Where are all the used trawlers?

[drewc]

At the risk of appearing naive or whining, I wanted to sincerely ask the following: where did all of the used trawlers disappear to? Searching, for example for a 2000 - 2010 42' Europa Grand Banks, YachtWorld shows zero! (I just did such a search 10 minutes ago) When I bought my 2001 GB 42' Europa in 2004 there were maybe 10 to choose from here on the West Coast alone! This is a production boat, GB sold hundreds in this period, there must be dozens out there with owners looking to upgrade or move on...where are they?

 

[READY]

I have found the Yachtworld search function to be less than stellar but it might not be to blame in this case. I used Google search without inserting model year and got 7 but all 1999 or older.

I sense there is a divide between demand for boats older/newer than 20ish years. Maybe it is partially due to availability of insurance? It still seems that most good boats well maintained boats regardless of age are selling if priced fairly. Also with baby boomers and covid hangover there is still disposable income (savings) and desire for the trawlers. YouTube still has young couples starting their loop journeys (or wanting to). Good GBs seem to be "timeless" for appeal.

 

[Fleming]

Yachtworld is still the 'King' in boat sales but you should never limit your search to it alone. I had a broker tell me recently, when looking at a boat that he had listed on boattrader but not yachtworld, that they get a limited number of listings for their ridiculously high monthly fee so they put their highest dollar listings on YW but once they hit the magic number the rest only go on boattrader.
Then there are the huge number of people, witnessed daily reading this forum, who hate brokers in general and will only list themselves on Facebook or Craigslist.

Expand your search, I'm sure there are a few out there somewhere.

 

[psneeld]

Those years maybe are in higher demand and new enough the second or so owner is still hanging on to them.

There are 7 1979-1999 ones and they may be getting long in the tooth... with smaller demand and more sellers trying to get rid of them.

Would seem to be consistent with my overall experience with used boats.

 

[PierreR]

When I read your title, I was prepared to say expand your definition of trawlers to cruisers but, your definition is one trawler in a narrow range of years.
They are out there but this is not a great time of year to sell a boat.

The magic cut off seems to be 30 years. That is when traditional boat loans with the boat as primary collateral seem to dry up and many insurance companies including Boat US will no longer insure the boat. Boats take a big drop in price at that point in time. The best deals for the buck are boats over 30 years old in excellent condition. Many boats older than 30 years have undergone extensive refits and are past the steep price drop due to the 30 year cut off on financing issues and will not see heavy further depreciation as a result. For $100k-$150k you can get a very solid 30+ year old boat. The same boat 5 years newer in need of work can go for $50-100k more because it can be traditionally financed and the potential buyers field is much larger.
Past 30 years bring cash or creative financing. There are still plenty of insurers insuring these boats. As a result of the price drop, lack of financing and savvier cash buyers, many Brokers tend to shy away from older boats so you don't find them in the top listings. Get more creative in your searches and ask in forums for a lead.

 

[sunchaser]

Drew
If you want to buy, as opposed to just internet browsing, a GB talk to the folks at Northwest Exploration out of Bellingham. Their experience and knowledge of GBs is excellent.

 

[SteveK]

OP said he bought a GB42 when there were 10 choices. He owns one and is asking why none for sale now.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

When you put too many qualifiers in the filters you won't get a lot of results. Expand your search.

pete

 

[Ken E.]

Drew
If you want to buy, as opposed to just internet browsing, a GB talk to the folks at Northwest Exploration out of Bellingham. Their experience and knowledge of GBs is excellent.

Ask for Scott Blake

 

[drewc]

Ask for Scott Blake

Appreciate the tip...Scott's a friend. He helped me purchase my 2001 GB42 Europa - Victoria - back in 2004. He doesn't have any Europa's for sale either.

 

[High Wire]

Florida?

 

[Taras]

Not only are there very few "trawlers" for sale, the ones that are for sale are often "junk".
I've been looking aggressively myself since June (8 months). I've been in contract 3 times and all 3 ended up with wet stringer, wet decks or wet hull sides. Pretty much all deal killers. It's slim pickens out there.....
Good luck and just be patient.

 

[sunchaser]

Denison has many GB listings. Every boat will be sold sooner or later. If your dock walking finds one of interest, query the owner.

 

[old-School]

I didn't ask the question, but I was informed by your answer. Thanks

 

[Nick14]

Not only are there very few "trawlers" for sale, the ones that are for sale are often "junk".
I've been looking aggressively myself since June (8 months). I've been in contract 3 times and all 3 ended up with wet stringer, wet decks or wet hull sides. Pretty much all deal killers. It's slim pickens out there.....
Good luck and just be patient.

You're not alone. I searched for a used boat for 2 years and made offers on 10 boats before giving up and ordering a new one. The chronicles of some of my amusing (and less than amusing) experiences are here -

https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s62/boat-buying-nightmares-63951.html

You might consider saving some money on surveys and buying yourself a marine grade moisture meter and paying a surveyor to teach you how to use it (as I did). The intent is not to pretend to be a marine surveyor. A survey from an experienced person is a must have before buying a used boat. But it might save you some money on otherwise needless surveys by finding obvious major problems on your own that might otherwise be hidden from view (like wet core). Weed out the clear deal-breakers on your own.

