I have eyes on used boat. I find second hand fiberglass boats are much cheaper than aluminum ones (generally speaking), although they look pretty good.
I guess these boats have shorter life and worse re-sale potential?
Why old fiberglass boat is cheaper??
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Paul Shibata
- Bronze Participant
- Posts: 135
- Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 8:13 pm
Rickr,
Aluminum boats as you mentioned have a much higher re-sale value and a quick glance at the "black book" will further confirm your hunch. Princecraft boats for example experiences the highest re-sale value of any (freshwater fishing) boat and has done so for a number of years. A few of the other aluminum companies (Lund & Crestliner) have also demonstrated strong durability and as such likewise benefit when it comes to re-selling.
As in any commodity that may experience several owners (cars, houses etc). Re-sale value is often a direct reflection of build quality and life expectancy. Boats are no different and perhaps the best example of the "life expectancy:value" ratio. At first glance fibreglass is much sleeker, sexier and perhaps more attractive however the long-term viability of a fibreglass hull and all of it's associated components is generally much lower than a comparable tin boat. Stress fractures, spider cracking, delamination, osmosis etc are potential material failures that may compromise the hull. Generally aluminum does not suffer from the same potential failures nor the amount of maintenance. The only likely occurrence with aluminum hulls would be a rivet failure which is a simple and inexpensive repair. More importantly rivets are engineered to fail (if required) well in advance of the rupture point of the aluminum material utilized in the hull construction as such permanent stress to the hull is mitigated. A repaired aluminum hull is as they say "good as new".
To finally answer your question (please excuse my babble) the higher re-sale value for aluminum is also a reflection of the higher build cost. Aluminum boats are actually "hand made" and not surprisingly far more expensive to create when compared to the "cookie cutter" fibreglass hull scenario. In the end most realize that the investment in aluminum ensures the durability of their toy and a higher long-term value. Lastly my comments on the potential shortcoming of fibreglass should not be construed as an attack on those boats, my response was an attempt to identify some of the reasons for the price discrepancy between glass and tin. Fibreglass is a wonderful material with certain properties that allow engineers to create hull designs that are beyond the parameters of aluminum.
Hope this helps,
Paul
Aluminum boats as you mentioned have a much higher re-sale value and a quick glance at the "black book" will further confirm your hunch. Princecraft boats for example experiences the highest re-sale value of any (freshwater fishing) boat and has done so for a number of years. A few of the other aluminum companies (Lund & Crestliner) have also demonstrated strong durability and as such likewise benefit when it comes to re-selling.
As in any commodity that may experience several owners (cars, houses etc). Re-sale value is often a direct reflection of build quality and life expectancy. Boats are no different and perhaps the best example of the "life expectancy:value" ratio. At first glance fibreglass is much sleeker, sexier and perhaps more attractive however the long-term viability of a fibreglass hull and all of it's associated components is generally much lower than a comparable tin boat. Stress fractures, spider cracking, delamination, osmosis etc are potential material failures that may compromise the hull. Generally aluminum does not suffer from the same potential failures nor the amount of maintenance. The only likely occurrence with aluminum hulls would be a rivet failure which is a simple and inexpensive repair. More importantly rivets are engineered to fail (if required) well in advance of the rupture point of the aluminum material utilized in the hull construction as such permanent stress to the hull is mitigated. A repaired aluminum hull is as they say "good as new".
To finally answer your question (please excuse my babble) the higher re-sale value for aluminum is also a reflection of the higher build cost. Aluminum boats are actually "hand made" and not surprisingly far more expensive to create when compared to the "cookie cutter" fibreglass hull scenario. In the end most realize that the investment in aluminum ensures the durability of their toy and a higher long-term value. Lastly my comments on the potential shortcoming of fibreglass should not be construed as an attack on those boats, my response was an attempt to identify some of the reasons for the price discrepancy between glass and tin. Fibreglass is a wonderful material with certain properties that allow engineers to create hull designs that are beyond the parameters of aluminum.
Hope this helps,
Paul
