On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:44:58 -0400, in message

Wayne.B wrote:

On Mon, 7 Apr 2008 06:06:01 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

I think that what struck me so much about this incident is that often
when passing a dock and I see an old poorly maintained boat that I
think, "Somebody who really cared could fix her up". However, this
shows that sometimes even a fiberglass boat can be so far gone that
she is basically landfill.

Once repair costs exceed the best possible resale price it becomes a
"negative value" boat. There are a lot of them in Florida.

You need to be careful with a formula that doesn't include the
enjoyment of ownership. I knew when I bought my boat that it was
unlikely I would ever be able to sell it for what I paid, and that
putting money into it was never going to raise the value by nearly the
amount invested. They're all "negative value" boats, even the new
ones, unless you do major repairs well, while discounting the cost of
your own labour.

As for what to tell the proud new owner, I'd point out a couple of
safety concerns, emphasize that there were many others, and that he
would need professional help if the boat was going to be even
marginally safe to leave the dock. He needs realistic information and
he needs to know that, much as some of us like to give advice, you
aren't going to give him any more advice on how to fix it.

Ryk