DONÕT SELL UNTILÉ

There is a huge temptation to sell your current boat now. The boom market has inflated prices, meaning you can get more money than you ever thought possible. A case in point: An acquaintance recently bought a new, custom 30-foot Nordic deck boat with a MerCruiser 600 SCI XR high-performance sterndrive. As he took delivery seven months after ordering the boat, the shop told him that he could sell it immediately for $30,000 more than he paid.

While that might result in a financial windfall, he would be unable to take delivery of the same new model anytime soon, putting him on the sidelines for the next season and possibly the one after that.

Is the trade-off worth it? For readers of Boating, probably not. Wasting months or even years of their lives waiting for a boat to arrive runs against the tide of the boat-owning mindset. So, move ahead with purchasing plans, but also keep your current boat so you don’t miss a moment of making memories on the water that will endure for generations.