Houses go up in value...boats go the other way. HUM???

I'm not making any excuses but this is the reality of it.

I bought my first tournament bass boat in 1984. It was a Skeeter Starfire 175 with Mariner 150 fully loaded for $14,500.00. I pulled it around with a 1983 Ford ext. cab that cost me $17,500.00.

At todays rate of inflation that same boat would sell for $30,000.00 and the tow vehicle is $35,000.00+. Point being is it is realitive to inflation.

I agree they are too high but inflation cost everyone a lot of money. You don't have to have a new bass boat but you do have to have a vehicle!

Another thing to consider is that most boat brands offer lesser priced rigs...Ranger VS Series, Triton HP, Nitro Z8, etc that are not 60K plus rigs. 40ish probably out the door. They may not have all the bells and whistles but there really isn't that much difference.

Also I found a Skeeter Zx225 with a 225 Yammy, last year on a dealers lot in OK. It was a 2008 or 2009, can't remember but it was brand new, just never sold. I think he was looking for 40K out the door.

I also know one of the bigger boat dealership owners in central Texas and his most expensive boat ever sold (before SHO) was like 59K, out the door - so MSRP and out the door price is not the same.

40ish is still hard to think of out the door....

every time I go to the lake I wish for new boat, until I start catching fish, and realize it doesnt cost me $600 to $700 a month to do so!

lots of reasonably priced used boats out there. I like my 04 Stratos 285 w/150 and it does everything I need it to do.

heres the deal. boat manufacturing has changed forever.
manufacturers are going to build for the rich. not your average tffer. because yall cant afford them or wouldnt buy them even if they were 35k new. they wouldnt have all the carp on them at a price you would pay. dealers also arent going to have 100 boats on there lots, so fewer discounts.
they will have a couple of each model and if you want to wait 3months you can order one.
same as pleasure boats. they are building more high end because thats who has the money to buy boats.
In another 3yrs the used market will be very high when there isnt a heavy stream of 1-2yr old boats

Thanks to everyone that sent me boats to look at. All of you have beautiful boats and they are a great deal. After talking with the wife we have decided to take the boat to Classic and give it a makeover! I really wanted a boat with a 4 stroke and have decided to wait a couple of years for the used ones to start hitting the market. I will show some pics after classic gets through.

This was a pretty awesome thread to read through...nice job fellas.

HAHA, that is awesome

You can buy one without all the bells and whistles. We all have the same problem, which is that we all want today's technology at yesterday's prices. When I bought my 1987 Bassmasters Classic in 1987, it had all the bells and whistles, but all the bells and whistle back then were a 150HP motor (Remember BASS only allowed 150's then) a 42lb TM, a humminbird LCR 8000 on the console, a flasher in the dash, and a humminbird LCR 4000 on the bow. Heck, they were just getting around to making butt seats and option back then. I would venture to say that a comparably equipped 18' bass boat with a 150, a 42 lb tm, single axle trailer, and similar electronics would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 25K today. Problem is, we all want more, and in most cases, when when that 100lb thrust TM, and 225 HP motor will only add a few bucks to a payment, we go for it. Most guys are always upside down when they get rid of boats, and just finance longer each time.

Its very simple.... 15-20 years ago we used cash to buy our boats... Today we use credit... So in return the boat industry is using credit instead of cash to run its business. When credit is involved prices go up to cover interest and the risk of a product not being paid for...
Want price to go down.. Quit using credit on both sides!!!
Oh and do we need $5000 worth of GPS on our boats now.. Hell my first BassCat had a Lowrance Flasher, papergraph and for Christmas I got a colorselector... Fished for 8 years in that boat and did just fine... We are creatures of the newest, biggest, and baddest!!!

A lot of the problem is all of these pro staffers pushing their sponsors product. We have a tendency to fall into the latest and greatest hype. Then before you know it, we are in a frenzy to get what is being pimped to us. I have nothing against these folks, as they are just doing their job, some better than others. I have fallen into the hype many times, luckily it has only been for items that cost a few dollar bills... OK, sometimes a few hundred dollar bills

Every time I get into the new boat frenzy, I go fishing and realize: i'm OK with the 18' '95 Nitro, with a measly 125 hp Merc. I will certainly move up to a bigger better boat, but not anytime soon, and definitely not new.

Like other people on this forum have said, it's a matter of "need" and "want". I just got into bass fishing last year and bought my first boat, an "old school" 1989 Champion 184 with a 150 Merc, cash money. Going fishing is expensive enough (tackle, gas, oil, boat maintenance) for a young man with a young family without worrying about having a $40-50-60K debt hanging over your head for a brand new pretty toy that you'll never get your money back out of.

Until I'm wealthy enough to throw away that much money without a second thought, or that dang boat starts paying for itself, I'll stick to older used boats. My Champion looks good, runs great, has been well taken care of, everything on it works, and it's never left me dead on the water even once... I can't ask for much more than.

I love reading posts where people say they paid this and that for a boat back in the 80's and then want to complain about new boat prices. That was 20+ yrs ago. Gas was less than $1 a gallon and trucks were probably 1/2 of what they cost today. Minimum wage was less than $4 an hour and you probably made a fraction of what you make today. You're comparing apples to oranges.

I'm also guessing a lot of you haven't visited a car lot lately either. 1/2 tons in the upper $40K's, 3/4 tons in the upper $50K's, and 1 tons over $60K. Where's the whining when it comes to a new truck!!!

We pay $3K for a new Humminbird 1197, then another $1500 for a power pole or Talon (sometimes 2 of them), then we have rod/reel combos that are $350 or more EACH with multiple ones in the rod locker, then our $450 100 MPH rain suits, and carry tons of storage boxes full of baits! FISHING ISN'T CHEAP!!!!!!

If you can't afford a new boat then don't bash the guys that have one or say they're stupid for paying that much for a boat. It's their money no matter how they got it or where it comes from. If they bought a new boat intending to keep it for a long time then that's their business. I personally like buying new so I know every single thing that's ever been done to the boat.