That inflation is rising and interest rates are having to follow suit comes as no surprise to any of us with half an eye on the price of big ticket items like cars and boats. It has always been possible to spend £50,000 on a mid-range Audi, it’s just that a few years ago you’d expect a fire-spitting Audi RS6 for that money, now it gets you an A6 2-litre diesel (and that RS6 costs an eye watering £100,000+!).
It’s the same with boats. Admittedly it was 1989 when I started in the industry and a twin-diesel 40ft flybridge Princess 388 was circa £100,000, but it wasn’t much more than a decade ago that a new Princess V42 was £250,000. Now you can pay that for a sub-30ft outboard-powered sportsboat.
As ever, solace is found in the used boat market where things feel a bit saner. This is what £150k buys you these days.
PRICE: £159,000
BOAT: Sealine C39
DATE: 2004 LYING: Torquay
CONTACT: One Marine www.onemarine.co.uk
PRICE: £149,950
BOAT: Sunseeker Martinique 36
1990 Lymington
