New member wants to say "hi".

[Chris-Germany]

Hi everybody,

I?m new around here. Since I didn?t see a thread for new members I?ll introduce myself here.

I?m Chris, I live in Germany and after some joyful experiences on my friends boat I decided to get a cruiser myself.

Since boats are a lot more expensive in Europe I wonder if buying in the States is an alternative. As you notice I know the language, so thats not that much of a problem and a flight to the US is affordible. I?m going to look in the US for the right boat. I?m thinking about a 30-36 ft Cruiser with sleeping room for my whole family of four. Can be 6 to 12 years old. I don?t want to start too expensive, since I?m not quite sure what I exactly need. But the first boat is supposed to serve for at least two years.

My first question: can you tell me the URL of leading data bases for used Boats in the US?

What companies offer a good quality for the price? I already had a closer look at Searay, Bayliner, Maxum and Chaparral. Is that it? Is an important brand missing?

Thank you! I hope to here a lot from you soon

Chris

 

[5150abf]

Re: New member wants to say "hi".

Welcome to iboats Chris, if it has to do with boats you are in the right place.
Some terrific people here and years of boat knowledge.
You are going to ship this boat back to Germany?
I haven't looked into rates for that but with deisel costing what it does I think any savings you would find buying a boat here would be lost on shipping it back home.
You are looking at the right time though,the economy here is pretty ugly and I'm sure there are deals to be had.
From what I have read on other posts you want to stay away from Maxxum and Bayliner.
Someone more knowledgeable with those boats will be along shortly and they should be able to give you a more specific answer.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: New member wants to say "hi".

Welcome Chris!
Iboats does have a boat classified section.
For larger cruisers you may want to look at this website,
http://www.ablboats.com/

 

[KCook]

Re: New member wants to say "hi".

I would add Four Winns and Monterey to your list of brands.

Kelly

 

[Chris-Germany]

Re: New member wants to say "hi".

Thanks for the quick answers

You are going to ship this boat back to Germany?
I haven't looked into rates for that but with deisel costing what it does I think any savings you would find buying a boat here would be lost on shipping it back home.

Well, as far as I found out so far a 30-36 footer from the east coast to Bremerhaven in Germany should be around $7.000,-
I saw a nice Searay 460 on Ebay.com that was offered for $199.000 and had no bids. On the other hand I saw a Searay 360 of similar age at a Dealer in my Town in Germany and it was priced at 170.000 EUR (that?s approx. $260.000). You all probabbly kwow a lot better than me, that a 460 beeing "just" around 25% longer doesn?t cost "just" 25% more . It?s rather twice the price, so geting a 460 for 200 Grand seems to be quite a deal.
That?s what I?m facing at the first glance. Now I want to check, if it is as good as it looks.

From what I have read on other posts you want to stay away from Maxxum and Bayliner.

Yes, I heard, that Bayliner is rather poor Quality. I looked at a Maxum at an exibition and even with my unexperienced eyes I saw a few flaws. Had a better Impression o the Chaparral boat that I looked at.

But please go on telling me about your experience with american made boats. You guys know american brands a lot better then me or my (boat)experienced friends on the german boat board. Anything you can tell me about american brands or even specific models is helpful.

For larger cruisers you may want to look at this website,
http://www.ablboats.com/

Thanks Gary. Looks good.

@Kelly

Oh yes. I forgot Four Winns. Is quite popular in Germany too. I didn?t see any Monterey yet.
Would you rather prefer Searay, Chaparral or Four Winns? Which brand has the best image?

 

[KCook]

Re: New member wants to say "hi".

Here in the US it is Sea Ray that has the strongest dealer network. This has made them dominate in our market, always a good demand for those here. Every brand has its fans. The two I mentioned in my prior post are my preference, but that's all that is, a personal preference. Here are links to more threads to expand on the confusion -

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=224259

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=239365

Kelly

 

[Chris-Germany]

Re: New member wants to say "hi".

Kelly, thanks for the links. Read them both, was interesting.

I looked up the Montereys on the homepage. Looked good! Really like them. At the first glance they make the Impression of beeing quite sililar in looks as the Chaparral and Four Winns.

 

[arboldt]

Re: New member wants to say "hi".

In addition to purchse price and shipping costs, you might also check into import fees. Since it doesn't apply to me, I haven't paid a lot of attention, but there have been several threads on importing boats from the US to Canada. Will you be charged your country's VAT when you import it? Would that make a significant difference to final / net costs? And what about other import costs?

 

[Chris-Germany]

Re: New member wants to say "hi".

I already have some information about that. I have to pay 19% VAT and 1,7% tax on the import. Then, there?s the power issue: in europe w use 220 V power, so I will have to invest around 600-1000 EUR for a device, that transforms the voltage in the Marina into 110V that the boat needs.

Last thing is the CE-Certificate which should be less than 1000 EUR.

So taking all this into account there?s still a good chance of fining a bargain in America.

This is not confirmed by my accountant yet. I will consult him as soon as it takes serious. Right now, I have this information from a friend who already bought two boats in the US and just bought his third US-boat on ebay. So I think his information is pretty solid.

 

[KCook]

Re: New member wants to say "hi".

More photos of an '08 Monterey -

"http://boatreviews.needsabeach.com/PHX-08/Monterey%20330%20mid-cabin%20cruiser/index.html"