Used boats for sale: from 10,242 to 53,856 ads

The stock of boats for sale quadruples in four years

A classified ads counter has become the most uncomfortable thermometer of the nautical bubble. At the start of the count there were 10,242 used boats for sale; a few years later, the same marker pointed to 53,856. The figure is impressive, but it is important to know how to read it: much of these ads are not in Spanish waters.

The pogre was first a drip and then a flood. 0.7% in a week, 300 more units in fifteen days: 10,423, 10,460, 10,534, 11,129, 11,493, 11,867. Then the jump: 27,221, 27,726, 32,175, 40,179, 41,445, 42,775. The last recorded entry: 53,856. And in between, a single respite: a summer decline to 39,467 that was read as a change in trend and that unraveled in weeks.

How many of these boats are actually in Spain?

The global counter sums up ads from more than 80 countries, a detail that disappears when the round figure is cited. When the count neared 53,000, a search limited to Spain returned 10,562 vessels. Another reference from the same portal — an ad that accepted an apartment as part of the payment in the Alcaidesa marina — marked 31,041 used boats. Depending on which filter is applied, the Spanish market has ten thousand or thirty thousand units waiting for a buyer. Both readings are bad; one is simply more dramatic.

The jetty boat: bought for prestige and used to eat and return

According to several participants in the thread, the typical buyer did not acquire a sailboat: he acquired a floating terrace with a license plate. Boat for showing off, expensive watch to match, and navigation that consists of moving just enough away from the coast to be seen from the promenade, eating on board, and returning to port. In summer, just take a walk through any Mediterranean marina: the vessels leave the berth and anchor a stone's throw away.

Arturo Pérez-Reverte had already portrayed this in Megaports and Piyo-yachts, published in El Semanal in January 2009, where he described Spanish recreational boating as a backdrop for transoceanic competitions and yacht races with the royal family in full attendance. More posturing than sea. The sentence that summarizes the phenomenon has been circulating for years: the second happiest day of a man is the day he buys his boat; the happiest is the day he sells it.

How much does it cost to maintain a boat? Diesel, berthing, and hull

Berthing, cleaning, and repainting the hull every nine or twelve months, rigging, sails, insurance, and fuel. The joke is not cheap even for a millionaire. According to a forum user, Enrique Ortiz's yacht fills the tank with 20,000 euros to cover the Alicante-Ibiza-Alicante route. Just the diesel. And you have to add a captain with a license issued by the maritime command.

Wear and tear is the other silent bill. As one participant warns, salt spray does not forgive: a vessel that does not receive constant care — polishing wood, sanding, checking water intakes, and rigging — loses almost all its value in two or three years. This explains why within the same stock there are impeccable units and units that, at a bargain price, still have not found a buyer.

The nautical sector calls for public aid while its stock skyrockets

With the wind against them, the nautical sector called for help from the Administration, as reported by the economic press. The paradox needs no highlighting: a guild that lives off luxury and ostentation asking for a public bailout while its second-hand inventory multiplies. Some specialized publications titled directly Massive Tax on Recreational Boating.

Some argue that the boat is not just an optional expense, but the first to fall off the list when the household economy tightens. On the other hand, some argue that those who really sail always go out when they can, not just on vacation. The problem is how many of these owners really sailed.

More than 10,000 abandoned boats and a destination: scrapping

The specialized publication Nauta 360 titled: 'More than 10,000 boats are abandoned in Spain'. The parallel with other luxury goods is inevitable: according to a news headline, the crisis also increased the abandonment of horses. And a forum user cited the testimony of a worker from Italian shipyards according to whom there are owners who leave the vessel for repair and never come back to retrieve it because they cannot pay the bill.

A boat without use and without a buyer is not an asset: it is a bill with a hull. Hence, it can be assumed that many of the oldest and worst-maintained units will end up scrapped, without even passing through the used market. In summer, the counter breathes; in autumn, it rises again.

What to expect from now on

With the stock settled above 40,000 global ads and peaks above 50,000, the foreseeable, according to several forum users, is more scrapping, more downward pressure on prices, and more difficulties for marinas that sustain their accounts with occupied berths. What is not written is that this adjustment will arrive without a public bailout. Nautical boating has already asked for its own.