Yacht Trends & Considerations To Take Into Account When Buying

If I’m treating your money as if it were my own, this is my best advice and guidance of what you need to consider when buying a yacht in 2020 and beyond.

• Importance of Stabilizers (Seakeepers gyro or Fins)

• Galley On Main Deck Leads To More Enjoyment For Owners & Guests

• White, black & (dark) blue are the only colored hulls you should buy

• Why Yachts That Are Unique But Not Unique Are Right For You

• Computerized Systems And Time

1) The Rise of Stabilizers

How important are stabilizers on a yacht? This new technology isn’t new anymore, in fact, this is the most common “must” for modern boat buyers. The salesman will tell you that a stabilizer isn’t neccessary; boat owners have been enjoying their vessels for years without it and that it’s just another thing that can break and requires servicing but my philosophy on why it’s a must are two fold.

• The Differentiator = If you love being out on the water, you can enjoy life on your yacht without it but if your girlfriend or guests are on the fence about yachting enjoyment, this mitigates the risk of them falling sick and being comfortable enough to enjoy themselves. (I tell a story about an 82 Sanlorenzo without stabilizers that made a trip over to the Bahamas on a smooth day but half of the guests were sick 10 minutes into the trip; a less than stellar trip indeed).

• Protect Your Resale Value = By 2022, if you don’t have stabilizers your boat will not be considered by most boat buyers and on top of that, you can expect to take a bigger haircut during a sale or find it as a necessity to install a Seakeepers of Fin stabilization system which you will not recoup it’s value (in it’s entirety).

If you are considering adding zero speed fin stabilizers or a SeaKeeper Gyro, just be cautious of how they will be installed, if you have sufficient space and if the fiberglass will need to be cut for implementation.

2) Main Deck Galley

In the past, owner operator yachts were built with the priority of giving the captain a spacious main deck helm area and redundant gathering areas in the salon while placing the galley down near the staterooms but rational thought has prevailed with more boat builders in the 50’ - 70’ range placing their galleys on the main deck, which allows owners and hosts to better entertain and host their guests.

There’s nothing worse than when your guests are on the flybridge and your wife/girlfriend has to walk down the flybridge stairs and again down a second staircase into a dark galley far from the guests. Boats without main deck galleys continue to fall out of favor their markets will coincide with their outdated nature to sell well below your purchase value.

3) Bold Colors = Big Mistake

I think innovation, creativity and marketing are really spectacular but I don’t like risk, and that’s what many boat builders have been doing for demanding owners, when in reality someone needs to issue some constraint from allowing them to paint their boats ghastly colors.

Selling your boat is about giving a buyer the least amount of excuses or reasons to go in a different direction; a red or sea foam green boat not only is unappealing to a vast majority of buyers, but a paint job to correct this issue will start at $100k but buyers will have the distinctly, vivid and unfavorable impression of the boat.

4) Low Volume & High Volume Trading

If you see ‘rare’ in a listing, that’s synonymous for nobody wants it. If you’re looking at a boat that seems like it provides great value but it’s ‘off brand’, there’s likely not a strong secondary demand so it will make it more difficult for you to sell in the future.

By the same standards, if there’s a lot of options for a particular boat you’re looking into buying, shy away from it because the more there are available, the more likely buyer’s maintain leverage which will force one of those sellers to sell low. Once the low sale occurs, it will set the market which means the boat you buy at a ‘steal’ is no longer a steal when you have to sell it at a highly competitive discount as well.

I recommend to look at quality boats where there isn’t a robust inventory and not a lot of reported sales activity; this will make it harder for buyer’s and brokers to determine value which will help you when selling down the line. I always say, it’s not just about how much you save on the way in, but how much you retain on the way out.

5) Digital Deficiencies

As yachts continue to come outfitted with all of the latest and greatest technology, the bells and whistles, just know this; boats mechanical systems haven’t changed much and are reliable but as computerized programs age, they lose functionality in communicating with other computer controlled components which brings an onslaught of electrical challenges. Consider performing an electrical survey in addition to a hull and engine survey but do what you can to hug a boat between 3-5 years of age when buying.