Cost of aluminum boats coming down?

[MacCTD]

With the price of aluminum coming down and the new boat market pulling back do you think the cost of new aluminum boat might come down some in the near future as the supply cost and demand get reduced?

[JETTYWOLF]

It seems to me that I'm the only one that has ruduced my prices, during all this. If they're on the verge of going under, I believe all "luxuries" will go down, or just not go up.

Labor, I'd guess is the largest part of building most boats. Non-alloy and alloy.

[Chaps]

Aluminum has seriously dropped in price, at least in the commodity markets. How long it takes for that to work through to the metal warehouses and the builders is something to be speculated on. An awful lot of current inventory was bought at higher prices . . . its not going to come down as fast as gas does when oil ppb drops.

[AlloyToy]

I'd have to guess (only a guess) that labor, welding supplies, and overhead are the major factors to cost of building an aluminum boat. The fact that if a builder were slow they reduce their price to sell more boats is a "pie in the sky" as most people are choosing to hold on to their $$$$$ for every day living, and fear of not having a job next year............most people I talk to are paying down debt not creating more debt.

With that being said once a price point has reached a certain point it becomes a bench mark

Just my 2 cents

[JETTYWOLF]

I'd have to guess (only a guess) that labor, welding supplies, and overhead are the major factors to cost of building an aluminum boat. The fact that if a builder were slow they reduce their price to sell more boats is a "pie in the sky" as most people are choosing to hold on to their $$$$$ for every day living, and fear of not having a job next year............most people I talk to are paying down debt not creating more debt.

With that being said once a price point has reached a certain point it becomes a bench mark

Just my 2 cents

I'm living it in the SUN-shine state. Proof Positive.....biz is down 3/4's. ZERO on the horizon for this areas #1 fishing week of the year, Thanksgiving!

I AGREE whole heartedly, Alloytoy!

Fuel can go down. But no one's spending, especially on fishing charters.
A now luxury item for the financially secure, or family-less.

[longranger]

Between the high cost of materials and deceptively large amount of labor involved in building an alloy fishing machine most builders run a very narrow margin. That said prices will come down a little as the cost of materials comes down and some of the smaller builders have to close shop. Bigger operations will try to stay busy and retain there best employees by offering some discounts to the consumer. It won't be much though.

A bigger opportunity for bargains exists in foreign markets. Take an exceptional builder like AMF. Figure from May till now the NZ $ has gone down from 80 to under 60 cents on the greenback. Same but less dramatic shifts in currency value with Australia and Canada. Big savings for foreign buyers. Bottom line if you have the cash there are some real bargains to be had from overseas.

The best buys of all will be had in your own back yard. People living beyond their means own a huge number of boats they can neither afford to keep or sell for how much they owe the bank on them. These will drive boat prices way down for quite a while(years). Feel bad for these people just wish more of the bargains coming available were alloy :twisted: .

[Bob5292]

I didn't do too much investigating, but it looks like aluminum is trading just below it's 5 year average. . The price of aluminum may be down and transportation costs are down for the time being, but everything else is definitely more expensive. I've gotten notice of 3 price increases from Volvo since I bought my engines. The end result, like longranger said, is going to be less builders. The big guys who can get credit and wait for things to turn around will be all that's left. Without competition from the little guys they will be able to raise prices and we will wait even longer for boats. If a $300,000 boat has 5-6000lbs of aluminum in it, the raw cost of aluminum isn't a significant slice of that pie. Many of the smaller companies do very well building boats for police and local government. I'm pretty sure with the dramatic drop in sales and fuel tax revenues, upgrading those patrol boats will be sidelined for a while.

Bob

[welderbob]

I build a few small boats per year and I am just starting to notice a small decrease in the price of aluminum. Price are all over the place as distributors try to get rid of higher price inventory. If you have a little extra money there are some deals on pallets of 5086/5083. Aluminum is a small portion in the price of an alloy boat.

Bo

[amfboats]

I can't see the prices coming down, I see a trend of NZ boat builders trying to build smaller boats to take smaller engines, which means the entry point is similiar to what it has been for a new boat but you are buying a boat that is almost a meter smaller.

In New Zealand most raw materials, eg alloy, engines etc are imported so exchange rates are starting to work against us, any drop in prices is covered in exchange rates. Even fuel is rapidly dropping at the pump but still high compared to what we were paying when the barrel price was at the same point.

With our AMF product this global recession has meant phenomenal amount of business coming our way. As with the 87 crash it gets to a stage where investing or reinvesting in stock, finance, property etc either isnt worth the return or is too risky. and as with 87' we are finding that our clients are just getting on with boating and the life style things they have been planning for sometime. This seems to be the case with any top end boat builder in New Zealand.

