The Value of a Boat

Tony Cipollina

My father first explained value to me when I was a child reviewing my base ball cards. I remember looking them up in a Beckett pricing guide and telling him their value. He told me, "Son, the value of that baseball card is only worth what someone will pay you for it." He then challenged me to sell one of my duplicate cards for the value listed in the pricing guide. I found it more difficult than I had expected. After negotiations, I found that I usually only got about 50% of the listed value of the card in the pricing guide. He also told me about the condition of the cards and how to protect them. I started taking good care of them. I put them in card sleaves and folders to maintain their appearance.

Webster's online dictionary defines value as:

1. A numerical quantity measured or assigned or computed; "the value assigned was 16 milliseconds".
2. The quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable; "the Shakespearean Shylock is of dubious value in the modern world".
3. The amount (of money or goods or services) that is considered to be a fair equivalent for something else; "he tried to estimate the value of the produce at normal prices".

I've given you a little something to think about when you think of the value of your boat. A boat like a car loses tremendous value once purchased from a dealer, and its value decreased steadily over its lifetime. If not taken care of properly, its value can decrease sharply. Shouldn't it be important to try to maintain its current value as much as possible?

Most boaters have some kind of maintenance plan for their boat, whether they take care of it themselves or they have someone else do it, but is it the correct plan? Most people honor the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This is not the phrase to follow when It comes to boating. The phrase to follow is, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Most people do not realize that it is much less costly to have preventative maintenance done to a boat than it is to fix the boat once a problem has arisen.

A lot of boaters have their 20 hour and 100 hour services done. They take care of how the motors are running. In fact I have seen people spend tens of thousands of dollars on their motors, and yet let the physical appearance of the boat go, or go with the cheapest route of waxing the boat instead of having it detailed properly. I ask you, what is the first thing someone will notice when they go to purchase a boat, or anything for that matter? I'll tell you. The first thing they notice is its appearance. If the boat looks like it has been negelected, it may never even get to a sea trial, even though its engines may be in perfect running order.

So I pose this question for you. If you value your boat, why not take care of it properly? If you maintain the engines well, why not maintain the appearance as well. You may not be looking to sell your vessel now, but the time will come, when your boat's true value will show. Will you get what you're asking, or will you be forced to make concessions because of the physical conditions of the boat?

For information about scheduling maintenance for your boat, or for answers to any questions you may have regarding your boat, please feel free to contact us at any time, or click on the link below to be taken to our website.

Tony Cipollina
Owner Hi Tech Marine Systems of Daytona
President Hi Tech Marine Systems USA, Inc
(386) 316-3700
http://www.htmsdaytona.com/
tony@htmsdaytona.com