Good luck!

 

[rgano]

My personal example of Yacht World's squirrely search function is from my own search in 2015 for my current boat after selling my GB42. I did a search for Mainship 30 boats within 500 miles and found a number of boats with most selling before I could blink an eye. At this remove in time, I cannot remember exactly how I changed the search parameter which found my boat only 14 miles away, but it certainly should have shown up in the list during some of my first searches. I know it had been for sale since the year before when I had boarded it to get an eye on it for a friend a thousand miles away - I had forgotten it probably thinking it had sold until it suddenly showed on one final effort at a Yacht World search.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Wasn't the prediction for this post-Covid era that the market would be rich with sales from first time owners? So much for market wisdom.

 

[Shrew]

Here is a search in Yachtworld for Trawlers in the US manufactured between 2000 -2010. I got 167 hits.

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats-fo...trawler/country-united-states/year-2000,2010/

What is your entire search criteria? Have you limited sizes or price?

If you still aren't getting these hits, then clear your search, then close your web browser and flush cache and cookies and try again.

 

[Shrew]

Also keep in mind that the decade you're looking at was a financial rollercoaster.

2000-2001 was the .com crash

2007-2008 was the Great Recession.

When markets are impacted, discretionary income disappears. So limited boats manufactured 2000, 2001, 2008, 2009, and into 2010, where things started rebounding.

 

[Delta Riverat]

I bought my boat 2 years ago with capital gains. Then the market went down. It went down so far that I probably wouldn't have bought the boat.

But, it's back up now and I'm flush with cash. Back to where I was before.

Got some dough to work the boat and perhaps there are more like me out there.

Good luck in your search!

 

[Figment]

Money isn't as cheap as it was.



People with boats in that bracket are likely to have them mortgaged, and at relatively good rates. To move up/on to another boat means refinancing that money at a much higher rate, which is enough to persuade people to sit on what they have for a few years.

 

[drewc]

Also keep in mind that the decade you're looking at was a financial rollercoaster.

2000-2001 was the .com crash

2007-2008 was the Great Recession.

When markets are impacted, discretionary income disappears. So limited boats manufactured 2000, 2001, 2008, 2009, and into 2010, where things started rebounding.

Thanks Shrew, some good insights here! You are correct that such a search can be widened quite a bit if you search for "Trawler" rather than, say, "Grand Banks 42", which is what I was doing. I was also focusing on 2000-2002 as that should be far enough back to match my budget (I say "should be" as I see asking prices are still inflated.)

 

[mvweebles]

FYI - WSJ story on how Brunswick sees the demand for boats softening, and how they are adapting.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/boat-maker-brunswick-looks-to-control-costs-as-demand-softens-43a1c3ea

After two banner years, Brunswick now has to refinance low-cost debt in a higher-rate environment and manage costs as consumers demur on buying high-end toys

After a rapid rise and sellers market, it's normal for sellers to adjust expectations and lag the market decline. Likely happening now - folks want to sell their boat for what they could have gotten 2 years ago. Except there are no buyers

 

[slowgoesit]

Thanks Shrew, some good insights here! You are correct that such a search can be widened quite a bit if you search for "Trawler" rather than, say, "Grand Banks 42", which is what I was doing. I was also focusing on 2000-2002 as that should be far enough back to match my budget (I say "should be" as I see asking prices are still inflated.)

One more consideration: When we were looking for a boat, we knew we wanted a "trawler", by which we meant a displacement hull, not a speed boat, so for parameters in Yachtworld search (and use the UK search, NOT the US search. The UK site is much better
Anyway, we put in:
"Trawler"
"Diesel"
and the length we were looking at, 40' to 60'

Our boat never came up.

I finally just put in: Diesel, Powerboat, Used, and length 40' to 60'
It returned about 1,350 boats that fell into those parameters . . . so I spend a few days surfing boat porn. . . . .

And lo and behold, on the 2nd day, our 50' Beebe Passagemaker came up! It had been advertised for some time, like a year or so, but by my putting "Trawler" in the search parameters, it never came up.

The broker had neglected to check the box for "trawler".

Anyway, I think an awful lot of people select "Trawler", and thereby run the risk of limiting their search without really realizing it . . .
.But as Laura says, "This boat was just meant to be ours!" And after 35 years of marriage, I'm not going to argue with my wife!

 

[Blissboat]

And lo and behold, on the 2nd day, our 50' Beebe Passagemaker came up! It had been advertised for some time, like a year or so, but by my putting "Trawler" in the search parameters, it never came up.

The broker had neglected to check the box for "trawler".

Anyway, I think an awful lot of people select "Trawler", and thereby run the risk of limiting their search without really realizing it . . .

Yep. Thankfully YW still allows the selection of multiple powerboat types within a single search profile, e.g., Trawler, Down East, Pilothouse, etc. Some digital marketing wizard will likely plug that leak in YW's revenue rowboat any minute - probably as soon as they see this thread.