Is it just me or have the process of used boat's skyrocketed in the past 3 years? It's beg awhile since I've looked for one and I am blown away by the sticker prices.

thats jus tha norm when new becomes like a "second mortgage"

Same reason that everything else we buy goes up, cost of raw materials, increased cost of labor, manufacturing costs, marketing costs... Economics 101

I asked if the used boat market really has seen inflated prices over the past year or two, not why the prices are up.

Not sure what you asked...lol.

"Is it just me or have the process of used boat's skyrocketed in the past 3 years?"

Just like a used truck, the new have gotten so expensive the value of a used goes up as well.

And something is only worth what someone else will pay for it, I'm selling gold, buying junk, that's the way things work. And boat values are at their peak right now, in four months can't give one away.

You only have to look in the TFF classifieds at the 2-3 year old bass boats with asking prices of $50-60K. One reason used prices are so high is that many guys figure out that the $600 boat note with insurance fuel, and maintenance are equal to a house note. Add to that the diesel pickup to pull it. Many are upside down in it and have to get an inflated price just to break even.
Also,Summer is here and everyone wants to get on the water. If you are buying, this is the worst time of the year.

News flash.. You don't have to spend $60K to go fishing.

haha, that's what you get when you mix voice speech + autocorrect + no-proofreading.

i'd be looking at a 4-5k used boat - at least by 2013 prices, now those same boats years later seem to be going for 6-9k

the used boat values have followed the new boat prices up.there are more folks in the buying pool now that the lakes have water in them an it helps some fuel prices are down. there is a more people that can buy a 15 k boat than a 50k boat an that is whats driving higher prices in clean late model boats.

I have direct experience with this issue the last few weeks. Started looking at used Bass Boats and discovered uneducated Sellers pricing their boats WAY too high, for whatever reason. Look at NADA average retail price if you are wanting a used boat, this gives you some idea of where to start negotiations. NADA even shows estimated Retail price at the time the Boat was new (albeit without Options). I found some Sellers pricing their used boats at only $2000 - $3000 less than they bought the Boat for, even if it was 4-5 years old. Even a Marine Dealer with a new left over 2014 Ranger was still asking full Retail for it and would not budge. Go figure.