Boat prices have went through the roof, in my opinion a bass boat of any kind is not worth 50 grand !!!
Well past what I would pay to get off the banks, but this is a 1st boat so I'm just trying to figure some things out. A boat may not even be worth the trouble to me, I don't know at this point. Even considered a Kayak rig. Paddled some whitewater in my day so they looked like fun.
50 Grand will get you started. 80k for a new 521c with all the bells and whistles. Gotta pay to play. I'm working on getting my 16' Wachita with a 60 merc, ready for fall drawdown fishing. Bet I got less than 1.500 into it. But a lot of buyers now will hammer sellers with NADA prices to buy cheap. Can't go by NADA. Lots of nice boats are lightly used and garage kept.
Don't think I'm understanding your reasoning on 'gotta pay to play' by 80k cost entry, then you mention only having $1500 in a boat?
My NADA question isn't to beat anyone up, but not to buy into a seller who is upside down on a boat and passing that on to me. I'm cash and done, but being a 1st boat I don't want to be taken for a ride on price so I'm trying to figure it out. Lots of boats have low hours but that actually can hurt the power train from what I've read. As such, I would rather have a used boat with 300hrs used monthly, as a 50hr boat used twice a year if I've understood the information available correctly.
From what I've seen NADA values are not cheap, but depreciated reasonably. It's a realistic expectation that a 2006 boat isn't worth 75% of an 11-12 year old purchase cost, but only 55%. I have seen the biggest discrepancy on Bass Trackers though which lead me to believe it was from being the top seller of aluminum boats? Of course from so many being constantly on the market you would think the prices would adjust? Especially since, as I mentioned, Lowe, G3, and others are considered a higher quality boat.