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
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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 or 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 or 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
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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
Mustang65fbk
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You're welcome, I've helped several other forum members find their boats and I'm always happy to help others find the right boat for them. As mentioned, I think if you bought the boat at that price and then needed a new trailer on top of that, it's going to likely put you into the $70k+ range after all is said and done. If the boat needed any work/repairs, needed to be transported or shipped, well that's only going to make things go up from there. Which for the boat in question coming up on being almost 15 years old now, even though it has a newer repower, I myself don't think it's a $70k boat, at least on the east coast. That's my opinion, along with how I work things out in my head, and that's in terms of numbers. When looking for my boat, as mentioned I wanted to keep things under $35k total. When I was looking at the one boat that I had a surveyor go out and inspect, it was at the top of my price range/budget, in that I think we agreed on $32.5k for the boat, motor and trailer package. That being said, sales tax alone would've put me over that $35k figure, then flying out, buying it, trailering it back here to the Seattle area where I live would've put me well over $40k. Of which that's literally just getting the boat to my door and not factoring in any additional costs or repairs the boat might need on top of that. Between the total cost involved to get the boat back home to my door, and the fact that the boat had a few serious issues with it including structural issues, I was very glad that I passed on it. Just be patient and buy the boat that's right for you, as mentioned it took me just over a year to find and buy my boat, and I usually always recommend having the boat inspected/surveyed before purchasing. I typically look at the boat listings every couple days at minimum for the sake of curiosity and to see what other boats are being listed/selling for, if I see something I'll pass it along. Not trying to bash on anyone's boat, be a jerk or anything of the sort. People are always more than welcome to list their boat for whatever price THEY think it's worth, I'm just going off 6+ years of experience as well as giving my own opinions on the matter. Good luck!
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This is helpful information. The 228 is the slot I’m looking for. I’m in South Carolina so most of the East Coast I can retrieve the right boat.
Mustang what were some of the reasons you turned down other boats besides price? What were the structural issues? Thanks
Mustang65fbk
GreatGrady Captain
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I had offers on two different boats and ended up retracting the offers on both of them for more than a few reasons for each boat. Both boats were talked about in previous threads that I'll link below, but the first one in the timeline was in April of 2021 when I was looking for a 228 Seafarer and it took me just over a year to find one. The first, was listed by a Grady White dealership called Ingman Marine in Florida, they had a 1999 GW 228 Seafarer with a hardtop, 2007 Suzuki 225 hp 4 stroke motor on it and no trailer. I think they wanted something in the high $20k's for the price, maybe around $28k? Either way, I saw the boat online, was definitely interested, called up Ingman Marine to inquire on the boat, was told a few things about it but that they hadn't gotten the boat into the shop yet to have the mechanic look at it. They called back a day or two later and as mentioned in the first thread linked below, the hours went from 200 or so, up to over 700. The motor also had like 19 overheating alarms on its printout history, along with a lot of the electrical items on the boat being inoperable, like the fuel gauges, trim tabs and so forth. The boat also didn't come with a trailer, which would've added probably $5k-$6k+ onto the asking price, and as mentioned in the thread, the seller wasn't being cooperative with Ingman Marine about the boat. He seemed to be rather abrasive, wasn't answering their questions and didn't seem like he was being honest with them about the actual condition of the boat. My thought process, or maybe assumption, was that the seller had run aground or done some damage to the outboard, got something sucked up into it, etc and that was the reason why it was having overheating issues and so forth. I made an initial offer to Ingman Marine in the hopes I'd find or purchase a trailer, but with the multitude of issues that the boat came with, as well as the other ones that might not be seen, I retracted my offer and moved on. I believe Ingman Marine said they were going to give the boat back to the seller and not even deal with it anymore, or at least that was the last thing that I heard from them.
