Is it time to sell the sled??

How do you know if it's time to sell your boat?
Draw a circle in the dust and count the mouse turds in the circle?

OR

Is there another way?

Gonna be a buyer's market.

Wonder how they did at the boat show(s) this year?

I guess the questions is......how many days a year is the boat used???? Can you fish with out the boat?????? How many friends do you have, that you can hitch a ride???? Do you need the money????? Do you need the space????

Would I sell mine....No way........if I was 30 years younger, well not even then!!!!

The last few years probably twice a year.
Yes.
1.
No.
No.


The experiences that came with Stam's aluminum collection are surely epic.
Glory days that cannot be relived.
No deal.

The boat show was pretty darn good for my customers, one had a buyer write a check for $250,000 on the spot for a boat at the show. That was just one of the 5 he'd sold by mid show. Others reported good sales too.

I got rid of my bay boat last summer, it hadn't been used in at least 6 years, my sled hasn't been used in almost 3 years.

Our shows were successful this year. We are also as busy as ever building plenty of boats.

YES.

You only live once.

Always upgrade. your old boat will be another's upgrade. It's what makes the world go round

i bought my "new" boat (a 1992 wooldridge) in the spring of 2015, upgrading from my past makeshift sled that i had put countless fish in(a beat up 14' smoker craft alaskan with a jet on it). just in time for "hoot owl" salmon restrictions in the summer, emergency closures and 3 dismal coho seasons. still haven't put a single steelhead in it, either. this time of year i find myself looking for unmolested waters more and more, and any stream big enough to run my boat up(that's open) is going to be overrun by drift boats and jets any more. hey, at least my boat is decent for duck hunting and lake fishing, too.

i agree about boats being a seller's market for who knows what reason. it's been that way for at least 10 years. seems like everyone's buying to fish over dwindling opportunity, and theyr'e spending big bucks, too. they sell $100 aluminum folbe rodholder extensions at sportco, someone must buy them.

i don't think i'll be selling my boat any time soon, but i probably will have to wash off an ever growing amount of moss off of it.

I've thought for a long time I need a raft or drift boat. After seeing about a dozen trailers at Black Creek yesterday (a non-holiday Monday) and another 7 or 8 at the W. Fork Satsop, I was reminded that all a boat will do is get me to more fishless water. Odds of hooking up seem better hiking into some spot mid-drift before the race gets there anymore.

I'm basically waiting until May to see what comes out of NOF. If they destroy our king fishery I'm committed to craigslist this spring... I am assuming we are going to have another 0 coho season as well which is just a joke to me.

I've got plenty of other hobbies, lots of work around home, and friends with boats...

I'm putting a shiny new 50 horse Suzuki on my 16' Lund. Don't mean I'm buying a saltwater license though.

I've done gone from calling myself a steelheader to a I'm not sure what, maybe a crappieheader??

Trout was my first love and is what got me started down this path so I am actually sort of looking forward to learning all of inland NW fisheries. I see some cast-n-blast trips in my future.

Unless I retire in Ak I will most likely never buy another salt water license (not including three day grocery trips up north). It aint just the salmon fishing that has gone to hell but also the bottom fishing. The days of tossing eel flies to the breakwaters for oversized ling cod is but another in a long line of fisheries I once loved that is no longer present even if the state will still sell me a license!

My hats off to all of you who are still fighting the good fight. I wish you the best of luck but I have thrown in the towel and anxiously await the day when I can no longer call myself a Washingtonian!!!

Have Lund will travel...........north, or east, but not west .

What's it worth?

2007 w/low hours
21', 225 four-stroke, T-8, 24v Riptide electric, on-board charger, 4 captains chairs on boxes and 1 on legs, 5 Folbe rod holders, vinyl bra for front when towing, blah, blah, blah.
Boat is in great shape, everything works perfectly, no dents.

I honestly don't know, but I do know there are some professional boat sellers here, and I appreciate any help. If the right person showed up with the right amount of money I might be boat-less.
I'm just not using it.

That's a really beautiful boat.

Fish on...

Todd

Sweet ride. You should stop this nonsense and go fishing.

Good to know you've been saving that seat for me!

This. If the fishing sucks, at least the ride will be great.

Quite the fishing machine there. Not sure of the value, except to say it's a bunch more than I have in the boat fund.

Don't temp me!

Who in there right mind would buy a new sled? In 2-3 years if something doesn't change I will lose money ans sell mine. With rivers closing or high water and out of shape why let it take up room in my garage. And I wonder how 3 rivers marine is doing ?

See you in a few months after my house is done!

I've seen more sleds for sale lately than I can remember in the last few years. May be the start of the slow-down. I'm no econ major, but if interest rates go up like they're heading, then boat loans will become way less accessible. I'd think prices would have to hold or even come down at that point.

Depending on hours on the motors, my guess is worth around $30,000 +/- $5,0000. I'm a bad guesser though.

I hear you guys have a really nice one going out the door next week. Maybe we should start a new thread with some pictures!

For me the time to sell was when they closed Puget Sound to Wild Steelheading C & R. I went from an eleven month river salmon/steelhead fishery with about five or six month of pretty good fishing to now MAYBE a total of two to four weeks of very marginal fishing at best for the entire year. I miss the SuperVee but having a fishing machine sit in the garage so I can use it just a few times of year made no sense. However, after not having a sled for a few years I ended up getting a cheapo that I now use a hand full of times in the river each year and use more for crabbing than anything else. And the fish catching in my neck of the woods now, HORRIBLE!

I appreciate all the feedback folks.
If you know of someone that's serious.......... send them my way.
Have a great weeeeeeekend.

I would post a few pics but I no longer have a way to do that other than to use the old way on the website which its been way too many years to try and figure that out again...

It's basically a new Wooldridge model that is a based on our old whitewater version Classic, only modernized. And holy mackerel is it modernized. It's nearly complete and will be used on the Columbia, Salmon, Clearwater and maybe even sneak into the Cowlitz. It's a beauty but I can't post pictures unfortunately.

Danny

Touche bud...