Looking at new boats

[upthecreek]

Being of the age where retirement is on the near horizon I've been looking around for a new boat. Nothing fancy, just the typical 3 bench seat 14 footer that can handle a 10hp motor or so.
A quick FB search didn't find anything that I cared to deal with and most lacked paperwork anyhow. I started looking at what's available new. The first thing I found is that there no local boat dealers selling any of the more common brands and the locally sold brands don't make a traditional bench seat boat.
None of the dealers that I called would give me a price or tell me what they had in stock and I wasn't driving 100 miles just to find out they didn't have what I wanted.
To make a long story shorter after calling 11 dealers or so I found one who said they had a new SF14DLX in stock with a split bench configuration. I had other business in the area so I stopped to see what they had.
They failed to tell me that the 'new' boat they had is a 2019 model and that its $6,100 plus tax and a 'loading fee',
They said that basically no one still makes a 3 bench seat style aluminum boat anymore and the models they do have are all from the last production run in late 2019. If I paid cash they'd discount it to $5,900.
In 1987 I bought a new Starcraft SF14 with a Mariner 9.9hp two stroke and a fuel tank for $1,500 cash on a new Sealion trailer.
Luckily I still have that trailer because a new trailer seems to be $1,500 these days,

I was sort of hoping to find a deal on a left over but they want the same price for the leftovers as a new boat and since they didn't sell the last batch of boats they aren't ordering any more until the existing inventory is gone.

The prices of the new hulls make the 1985 Starcraft SF14 the guy down the road wants $2,400 for with a rusted trailer and in need of a new transom look like a bargain.

I get it that things are higher 30 years later but $6k for a bare aluminum hull row boat is insane.
No wonder there's no boats out on the water over the past few years.

I see dozens of boats listed for $1k to $3k but almost every one has no paperwork or no title.
The DMV will no longer issue a title for an abandoned boat here. Only the titled owner can get a replacement title so all of those boats are useless if not stolen or boats with leins on them. Since getting a replacement title these days requires a trip to a regional DMV by the titled owner the chances of someone who no longer wants the boat will take a day off work to spend it in line at the DMV to get a new title for $80 is just never going to happen so no title, no deal. trailers however are not an issue here since they don't title trailers and none ever have any papers since when they are new, the state exhanges the c/o for a regustration and all proof of ownership is gone.

Are any manufacturers still building the standard old three bench seat deep 14ft boat these days? The nearest to a bench seat model in a premium brand is a Smokercraft Alaskan for $6,100 for a '22 left over 14ft bare hull but the weight ratings now I see are also way down? a 15ft Smokercraft Alaskan is only 465lbs. That's gone with just me and the motor, My '88 Starcraft had over 900lbs of capacity and a 35hp rating.

 

[Ray Clark]

To be quite frank, I think that the "new" boat you want at the price you seem to desire is a unicorn.

Obviously, I don't know all the manufacturers out there. There have been a number of threads on these boards about the scarcity of new entry-level aluminum boats. Some manufacturers have small aluminum boats in their catalogs, but production of those basic boats is in question. Manufacturers and dealers seem to have no profit margin in entry level boats, and so they don't produce or stock them.

I don't know where you are in Florida. I just did a quick Facebook Marketplace search centered on Orlando. I saw two boats in the V hull class; one for $600 with trailer and one for $1500. The ad for the $600 boat claimed to have title in hand.

I think you're going to have to expand your search geographically to get more possibilities. Older boats like you describe are plentiful in the Midwest.

Good luck.

 

[Stand Up]

With the price of aluminum rising due to tariffs, I doubt you'll see the small aluminum boats get any less expensive. I believe any outboards built off shore will suffer the same fate. If you're thinking new, find your best deal and scoop it up while the price is still bearable.

 

[Tin Man]

I owned the V16 and it was a very nice boat. At just over $4K for a new hull, sounds reasonably priced.

https://www.alumacraft.com/us/en/models/previous-models/2024/v-series.html

 

[barnfinds]

New boat prices have tripled over the past four years. A boat that you could buy new before 2020 is now over $6k or more. When new boats go up, so do used boats. No one wants to sell anything for less than they can replace it for. With the cost of all materials skyrocketing lately all boats are going up in price.

I was going to sell my dad's old Starcraft SF14 from 1994 but its in really nice shape and I can't buy anything close to it these days for anywhere near what buyers here can afford. When I look around at what's for sale here all I see is beat up or rotten old boats with no titles or near new boats that they want new prices for.

Motors on the other hand are a different story, there are dozens of good used motors everywhere around here needing little or nothing to get them going but none sell for any price lately. I took a count and between CL and FB I counted over 50 9.9-15hp Johnson/Evinrudes from '74-'92. Many are super cheap. Most of the newer models are all corroded, stuck, or in need of major repairs. There's nearly as many '98 up Mercury four strokes as well often cheaper than the 2 strokes. Honda and Suzuki are rare finds here as neither brand has a local dealer. Yamaha is king here but Mercury does well because of mail order deals.

I spent a good many years in south Florida in the later 90's to around 2010. Most of the aluminum boats I looked at there were rough, I drove up to PA to buy the two I owned while I was there. The older aluminum boats seem to last forever in freshwater areas. They tend to be better built as well from what I've seen. Two neighbors here have newer boats, one a tracker 16ft aluminum bass boat and the other a Lund SST he brought with him from MI when he came here. Neither boat impressed me much with build quality. The entire hull of the Tracker is corroding even though its never seen saltwater and the Lund has had several issues with cracks and a broken knee brace on the transom. Both are lightly used at best.
If I were to go looking I'd skip the new boats, if you ever do find one, and look for something older. Chances are you'll spend half as much and get twice the boat.

 

[airshot]

I searched for over 3 months, drove over 200 miles each way with cash in hand three years ago to buy my 16' like new Sylvan V hull. The boat is worth more today than what I paid for it...I feel your pain....pople no longer sell nice boats, they keep them !