Buying and Selling

We all know that boats, unlike real estate, tend to depreciate. For those who are about to buy a catamaran, the question is: How much will it depreciate? Here at our brokerage firm it is pretty common for someone to call and ask, “How much am I going to lose over the next two years if I buy this boat?” Alas, no honest broker could answer this question with deep conviction because a wide range of factors—always shifting and unpredictable—impact the resale value of used catamarans. Nevertheless, my experiences as a catamaran broker have given...

By now you probably have a pretty good idea of how much money you have to spend on your boat. But do you know how you will need to spend it? The price of the boat is just the first expense. Insurance, storage, maintenance are all factors that must be considered when tallying the total cost of owning a boat.Insurance is the first of those factors that we will consider. Because insurance is a subject best left to experts, I have consulted with several. They have offered good, comprehensive information, which you can read about over the next few months. Yes...

New designs dazzle with innovation Multihull designers are an amazingly creative bunch, always looking to the future instead of clinging to the past. The crop of new designs in build this fall is no exception. From South Africa to the U.S. to Australia, catamarans are leading the evolutionary wave. GUNBOAT 66 The new 66-footer from Gunboat is a flat-out performance cruiser that has the capability of sailing at speeds usually reserved for the high end of the racing scene. Twenty knots is not out of the question in the right conditions....

I must apologize for this tardy market report as I have been traveling almost constantly the past few months, with two visits to Asia, one to Australia, and a recent trip to France. I write this in-flight on my way home from a survey in Turkey. The reason for all this travel is pretty simple - as the American market softened because of the recession both buyers and sellers of yachts have increasingly turned their attention to a more global pool of buyers and sellers. The Multihull Company has kept pace with this new marketplace by monitoring regional as...

SHOPPING FOR A CATAMARAN ON THE INTERNET? HERE ARE 6 QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN CHOOSING A YACHT BROKER IS THE BROKER YOU ARE CONSIDERING A TRUE EXPERT IN CATAMARANS OR TRIMARANS? Many brokerage companies claim to offer “buyer brokerage” services, but their brokers are not Multihull experts. Any yacht broker who sells a powerboat one day and a single hulled sailboat the next cannot be a true “buyer broker.” At The Multihull Company every broker is a true expert – all we do, year-in and year-out, is sell...

If you are in the habit of attending boat shows, as I am, it becomes obvious that most catamaran manufacturers would like you to believe they have created the perfect yacht. The general drift of their sales pitches is nearly always the same: “Plenty of room and safety for mom and the kids, loads of performance for dad.” Unfortunately, such hyperbole is not at all helpful when we are trying to decide which sort of catamaran is best for us. While choosing the right catamaran is a highly personal matter, most of us can avoid a serious buying blu...

So why do we see more and more sailors changing from monohulls to catamarans, and almost none in the opposite direction? What motivates them? What are the arguments in favour of the catamaran? To answer these questions, we brought together several sailors, some from the world of monohull racing, others from coastal or blue-water cruising circles. In production boats, long-distance cruising monohulls, or even aboard boats they have built themselves, they have all come to the same conclusion, that happiness afloat is inevitably found on several hulls…...

The purchase of a new boat, damage assessment and condition valuation are all reasons to have a small vessel or private pleasure craft surveyed. What do you need to know to get the most out of the process and information provided? We asked three professional Caribbean-based marine surveyors for their expert opinions. "One of the most common reasons for requesting a survey is at purchase," says Bob Goodchild, of Flyingfish Ventures Ltd., in St. Georges, Grenada. "This is where the surveyor is acting for the purchaser when the owner's insurance company...