Hey all, looking for your thoughts on the value of a 2013 228 with hard top, decent electronics (Garmin model 743 XPV GPS map and 923 XSV map), bottom painted, but lift kept, with a 2020 250HP Yamaha with ~400hrs; full curtains, full canvas cover and helm cover. Seller is asking $59k. Hard to find a true valuation in today's market. I've been searching and following the market for some time. This is a high ask, but the boat looks clean and the newer outboard is certainly valuable. Any constructive thoughts appreciated!
Mustang65fbk
GreatGrady Captain
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2020
- Messages
- 3,123
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- 804
- Points
- 113
- Age
- 40
- Location
- Seattle
- Model
- Seafarer
Apologies in advance for the long winded reply, but I feel as though I definitely have a little bit of insight/experience on the topic at hand. In 2017 I purchased a boat called a 21' Arima Sea Ranger and owned it for about 4 seasons before selling it in 2020. The boat was great in the flat waters trolling for salmon and checking crab pots in front of our beach cabin on Whidbey Island here in the Puget Sound. That being said, it was pretty brutal in the 1'-2'+ chop and wasn't very fun at all. It would pound, it would spray water over the windshield and sides of the boat, and I realized rather quickly that it wasn't my long term boat. As mentioned, I bought it in 2017, sold it after 4 seasons in 2020 and throughout that time, I looked around for boats trying to figure out what I wanted to buy for my next one. I liked the Parker's, Pursuit and Grady White's probably the most out of the rest. I love the looks and full pilothouse on a 23' Parker, but I had a budget of $35k and wanted to keep it under that, of which almost any Parker from 2000 and newer was that price or more. I liked the Pursuit 2470 Walkaround but it's a very uncommon boat, so I figured I'd settle on a Grady White. At first, my size range was a 208 Adventure to a 232 Gulfstream and looked at probably several thousands of boats online in the year that I didn't have a boat between 2020 and 2021. I ended up scrapping the idea of a 208 Adventure as I wanted a fully enclosed transom with the transom bracket on it, and I looked at a 232 Gulfstream here locally from my local Grady White dealer, and it was a much bigger boat than what I needed. So, I settled on a 228 Seafarer and wanted to get something from a 1998 model and newer, as that's when they did a design change and it also has the Greenwood XL as opposed to standard marine grade plywood.
Over the year, I looked at several 228 Seafarer's online, I put offers down on a couple and even paid a surveyor to go out and inspect one boat. I ended up retracting my offers on both of those boats as they weren't anywhere near the condition they were advertised to be in and finally found my boat at a Grady White dealership in Deale, Maryland back in October of 2021. I flew out on a Sunday from Seattle to look at the boat the next day on a Monday morning because the dealership said they wouldn't do any purchases or transactions over the phone. I told them if I bought a plane ticket and showed them the receipt for it, if they would hold the boat for me for a day so that I could fly out there and inspect it without the boat being sold out from under me while traveling, of which the dealership said yes. The boat is a 2004 Grady White 228 Seafarer with the factory hardtop, a 2004 Yamaha F225 that had been scoped for the dry exhaust corrosion issue and at the time of sale had just under 1k hours on her. The boat also came with a 2009 aluminum I-beam trailer, of which the dealership had an asking price of $28k for the boat. I offered them $26.5k, of which they accepted my offer, did a sea trial run the next day, then I rented a U-Haul truck and trailered the boat 3,009 miles back across the country to the Seattle area where I live. Long story short, I looked everyday on the major boat sales websites like Boat Trader, Yacht World, Boats.com, and even some of the other websites like Craigslist, OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, etc. So, I had a decent idea as to what prices were fair, good, as well as not so great. Finding a good boat with a 4 stroke outboard and trailer for less than $30k wasn't easy, and I feel like I got a very, very good deal on my boat, especially since everything was working on it and I literally just had to drop it in the water and turn the key.
