> There's always a fool who is dying to brag how much he paid for a toy. And if I found that fool, I'd be dying to brag how much I sold it to him for!

I read an article in last month's WoodenBoat (I think) about a guy who charges in that neighborhood for canoes and paddles that will probably never even see the water. I guess people just buy them to hang over the mantel in their custom log home.

I almost sold an S&G boat for $1500. It's pretty amazing what people will buy, especially considering how things can be built with relative ease. I have two orders for log beds @ $700 apiece. I could probably sell them for up to $1200 to someone I didn't know. And this is for an item I will spend less than 30 hours on.

Shawn

>If you get lucky and your boat is in the same location as the fool, you can
> name your price. I saw a nicely built stripper guide boat hanging from the
> ceiling of a high end sporting goods shop near Lake Placid (the
> Mountaineer in Keene)about a month ago.It had a price tag of either $8,000
> or $8,800. Odds are its going to be bought by a individual with a credit
> card on an impulse. (of course how much the store takes on a commision
> will be an issue)

> If you seriously look at recent sales and you exclude the highs and the
> lows, depressingly, you probably are not going to make a living building
> boats and selling them. The major exception seems to be staying ahead of
> the crowd by coming up with new designs or building a different boat. I
> think Nick's artistry with wood and his ongoing design work, is an
> excellent example. The recent crop of stripper Adirondack guide boats and
> Rangeleys are going to be of more value as there are less builders for the
> short term. Within a year or two, the market will get saturated and the
> leaders will find some other design to build. (bateuxs?)

> There is also usually someone who will work for less than a living wage. I
> have met several retirees who build boats for a hobby and sell them for
> little more than the materials. Some of the wood canvas canoes coming in
> from Canada alledgedly are subsidized by a tribe or the government as a
> way of keeping people employed. There's a top quality strip canoe builder
> in the Portland Me area who builds boats and donates them to a non profit.
> The non profit gives him a write off, which cover his expenses. The non
> profit then either raffles the boat off or auctions it. Newfound had a
> nice boat for sale recently that an individual had won in a raffle and
> didnt have a use for.

> I kind of cringe if I ever have to try to collect insurance on my
> strippers. I built them and know that the insurance company will never pay
> me what they are worth. It would be interesting to see if anyone in the
> group had gone through this.