Ovington thingy.....

Hmm with Laser EPS's still moving for around 12-1400 quid, I should be good for a years sailing and an 80% mark up, which will make a Solo the sound investment it is, I mean, at night when it's really quiet, with the window open, if you listen real carefully you can probably hear it depreciate, even above the racket your car is probably making..

Which goes to show what is wrong with second hand (and new) dinghy prices. Too much of the cost is 'buying' an untangable benefit - the open circuit, active CA etc - goodwill. This money ends up in the hands of the builder and second hand boat seller, not in the hands of the CA who have effectively earned it and can do something useful with it. It would be far better, IMO, to value a boat at what it is worth as a sum of its parts and then pay a higher annual fee for CA membership (if CA membership is important to you).

Originally posted by Peaky Which goes to show what is wrong with second hand (and new) dinghy prices. Too much of the cost is 'buying' an untangable benefit - the open circuit, active CA etc - goodwill. This money ends up in the hands of the builder and second hand boat seller, not in the hands of the CA who have effectively earned it and can do something useful with it. It would be far better, IMO, to value a boat at what it is worth as a sum of its parts and then pay a higher annual fee for CA membership (if CA membership is important to you).

No one is forcing anyone to buy the more expensive boat - it is just the free market at work. Boats which have class racing, or are desireable for other reasons, have more people wanting to buy them, so the price stays higher than for boats that are perceived to offer little. I'm not sure why a seller should think "Nope, can't charge market value, as it isn't me who has made this boat popular".

Personally, I go for the cheap as chips boats, and sometimes strike lucky. My Lightning was silly money, but it turned out that the class has an excellent CA and a great Open circuit, and as that has become more widely recognized (thanks in part to the Y&Y forum), second hand prices have risen. Thing is, I don't want to take advantage of that, as sailing the Lightning is too much fun.

I hope the Minisail will also show how much fun it is, with people sailing it who talk about the boat and take it places, and so give the class a little added value, too. I'm sure the same could happen with the EPS - the EPS sailors at Whitefriars certainly think highly of the boat.

I appreciate that that is how it often is, but it is conflating two distinct things - one product and one (ongoing) service. To some the service has nearly no value(cruisers, club racers), to others it is essential(circuit racers).

There are classes around that exist purely because they have an active class scene - the boats themselves would not sell for the best part of £10k as a standalone product in this day and age, even if, somehow, that is what they cost to produce. They would simply fail.

Originally posted by pondmonkey yep- it was a bit cheeky, hence my response re the apolloduck D1s.  Yep- they're over-priced imo, but probably reflect what the owners originally paid for them when the FX was scary.  And no, I wouldn't buy one when I could get a decent deal from Suntouched for not much more and have it specced to my own liking.  (Frankly those wing bags seem a pointless 'luxury' to me... I'd rather put the money towards another kite - one for trashing, one for racing... buying from Suntouched would give that flexibility)    But either way when they do sell, well that's going to be quite a hit and I can't help but feel some empathy towards anyone in that position.

James i cant comment on those two boats as i have no idea what the owners paid for the boats new (early adopters and all vs. Historic price of the Euro) but i would suggest its not as big as ou may think.