"Money Pit" Catamarans: The Perils of Older Yachts

[@jersonjim3605]

I'm glad I found this.

[@robertlindefjeld9022]

This is a life-changing video for me. Keep up the good work, Gary. I am a planner (still years away from a cat purchase, so don’t get excited!). I am currently weighing the pros/cons with buying new versus old. I had initially thought about buying old and fixing it up, but I can maybe delay my purchase and put the money in the stock market instead and buy new without the hassles. I suspect you have a lot of planners watching your videos who aren’t the “I got money in my pocket and want a boat NOW, dammit!” type. Now I think it may be wiser to charter boats for a few years and buy new instead. Hmmmm.

[@pjohnston440]

Always great info in your videos. Enjoy watching them all. Thanks!

[@grantmoore8889]

Great pragmatic and realistic information

[@yanassi]

An honest, really informative person. My interest however, is a small sailing weekend cruiser (head, toilet shower, kitchen) under $30k. Not a large $200k or more boat. Who helps in that arena?

[@jaysparc]

You're on your own. There's no money for a broker on a 30K boat. Buyer beware.

[@yanassi]

jay w thanks. 30k wouldn’t be for a live aboard. A small, trailerable coastal weekender. Yachts intl is very informative, on everything from purchase to reselling. It’s the stuff in between i more so appreciated, maintenance and durability of a manufacturer’s build quality. Buying used, i expect some repair costs after a full inspection, any big purchase beyond sails or a new motor would be off-putting. Using a broker would probably be not involved for the lack of a decent commission as you said, but this youtuber is simply informative. I’m sure he didn’t start with half a million dollar yachts. I’d bet he is even knowledgeable on the dinghies you add to a yacht. All newbies will start somewhere.

[@Catamarans]

There are some discount brokers that will, but honestly, you don't really need a broker when dealing with things that small.

[@rnunezc.4575]

Very good information.

[@georgesoswald6880]

I owned a Swich 51, build 2005 for 13 years..no major failures in all these years!! Sold it and new buyer had to change rigging, sales and rubbers of sail drives. Safe boat and sailing all year long till now. no leaks, no major tech equipment failure till today. Love Desalator , never had to change anything except strainer filters, still produced 85lit/hours. Volvo D75's, ZERO problems. So yes, build quality is paramount.

[@ursus9104]

Wise word, I agree on every word by my own experience. Saltwater and Sun is like acid to a boat.

[@DragonXDrei]

So don't sail???

[@kevinhornbuckle]

"It's very difficult to estimate repairs because you must take apart the equipment or components just to know what the problem is." He goes on to describe how mechanic's liens allow the contractor to hold you hostage. Rationally, they must be paid for the work they did. But you don't know if the extent of the additional damage they uncovered really is as they say it is.

[@themantheycallJay]

You'll be hearing from me in 5 or so years starting to save now for a cat see you soon karsten.

[@robertlindefjeld9022]

You and me both, brother. He is good.

[@Downtoadventure]

Oh yep same here.

[@SOLDOZER]

If it takes you 5 year years to come up with the money to buy it, how are you going to get the money to maintain it?

[@themantheycallJay]

@@SOLDOZER from moveing up and 5 years is so I have a extra 150000 to put in to it so how about just keeping to your self and not trying to get in to people life you have no clue of acting like a teen

[@bucknaykid5821]

Is there any such thing as a boat that doesnt require constant repairs????? Even brand new there are money pit issues.Constant maintenance and the fix lists seems to be the norm. Ive never met a boat that doesnt need a constant money stream to function.

[@Catamarans]

Nope!

[@HandyMan657]

And that's why I named my catamaran ParaSight.

[@johnperry7534]

Great video thank

[@maldwindrummond6158]

I have restored a lot of older wooden boats, and happily taken losses on them because I enjoyed the project, as well as the boat. In those cases, I like she styling much better than newer boats. In the case of catamarans, I am not sure I like any of their looks so livability is a bigger issue. I am not a big fan of the Benetau squeaky floors, the Leopard finishes, FP wavy paint jobs. The only reasonably priced boats I find attractive inside are the Antares, which remind me of my Nordhavn, and they seem to hold their value as they age. That said they are a generation or two dated, so may suddenly take a tumble. What do you think of those boats in the 4/6 year old range?