The other boat, also talked about in a thread that's linked below, was in late August of 2021 and was a 2003 GW 228 Seafarer with the hardtop, trailer and a Yamaha F225 but I don't remember how many hours were on the motor. For this boat, the seller was asking $35k, of which I believe I made an offer at $32.5k dependent upon a favorable survey. With this one being a private party, I paid a surveyor to go out and inspect the boat for me, as I really wanted to buy it. I think I paid the surveyor $600 to go out and inspect the boat for me. Anyway, the surveyor went out to inspect it as well as do a sea trial run, of which he took a couple pictures of the inside part of the transom area, where there was one cross braced area that had a considerable amount of damage to it, that go figure the seller didn't tell me about. It was definitely difficult to tell from the pictures alone, but it looked like the damaged area was likely structural in nature and that to repair it correctly could cost thousands of dollars. The motor also had the dry exhaust corrosion issue, which the seller didn't mention until I asked him about it. His story changed up several different times about having his mechanic friend coming over to do the repairs on it, then he said he bought the boat 6-7 months prior and was only selling because he gave me a sob story about how he had an alcoholic brother that he had to help support, etc. My thought process/maybe assumption here was that the dude bought the boat without having it inspected/scoped, realized the motor had the dry exhaust corrosion issue and then tried to sell it/pawn it off on someone else without being honest about it. The surveyor also said that, I believe the motor wasn't peeing, or it was smoking pretty badly, overheated or something else during the sea trial run. Also, when returning to the dock, the seller was driving the boat and hit the dock at a pretty decent rate of speed, which did some fairly decent obvious visual damage to the side of the boat, fiberglass/gel coat or whatever. The surveyor mentioned between the damage on the inside of the transom area, the damage that the seller caused to the boat from the sea trial run as well as the seller not seeming to be honest with him/me about the actual condition of the boat, he recommend I pass on it altogether.
I called up the seller shortly thereafter to see what his side of the story was, of which he didn't want to lower the price down at all, he was going to have his mechanic buddy do the repairs but that the mechanic was going to be 2-3 weeks out from doing them. I asked for the mechanics phone number to call him, the seller gave it to me, I called him, he didn't answer, so I left a voicemail and never got a reply back. I took that as a sign for moving on and think it was definitely for the better as I didn't want to spend $35k, which was the very top end of my budget at the time, on a boat that needed thousands of dollars worth of repairs to the engine, possible structural repairs and other things, to then have at least $40k+ into the boat before I even put it in the water. With both boats, I also got a few red flags from the sellers over various comments, or a lack of them answering my questions, being misleading or misrepresenting the actual condition of the boat/motor, as well as just bad overall gut feelings from them. As mentioned, I ended up buying my current boat from a Grady White dealership in Deale, MD called Tri State Marine just a couple months later for $26.5k that included a trailer and have loved the boat ever since then.
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That 2011 on
thank you for the detailed answers. It sounds like you did due diligence and those boats came up short in areas that a surveyor found. Good information. I did do a cursory look at some of your posts after I had asked you the question, but hadn’t arrived at the stories yet. Thanks again.I had offers on two different boats and ended up retracting the offers on both of them for more than a few reasons for each boat. Both boats were talked about in previous threads that I'll link below, but the first one in the timeline was in April of 2021 when I was looking for a 228 Seafarer and it took me just over a year to find one. The first, was listed by a Grady White dealership called Ingman Marine in Florida, they had a 1999 GW 228 Seafarer with a hardtop, 2007 Suzuki 225 hp 4 stroke motor on it and no trailer. I think they wanted something in the high $20k's for the price, maybe around $28k? Either way, I saw the boat online, was definitely interested, called up Ingman Marine to inquire on the boat, was told a few things about it but that they hadn't gotten the boat into the shop yet to have the mechanic look at it. They called back a day or two later and as mentioned in the first thread linked below, the hours went from 200 or so, up to over 700. The motor also had like 19 overheating alarms on its printout history, along with a lot of the electrical items on the boat being inoperable, like the fuel gauges, trim tabs and so forth. The boat also didn't come with a trailer, which would've added probably $5k-$6k+ onto the asking price, and as mentioned in the thread, the seller wasn't being cooperative with Ingman Marine about the boat. He seemed to be rather abrasive, wasn't answering their questions and didn't seem like he was being honest with them about the actual condition of the boat. My thought process, or maybe assumption, was that the seller had run aground or done some damage to the outboard, got something sucked up into it, etc and that was the reason why it was having overheating issues and so forth. I made an initial offer to Ingman Marine in the hopes I'd find or purchase a trailer, but with the multitude of issues that the boat came with, as well as the other ones that might not be seen, I retracted my offer and moved on. I believe Ingman Marine said they were going to give the boat back to the seller and not even deal with it anymore, or at least that was the last thing that I heard from them.
