Doing some research and I discovered that so few new fiberglass bass fishing exclusive boats were produced and sold annually in the entire country.

Even the "off the shelf" brands are really custom boats. That is why the costs are so high. Less than 20K fiberglass bass specific boats are sold each year in the USA.

It makes a lot of sense why prices are so high. Around .00006 percent of the population of the United States purchases a new fiberglass bass boat annually. Not a lot of reasons they would be "cheap".

Bass boats are very much a luxury and speciality item.

What is the source of your data? Maybe I am missing your point.

Their numbers have always been relatively low and yes they are considered a luxury item but I still don’t think that it justifies the prices of many considering that they don’t offer anywhere near the features of say a sports car that is also a luxury item. I guess the numbers are so few and as long as people are buying them then it will always be that way. I see trucks hitting that 100k mark now and they are still being bought. I would love to buy a new bigger boat but can’t justify the amount of use compared to the price.

Actually for fiberglass bass boat specific its only about 8-9k a year. I had a sales chart for I think 2019 and it was less then 9k and broken down by manufacturer.

I was told by a few dealers of different brands, they had an increase of 175-225% in 2020. So around 20K would be about right. If the 2019 numbers are typical then it's even less of a percentage of the population that buys new bass boats.

Can’t judge the price of a boat without knowledge of the cost
To build the boat……anyone have any insider knowledge on what
Margin the boat companies are getting?

Considering the amount companies spend, I would guess the margins are good at the manufacturer level.

They'd probably sell more if the weren't $80K. chicken or the egg I guess.

Every major boat brand produces a boat that is significantly less than 80k. People who spend 80k are doing that because they want to. I bought a brand new boat for 55k added max warranty on engine and got out for 60k this year. The boat I run would fill probably 80 percent of the bass fishing world "needs". The rest is "wants" and I'd never question a mans "wants" that is his business.

Can they even build more than 20,000 bass boats? Takes 12+ weeks to get one. I would think that volume would be the best way to get costs down but who wants to work harder for less when they can sell every single boat they produce for a premium.

I would be surprised if a boat manufacturer did better than 7% net so they probably already feel like their boats are too cheap.

I remember when the petrol industry forced prices up... I remember thinking they would not follow suit when the prices go back down on petrol. and I was right. Theres no logical sense why the prices rose so high so quickly other than supply v demand. Limit supply, force demand.... easier to keep the prices higher than giraffe booty.

If you compare prices of 20-30 years ago to prices today they are right in line or actually cheaper. What's driving the cost up is $3k spot lock trolling motors, $5k power poles, and $10k in electronics.

Some sage knowledge going down over here.

Just look at the expenditures of manufacturers. Either the people who own the company are paying out all their money and making zero or their margins are way higher than 7%. If a smaller company only produces 100 boats a year at $80k a piece then their profited would be roughly $560k a year at 7%. That’s not bad, plus you figure in markup on every bolt on add to the boats and their is more profit.

I still say their margins are closer to 18-20%. Just a guess

I know fiberglass and resins are 4x the money over the past ten years or so. Labor prices are high. Costs of business ownership is high.

It’s just what it is.

If your income has kept up with costs of living/inflation, then the price is a moot point. You make more and spend more for the same.