Alloy is really a small portion of the cost in a boat, labour is a killer and the higher the level of finish in a boat the higher the labour content. And then once you start finishing the boat the bills really start to roll in, and in all these items we have experienced continual price increases in the last couple of years.

[JETTYWOLF]

Hey Bevan,

I watched one of my favorite shows here on the PBS (public broadcasting system) TV channel called GLOBE TROTTER. It's a show where unoffically the host or hosts go to a country and visit and inter-act with the people who live there.

On this program they did NZ, and two hosts traveled the country. I was thinking of you.
Plus they teach viewers alot about the country, and do alot of non-touristy things.

I never knew it was a two island country...Wow, is it beautiful!! All the way from the north shore to the south, hiking the mountains, sailing the waters, visiting the people. Made me feel as If I was there too. That's why I like this show so much.

Where are you on the north or the south Island?

The tip of the south had mountains, that ran to the ocean, and a river or bay that lead to the ocean...they talked about how remote it is and the "trotter" on the show did a hike that took days, and finished in this water in a kayak in a place that looked like the end of the earth.
Or the way the earth, SHOULD look like.
AWESOME!!

It's just hateful no being able to travel and spend time in places like you have there, after a tease like Globe Trotter.

[amfboats]

Hi Dave

I was very fortunate to be born into such a beautiful country, and as a country we are lucky to be Isolated from a lot the nasty that happens in the world. I havent travelled a lot, much to my wifes disgust, everytime some real cool place is shown on the telly I say wow that was cool - dont need to go there now because I have seen it on telly! Drives her crazy :-)

I have made a point of seeing most areas of our little country, I think a lot of NZer's travel the world then come back and have a look around NZ. Open up Google Earth, I live in Wanganui on the west coast of the North Island, Our other factory is in Mt Maunganui on the East coast of the north Island(5 hours drive apart) . The first time I drove around the South Island I was in total awe and couldnt stop taking photos. in NZ the landscape changes every hour you drive. It is very extreme, the lakes have mountains at the edge of them and they are as deep as the mountains are high. Fiordland is the area at the bottom of the South Island that you are talking about and it is breathless. not a single Mosquito either - All married with HUGE FAMILYS

Auckland the largest city in New Zealand is based on the narrowest part of the North Island is surrounded by sea on both coasts. Per capita NZ is meant to have one of the largest boating populations.

I have only visited Fiji (stunning) and Australia. Need to visit the states one day, alaska really appeals. My Inlaws are San Fran at the moment visiting my brother inlaw who lives there with his family.

Here's to winning the Lotto or Lottery and traveling in style!!!!!!

[amfboats]

Our dollar has fallen from 80 cents US to 53 cents so one of my suppliers of chandlery emailed and said he will need to pass on increase of 40-60% on US products because he is losing 27 cents in the dollar and us manufacturers have passed on price increases.

Our Yamaha outboards are also receiving a price increase on Monday.

On the up side buying from NZ in US Dollars is about as good as it gets.

It's always hard to comprehend that in ten years time it will probably be twice the price it is now to buy a boat.

I would say a boat will never be as cheap as it right now.

[fishnchips]

Amf hi , its always the same overseas bucks buy cheaper than the local bucks.
some thing wrong there i reckon... sad fact to me is that only people who have the god almighty dollar will be able to offord 40 to 90 gran for a boat and its upkeep...as i walk thru the valley of alloy boats, i shall fear the price tags on them...getting to the stage where as the price of fuel rises. more and more boats will hit the for sale lots... if i wanted a marco 650 souweaster for example i would have to pay 55 to 90 gran for one.. now if i wait 20 years i can get that alloy for a low price of 20 gran now thats a price tag i like :) im 38 and going down to davey's locker one day, just hope im around one day to enjoy a hard top....
could always build one again at a loss i guess lol lol ahh crap merry christmas folks may your hooks be sharp your lines tight and your women always be good bait catchers ;P

[skypoke]

Welderbob....

Help a brother out and steer me towards those smoking deals on pallets of 5083 & 5086! I'm ready to build a long range live aboard and for me, alloy is certainly a major cost factor in construction. My labor is free. There's a lot of deals to be had on everything else it takes to outfit a boat, now is the time to build or buy. I'm finding, though, that the resale market for a serious, quality built blue water live aboard trawler is still very strong, even primo brand Hurricane Ike salvage boats are bringing high dollar. Lots of showboats being sold but the real deal is still very much in demand.

Chuck