The other boat, also talked about in a thread that's linked below, was in late August of 2021 and was a 2003 GW 228 Seafarer with the hardtop, trailer and a Yamaha F225 but I don't remember how many hours were on the motor. For this boat, the seller was asking $35k, of which I believe I made an offer at $32.5k dependent upon a favorable survey. With this one being a private party, I paid a surveyor to go out and inspect the boat for me, as I really wanted to buy it. I think I paid the surveyor $600 to go out and inspect the boat for me. Anyway, the surveyor went out to inspect it as well as do a sea trial run, of which he took a couple pictures of the inside part of the transom area, where there was one cross braced area that had a considerable amount of damage to it, that go figure the seller didn't tell me about. It was definitely difficult to tell from the pictures alone, but it looked like the damaged area was likely structural in nature and that to repair it correctly could cost thousands of dollars. The motor also had the dry exhaust corrosion issue, which the seller didn't mention until I asked him about it. His story changed up several different times about having his mechanic friend coming over to do the repairs on it, then he said he bought the boat 6-7 months prior and was only selling because he gave me a sob story about how he had an alcoholic brother that he had to help support, etc. My thought process/maybe assumption here was that the dude bought the boat without having it inspected/scoped, realized the motor had the dry exhaust corrosion issue and then tried to sell it/pawn it off on someone else without being honest about it. The surveyor also said that, I believe the motor wasn't peeing, or it was smoking pretty badly, overheated or something else during the sea trial run. Also, when returning to the dock, the seller was driving the boat and hit the dock at a pretty decent rate of speed, which did some fairly decent obvious visual damage to the side of the boat, fiberglass/gel coat or whatever. The surveyor mentioned between the damage on the inside of the transom area, the damage that the seller caused to the boat from the sea trial run as well as the seller not seeming to be honest with him/me about the actual condition of the boat, he recommend I pass on it altogether.
I called up the seller shortly thereafter to see what his side of the story was, of which he didn't want to lower the price down at all, he was going to have his mechanic buddy do the repairs but that the mechanic was going to be 2-3 weeks out from doing them. I asked for the mechanics phone number to call him, the seller gave it to me, I called him, he didn't answer, so I left a voicemail and never got a reply back. I took that as a sign for moving on and think it was definitely for the better as I didn't want to spend $35k, which was the very top end of my budget at the time, on a boat that needed thousands of dollars worth of repairs to the engine, possible structural repairs and other things, to then have at least $40k+ into the boat before I even put it in the water. With both boats, I also got a few red flags from the sellers over various comments, or a lack of them answering my questions, being misleading or misrepresenting the actual condition of the boat/motor, as well as just bad overall gut feelings from them. As mentioned, I ended up buying my current boat from a Grady White dealership in Deale, MD called Tri State Marine just a couple months later for $26.5k that included a trailer and have loved the boat ever since then.
Mustang65fbk
GreatGrady Captain
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Indeed.... I'm definitely a numbers guy and have been called "frugal" before, of which I don't want to be one of those guys who spends $35k+ on a boat, whether it needs work done to it or even none at all, to have the boat only be worth say $25k, because I bought it out of impulse, a lack of research, etc. My hope is that I can pass some of that "wisdom"/street smarts/general overall knowledge or experience onto others, so that they can have as pleasant of a buying experience as I ultimately did with my boat. I would hate to see someone spend say $35k+ on something and need considerable repairs, to then have it only be worth say $25k, and be upside down on it more than $10k before they've even used the boat once. If you're seriously looking at boats, I would post your budget, how far you're looking to travel for a boat and so forth. Myself, as well as probably others, can likely help you look for a boat that might be right for you, as I've helped probably a dozen people or so find and buy their boats on here over the years. Good luck with your search and if anyone has any further questions, let me know or DM me!