That being said, and probably most importantly would be where you're located at? I bought my boat, as well as two other previous boats, back on the east coast, all surprisingly coming out of Maryland. The reason for that is the price, because cars, trucks, boats, RV's, homes and just about everything else out here in Seattle seem to sell for twice as much as elsewhere throughout the country. The same can be said for my boat, to where in the almost 5 years since I've owned my boat, I've seen 3 almost identical boats to mine sell for between $55k-$65k. I believe all 3 of those boats had either a kicker motor and/or radar, whereas mine don't have either of those things. Although an inexpensive radar and used kicker motor could likely be had for less than $2k total. Regardless, those prices for those 3 boats are more than double what I paid for my boat at $26.5k. So, quite possibly the biggest consideration would be where you/the boat is located at. A 2013 boat with a newer 2020 motor out here I think would sell rather easily and as mentioned, that $55k-$65k range is what I've seen on slightly older boats with original power. However, if the boat is on a lift, it sounds like it might not be a west coast boat? Does it come with a trailer? Does it have a kicker motor? Does it have radar? The Garmin electronics on there are similar to what I have, which is a 943xsv and while they work just fine, they aren't really anything crazy special. It's just your basic electronics with a few decent features on it, and can't imagine having those would add a ton of value to the boat or anything. But again, I think the biggest part of the equation would be the location as out here on the west coast, I think that would be a $59k boat all day, especially if it comes with a trailer. If it's located in say Florida, where boat prices are considerably less, if it didn't come with a kicker motor, radar and a trailer, I think it would be a bit overpriced. A newer motor is definitely better for peace of mind, but it is 6 years old now and with it being a Yamaha, it's also going to be out of warranty after 3 years. So, that will add some value to the boat, but it's not like the boat was just repowered yesterday or even last season. Not exactly an apples to apples comparison, but there's a 2011 GW 228 Seafarer for sale on Boat Trader in Florida that doesn't come with a trailer for $38k that has been listed for quite sometime now, and has a recent price reduction of $1k on the listing. I guess you have to ask yourself what your budget is, especially your total cost involved, what other similar boats are selling for, if you need a trailer and the boat doesn't come with one, etc. Especially since a brand new trailer for that boat will likely be at least $5k-$6k+, depending on brand, features and so forth, and if you needed to have the boat shipped to you from across the country, that could add another potentially $5k+ to your expenses. I would hate to see someone spending top dollar on a boat, especially if it doesn't come with a trailer and they needed one, to then be upside down on it or $10k+ in the hole right after they purchase it. Hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions for send me a message. Good luck with your search, perhaps let us know where you're located, how far you're looking to travel for a boat, your budget, if you need a trailer and so forth? That way I, as well as I'm sure others, can keep an eye out and look around for you as well. Good luck!
www.boattrader.com
Over the year, I looked at several 228 Seafarer's online, I put offers down on a couple and even paid a surveyor to go out and inspect one boat. I ended up retracting my offers on both of those boats as they weren't anywhere near the condition they were advertised to be in and finally found my boat at a Grady White dealership in Deale, Maryland back in October of 2021. I flew out on a Sunday from Seattle to look at the boat the next day on a Monday morning because the dealership said they wouldn't do any purchases or transactions over the phone. I told them if I bought a plane ticket and showed them the receipt for it, if they would hold the boat for me for a day so that I could fly out there and inspect it without the boat being sold out from under me while traveling, of which the dealership said yes. The boat is a 2004 Grady White 228 Seafarer with the factory hardtop, a 2004 Yamaha F225 that had been scoped for the dry exhaust corrosion issue and at the time of sale had just under 1k hours on her. The boat also came with a 2009 aluminum I-beam trailer, of which the dealership had an asking price of $28k for the boat. I offered them $26.5k, of which they accepted my offer, did a sea trial run the next day, then I rented a U-Haul truck and trailered the boat 3,009 miles back across the country to the Seattle area where I live. Long story short, I looked everyday on the major boat sales websites like Boat Trader, Yacht World, Boats.com, and even some of the other websites like Craigslist, OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, etc. So, I had a decent idea as to what prices were fair, good, as well as not so great. Finding a good boat with a 4 stroke outboard and trailer for less than $30k wasn't easy, and I feel like I got a very, very good deal on my boat, especially since everything was working on it and I literally just had to drop it in the water and turn the key.
