Pete, that was very well put. You too, Bitzy.
Just to put things in perspective a little...When I bought my 2000 S22 in June 2003 from the original owner, it had somewhere under 150 hours, and was in most ways 'like new'. The carpet was a little matted and everything was actually three and a half years old. Basically as perfect a condition you could maintain with that number of hours. Nothing was broken, all accessories worked. I think new it sold for $40K, I paid $27K. Three years, $13K depreciation. If I turned and sold it today without adding the bimini, prop & CD changer I added, I'd probably get say $23K despite it being anything but "like new" anymore and up to 300 hours. There's another $4K depreciation since I've owned it. Altogether, it's depreciated $17K, or 43%.
Granted that Ski Masters boat is an SX, so the original sales price would've been higher, let's say $50K. Even though I have 300 hours and need some gelcoat buffing and the vinyl seams are getting ready to open in a couple spots and, and, and...the Ski Masters boat has aged too. Maybe not as much, but it's not "like new", it's five years old. Vinyl ages. The engine wears even by sitting, just by contaminants in the oil, in the cooling channels, drying of rubber seals the belts, etc. If you stuck with something close to that 40%, you can see that $30K is about right. I wouldn't offer anything more than that (unless I was pimp, had all the scrilla and it really did look "like new").