[@Catamarans]

Well, you hit the nail on the head...it's a well built boat but the design is VERY conservative. They still use shaft drives. Yeah, you aren't only one whose found new Leopard interiors off-putting, get it from others. As far what 4-5 yro boats are good...depends on your budget.

[@Catamarans]

Also please please email me [e-mail] so I don't lose track of you. Gary doesn't have enough time to respond to the volume of comments we get, but I'll make sure you get taken care of. -Benjamin

[@day5dice]

Is your book coming?!

[@wilfdarr]

I gotta disagree with you on the maintenance issues. 5-7 years useful life on a sail drive? 50k to rewire a cat? Lenders won't touch a 10 year old boat? I don't think so Tim. As for 4th gen living space, yes BUT, as a live-aboard, you will likely be the one maintaining it and not having room to work is a common complaint of live - aboards on newer boats. Yaaaaa.

[@Catamarans]

Well, I just surveyed a 2014 Lagoon 400 and one SD-50 saildrive was "kaput" and the other was "on its last legs" and the most experienced saildrive mechanic in Ft Lauderdale quoted $20,000 to replace with new ones. Now, if you know of someone who will do it for substantially less and give a guarantee, please contact me.... I've seen many 5-6 year old drives that were at the end of their "The $50,000 quote to rewire a catamaran was for a fairly new Nautitech Open 40. I've had several lenders tell us "Ten year old maximum!".

[@SOLDOZER]

Do you help people looking at any boat of any age or you just deal with cats? I'm new to sailing and looking for a small older Island Packet. I don't know who to trust.

[@Catamarans]

I handle monohulls and sailing and power catamarans. I no longer do monohull powerboats. I stopped studying that market 15 years ago so cannot give anyone good advice about them.

[@nobody46820]

👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻😀

[@JonniArmani]

👊👊👊

[@Catamarans]

If you would like to see what life aboard a Money Pit is like, watch this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHi2f4uepN6FjNU

[@johnperry7534]

Were you In the military mate ?

[@Catamarans]

No. I attended military schools and enjoyed the regimented structure there but chose to pursue business instead. At the time my uncle was a retired Lt Col in the US Army and wasn't that financially secure and I didn't see many retired military doing that well so I chose to go into business instead.

[@jibsoling1866]

So a money pit, after 5-7 years. You just ruined the boating industry. Near 100% Depreciation of 20%-14% per year. Great. No body will invest any longer in a boat. Reason charter companies is selling after 5 years is that the customers want to rent newer models (like you say, new spacious cats are coming into the market) and older models will rent-out only for lower rates, while the work they have to do, is similar (or more) compared to the newer models). But you are right, boats are never “done”. There is constant maintenance to be done to keep the boat in operation. And live aboard boats often are better of because al systems are being used instead of stand “dead” for weeks. I wonder how you picture depreciation value to your customers buying a 2-4 year old cat. Since they will also turn Into a money pit within the next 3-5 year ;-)

[@Catamarans]

There is a "sweet spot" to buy and one to sell. After owning 48 boats and yachts I have discovered that the best way to preserve your capital is to buy a "hot" model at the right time and in the "right" place. Because, like in real; estate, if you "buy right" the rest will take care of itself. I define a "hot model" as a 4-6 year old Owner Version catamaran (power or sail) with maximum 3-4000 engine hours between 36' and 52' that looks like new because it was well-cared-for. Be sure to sell it BEFORE it turns into the money pit which usually happens between year 9-10. I did a study for Moorings using sales price data on hundreds of yachts and we compared the price of new yachts and what we got for them in years 5-6. We discovered that Owner Version cats return 63% on average in year 5-6 ... Charter Version cats return 54%. The worst "investments" are monohulls under 40' which only returned 42%. By following these rules you can actually make money but usually break even after selling commissions. I'm happy to discuss this further on the phone and focus on individual models because I am a slow typist.

[@jackbrown5269]

​@@Catamarans Thanks for sharing all the information, I was really "in love" with lagoon 440 model and several years ago (2012) I was going to but one, but I ended not buying it for family problems. Now about what I hear from you ti seems that EVERY LAGOON 440 is a money pit since the last was built in 2010 if I'm not wrong. Am I right ? Do you suggest any model that can replace Lagoon 440 ? About what I saw it was a model that you like a lot too

[@blacklynch8797]

Bro this video is ridiculous so basically what this guy is saying if you can't afford a $500,000 bill you can't sell come on man