That being said, and probably most importantly would be where you're located at? I bought my boat, as well as two other previous boats, back on the east coast, all surprisingly coming out of Maryland. The reason for that is the price, because cars, trucks, boats, RV's, homes and just about everything else out here in Seattle seem to sell for twice as much as elsewhere throughout the country. The same can be said for my boat, to where in the almost 5 years since I've owned my boat, I've seen 3 almost identical boats to mine sell for between $55k-$65k. I believe all 3 of those boats had either a kicker motor and/or radar, whereas mine don't have either of those things. Although an inexpensive radar and used kicker motor could likely be had for less than $2k total. Regardless, those prices for those 3 boats are more than double what I paid for my boat at $26.5k. So, quite possibly the biggest consideration would be where you/the boat is located at. A 2013 boat with a newer 2020 motor out here I think would sell rather easily and as mentioned, that $55k-$65k range is what I've seen on slightly older boats with original power. However, if the boat is on a lift, it sounds like it might not be a west coast boat? Does it come with a trailer? Does it have a kicker motor? Does it have radar? The Garmin electronics on there are similar to what I have, which is a 943xsv and while they work just fine, they aren't really anything crazy special. It's just your basic electronics with a few decent features on it, and can't imagine having those would add a ton of value to the boat or anything. But again, I think the biggest part of the equation would be the location as out here on the west coast, I think that would be a $59k boat all day, especially if it comes with a trailer. If it's located in say Florida, where boat prices are considerably less, if it didn't come with a kicker motor, radar and a trailer, I think it would be a bit overpriced. A newer motor is definitely better for peace of mind, but it is 6 years old now and with it being a Yamaha, it's also going to be out of warranty after 3 years. So, that will add some value to the boat, but it's not like the boat was just repowered yesterday or even last season. Not exactly an apples to apples comparison, but there's a 2011 GW 228 Seafarer for sale on Boat Trader in Florida that doesn't come with a trailer for $38k that has been listed for quite sometime now, and has a recent price reduction of $1k on the listing. I guess you have to ask yourself what your budget is, especially your total cost involved, what other similar boats are selling for, if you need a trailer and the boat doesn't come with one, etc. Especially since a brand new trailer for that boat will likely be at least $5k-$6k+, depending on brand, features and so forth, and if you needed to have the boat shipped to you from across the country, that could add another potentially $5k+ to your expenses. I would hate to see someone spending top dollar on a boat, especially if it doesn't come with a trailer and they needed one, to then be upside down on it or $10k+ in the hole right after they purchase it. Hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions for send me a message. Good luck with your search, perhaps let us know where you're located, how far you're looking to travel for a boat, your budget, if you need a trailer and so forth? That way I, as well as I'm sure others, can keep an eye out and look around for you as well. Good luck!
Used 2011 Grady-White Seafarer 228, 33709 St Petersburg - Boat Trader
Check out this Used 2011 Grady-White Seafarer 228 for sale in St Petersburg, FL 33709. View this Saltwater Fishing and other Power boats on boattrader.com
www.boattrader.com
Last edited:
Ackdog
GreatGrady Captain
Yes thanks Mustang! I’ve read your story a few times on here! In fact, I think I remember seeing the boat listed that you bought. I’m in Virginia so this is an East Coast/Mid Atlantic boat. Pretty easy drive from me. Trailer included but it is original and probably needs to be replaced. I’ve priced a new one and discussed a sale price for the boat sans trailer. A reliable trailer is a must for me. I plan to store the boat on the trailer at my house.
where is boat Located? I to am looking for a 228 model. Was gonna buy a 208/226 model but can not get past the open transom not a big fan of that