how much to pay for used kayaks

Advice
#21

.
all of those are clearly visible



(or easily detectable such as kinked cable or leaky hatches)

#22

clearly visible
To an experienced eye. The wear under the seat can be missed if you donā€™t know to check. Tough to spot everything if you donā€™t have much experience with kayaks.



By all means, if you can get a good deal on a demo go for it. Itā€™s like buying a fixer-upper house - good for some people, not for others.



The rental places I know sell their rental boats usually when they decide theyā€™re not worth repairing anymore. Iā€™ve never seen a rental kayak for sale that Iā€™d touch with a 10ā€™ pole. But thatā€™s just me. For those who enjoy working on kayaks they could be a great joy.


#23

Hello everyone, I have been working on solving the problem of used kayak pricing. Itā€™s in the early stages, but you can check out the progress at www.kayakbluebook.com.

#24

In my experience a used boat can depreciate 33-50% once itā€™s used, even in good condition and within reason, regardless on how old it is. This is in normal times. With reasonable care most boats have a very long life.

The good news is that beyond this, you can always sell a used boat for about what you paid for it, if it is still in good condition. You generally wonā€™t find damage for most boats in a demo or rental fleet if used on flat water and many dealers have to sell used boats to make room for new models, even though year to year improvements can be minimal. Boats used in whitewater, rocky areas, or surf zones deserve a closer look.

With private sellers, it can be a crap shoot. Some, with enough money not to care, can almost give a boat away just to get rid of it. Others will try and sell it for what they paid for it new or even more.

It helps to be patient and shop around.

2 Likes
#25

You may want to put the MSRP in there. It is hard to determine if the price is good if you donā€™t have a starting point. Especially with the newer year models. This could be a useful tool.

#26

My starting point for considering a used kayak is half of retail. For both mine and my girlfriendā€™s WS Tsunami 165 kayaks, I paid 1/3 retail.