Customer Reviews

Boating Magazine's Insider's Guide to Buying a Powerboat: Featuring Tips and Traps for the Smart Boat Buyer

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is extremely informative and well organized. Every step in the boat buying process is covered in terms easily understood by a first-time boat buyer (such as myself). After reading this book, I feel confident that I will be able to (1) find, negotiate, and purchase my first boat (at a great deal), and (2) be able to identify those boats/deals which are best left alone. I highly recommend this book!

This book delivers on its' promise to level the playing field for the new/used boat buyer. Ideas, tips, and traps presented in the book are all relevent and insightful. Good references and web sites are provided for further research. Especially useful are the "author's picks" section (for boat brands), the new and used boat checklists, negotiations, survey/inspections, and techniques for dealing with salepeople. At less than 200 pages it's a reference you can put in your pocket and take with you when shopping. Before you buy a boat, buy this book!

While this book is a good overview of buying a boat, it contains no surprises - and I knew nothing about boats before buying it - save reading two magazines.

What did it tell me ?

- There is approx 30-35% markup on price of a new boat
- you get a good deal if you get 12-15% of that in negociating.

What else?
Nothing much but common sense, and repeated info.

An organised person could generate the checklists themselves with or without the help of this book or a couple of boating magazines.

Anyone who has purchased a new or used car would go through the same tactics with the dealer/seller.

What would I reccomend instead ?

I also purchased "The Complete Idiots Guide to Boating and Sailing" which gave me a better (but still reasonably high level) introduction to boats/buying.

What has really impressed me is my latest purchase (reccomended from Amazon Reviews) and that is the so called "Bible of Boating" Chapmans Piloting. It sounds a bit high-brow, but covers everything and anything a novice or experienced person could want to know. It is letter sized hardcover with 650 color pages - well worth thirty five bucks. Buy that and forget wasting thrity bucks on three empty paperbacks.

The way I figure it, if this book costs 11.96, it paid for itself 334 times over when I bought an 11k (book value) boat for 7k. Even my insurance agent said "wow... that's a good deal" when she asked what my purchase price was. I also used this to sell my old boat in a week using only a $1.28 sign for my marketing. That got me $3500 to put down on my boat. Even if you are only going to buy 1 boat, this book is well worth owning.

I have never owned a boat and this book opens the eyes of the new comer to boating when it comes to buying a boat. Lots of good tips for the buyer, and even someone selling a boat could be helped by this book.

The writer is concise, and he puts in lots of lists to help with the buying project. Follow the list and you will do a lot better in looking over the prospective boat. Simple terms are used, and the terms that are common to boating are explained in an easy to read fashion.

The best part of the book is how the author explains the insiders tips for buying a boat. The title isn't kidding. The writer really lets you in on the scoop of how the boating dealerships work and how they get you to buy a boat a their price. He warns the reader that there are no standards in the boating industry (at least nothing comparable to the auto industry) and he points out how to arrive at a competent buying decision. What to look for in the sea trial is an excellent portion of this buyer's manual.

I recommend this book to anyone new to boating who is even thinking about purchasing a boat.

This book is short and easy to read, but contains outstanding advice. It walks you through the process of figuring out what type of boat might work best for you, and then helps you locate and evaluate potential boats. The checklists were great - they helped us be very thorough in looking over boats, and helped us realize when we found a boat that was a great steal. In addition, the author walks you through the negotiating process and gave us tips that saved us hundreds of dollars. He deals with the emotions of the process, which was very helpful as well. We always negotiate on all our purchases, but some of the tips here were new to me and worked extremely well. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone thinking about buying a boat.

I brought this book because I thought that I would be buying a powerboat. However after discussions with my wife I am now looking for a big yacht-a really major purchase!
I'm using the same techniques that he recomends in the book though. I'm making an offer as recomended and walking away.
The sellers that I have dealt with have not been angry. They seem to appreciate an honest valuation.
I have not brought yet, but then I don't need to.

covers a lot. talks about construction, types of boats, what's best for you, opinions on some makes and models, and of course how to negociate. he's a salesman so you really do get some inside info. if you're just getting into boating it's perfect. i just bought my first boat (a used boston whaler) and i was very confident going in. helped a lot.

My husband and I are experienced boaters. We wanted to purchase a small cruiser and needed a little more education on the pros and cons of new vs. used. JP's book was well thought out and a great help. We found a beautiful used boat that suited our needs perfectly. The inspection checklist was instrumental in guiding us toward a quality boat at a substancial savings. Thanks JP!

The experience of buying a boat can be intimidating even after a lifetime of wheeling and dealing in more familiar environments. J.P. provides invaluable insight into some of the peculiarities of the boat sales world as well as some useful suggestions on strategy that can be applied to any sale negotiations. The book is both a good read for anyone interested in boats or a reference for the serious buyer - complete with valuable checklists and resources. Don't leave home (when boat shopping) without it!!!!