buying a Car!!!

There isn’t much better than getting out and sailing the world’s oceans on a well-founded sailboat.

But with so many options available how do you decide which one to get?

Boat manufacturers would like you to think that buying and owning a boat is like buying and owning a car. I’m going to explain why it’s not, and how you should approach buying a boat instead.

Big car manufacturers make hundreds of thousands of cars every year, and have ability to make most parts of the car themselves. Much of the manufacturing process is highly automated, so there is a high degree of consistency amongst cars that came off the production line days or even months apart.

They also have local dealerships and service centres which are a big part of the ownership experience. In other words, they are largely responsible for all aspects of the success or failure of the car.

But even the biggest boat manufacturers only make hundreds of boats each year, much of the work is still done by hand. And they are very reliant on third party manufacturers for pretty much everything that isn’t the hull. Pretty much everything that makes boats function comes from a third party, and not the boat manufacturer itself.

If anything fails you don’t go back to the boat manufacturer, you go to a local boatyard which will be reimbursed by the manufacturer if it’s a warranty job. The same boatyard will serve all manufacturers. They will also repair all the attached components, so there’s very little reliance on the original manufacturer.

In many ways, buying a boat is much more like buying a house than a car – you look at the layout, how well the previous owner has cared for it, and what equipment is installed. You look for the best fit for your lifestyle and how you plan to use it, regardless of the builder, and you should do the same for a boat.

Now that I’ve said the manufacturer doesn’t matter, there are a few areas where it does, but not for the reasons you’d expect.

Bigger manufacturers have larger production runs, and owners of their boats form amazing support communities, where you can ask any question about your boat, and somebody else has likely encountered that problem and solved it. For example, the owners of more than 1,000 Catalina 42s have formed robust owner support network to help you solve pretty much any problem imaginable.

On the other hand, you may find yourself feeling isolated and struggling with issues on one-off custom builds, or smaller production runs, even if they are technically better built.

Boats with larger production runs are also easier to sell, because there is a larger market looking for them, because people feel more confident in having something to compare to. One-off boats can sit on the market for months or years because buyers are afraid of them, which is a shame because many of them are actually better.

So if you’re asking which brand of boat is best, you’re essentially asking the wrong question. The question you should be asking is “What layout is best for how I intend to use the boat, and which makes and models of yachts meet that criteria. An even more important question might be “What is the condition and installed equipment?” and the answer to this has much more to do with the previous owner than the manufacturer.

What’s your boat buying experience? Leave a comment below and let us know!

Disclaimer:
- This content is offered solely for your education and entertainment.
- There are no warranties, expressed or implicit, about any content or its fitness for a particular purpose.
- There are risks of injury, death, drunkenness, and financial hardship involved in sailing.
- The skipper is always responsible for the safety of their vessel and crew.
- Sailing Tips is not responsible or liable in any way for anything that happens on or anywhere near your boat or any boat that we are not in command of.

#howto #pick #sailing #yacht #sailing #howtosail #learntosail #sailingtips

[SailingTipsCa]

If you've watched both of these videos you might wonder why they seem almost the same:



The reason is they are, except I created the top one when I was much newer at editing and recording voiceovers and I've learned so much since then, so I recently tweaked, re-edited, and re-recorded the same video idea again in the second video to see if there would be any differences in viewer satisfaction.

If you've seen both videos please leave a comment to let me know if there has been any improvement or if I can stop obsessing about such things!

Thanks for watching!

[kisero]

0:48, group-benneteau, bavaria, hanse, etc .. they make thousands a year. a yard you would not survive unless they build custom-made boats or very large boats if they are not close the thousands. you will notice in the last decade smaller yards were grouped under a single umbrella company to survive.

[kfarrel]

5 years ago, while on a bike ride with a non-sailing friend, I was bemoaning my woes after selling my beloved CAL 35. It was a great family yacht and still fit our needs perfectly, but we had logged many summers already and it was now our time to sell - for many reasons that only a fellow who has maintained a sailboat for several years could understand, and yes, ownership was expensive for us yet we could afford it. Instead of commiserating with me, he shrugged and said "oh, you can buy another one whenever you want" At that comment I was lost for words. There is just no way to express all of the reasons why buying and selling a sailboat is not like a car. And now that I'm three years into owning an old Swan 411, which I love to sail about 40 days each year, I still feel like a brand new sailing student. So, in addition to not approaching the purchase of a boat like a car, you also will not gain the feeling of mastership of a sailboat in the same way as you would in a car. It takes a long time, and they (sailboats) are definitely not all the same. I'll think of this video next time anyone says "you can buy or sell a sailboat whenever you want!"

[geraldinesasquatch]

You make very good points. It is more about the design than who made it. For that, when looking at boats, the designer is more important to me than the company that made it. Like following a musician or author moreso than a record label or publishing house. One design, or designer could be built by different companies, and looking at a designer's other boats can give insight into their thinking and priorities. A popular boat though is often popular for a reason, like the design choices resonate with a lot of people.

[USAthewin]

here is an idea for a video, , I been wondering what is more efficient in sailboats specifically in trimarans, , stern shape, , some of the DF boats the new ones have big sterns and pretty boxy even the Ama shapes, , however if you see some older trimarans and some other builds, , the main hull and amas are pointy in the back and produce very different wakes

[yzScott]

This is exactly how we wound up with a 1988 Swan 59.

[MrM-hlvp]

Do you have any tips on adjusting the standing rigging on 38-50' sailboats, I know mine needs help but I don't want to screw anything up?

[WojciechP]

All good points, but I have definitely seen build quality vary by brand and year. Pearson 303s for example are some of the worst build quality I have seen and are all falling apart in 2023.

[admir_]

What is the difference between this video and "What's the Best Sailing Yacht?" from the year ago?

[TA-wgoi]

What a load of shit!
I wouldn't buy an electric car or Kia Carnival to go 4x4 driving and/or tow a caravan. I've also never heard anyone buy a row boat to sail the oceans.
People also don't buy a 1 bedroom apartment with family of 5.
People's options on what they purchase is generally money focused and for intended use. What they choose to do with that purchase would be education based especially in the culture or environment they no more!