1996 Valley (Skerray) 17’ fiberglass kayak in great condition. Used rarely. New hatch covers, and Swift paddle. Any idea what I should be asking for it?
17’ Valley
I’ll start at $500.00
Pricing
It’s an older boat/design, and used kayaks arent selling for much. Unless it’s a year old new model, like a Cetus, Etain, one of the Tiderace models, or a classis NDK they seem to max out at around $1200. There’s an NDK Posieden for $1500 near me as well as an old Kevlar Dagger Meredian for $1000.
At most I would list it around $1000.
I have a Gulfstream 2000 I should sell but I the $900 or less I would get doesn’t seem worth it.
Hopefully others will chime in too.
What cockpit style?
Is it an ocean cockpit or a keyhole?
think
that the 96 skeery had a slalom cockpit…halfway between the keyhole and the ocean
I’ve never seen anything like that…
…on a VCP boat. I’ve never seen one listed in a catalog or on their site, either. The VCP ocean cockpit is oval, not round, so perhaps that’s what you’re thinking of.
Valley slalom cockpit & Skerry keyhole
Here is a photo of a Nordkapp with slalom cockpit and a later model Skerry with keyhole.
British fiberglass sea kayaks of notable age in good condition around here can sell from 900-2,000. Newer sell for more. Skerries are not much in demand and tend to sell for less than used Pintails, Anas Acutas, or Nordkapps.
Valley Ocean cockpits
Some images of Valley boats with ocean cockpits - Anas Acuta and Pintail.
my guidelines
– Last Updated: May-10-12 11:50 AM EST –
Lots of variables, of course, but I usually ballpark 4-5 year old boats as $500-700 for plastic and about $1200 for fiberglass. Then I modify from this for more age (yours is older than this, so might drop the value a little), condition (based on your description - neutral to slight increase), whether it has a lot of the currently-used safety and accessories (ie. if it didn't have bulkheads & waterproof hatches, deck lines, etc., that would drop the price significantly - I think yours has all these) and a bit for how desirable a brand/model it is (neutral to slight upper for you - for example, if it was a Pintail, then a larger upper).
Of course, where you are and what sort of market for kayaks may also impact this. If the market for sea kayaks is small in your geography, that might depress prices (people end up discounting boats until someone finally buys it).
My $0.02. Other folks may price differently. Sometimes you can find prices lower than these 9and they may be worth getting), but often people seem to price higher than this (and I pass).
My
old Nordkapp {my wife paddles it now} had a slalom cockpit. The denotation on the hull is “HMC” not just HM, the C denotes the slalom cockpit
Best Wishes
Roy
Whadayaknow…
– Last Updated: May-08-12 7:13 AM EST –
Live and learn. This looks a lot like the cockpits in some Nigel Foster boats. It never made any sense to me except perhaps as a keyhole for short paddlers. For an average sized paddler, it seems like the worst of all worlds, with all the disadvantages of ocean and keyhole cockpits and none of the advantages of either.
the worst of all worlds
I agree. The slalom cockpit seems silly. I believe it took Nigel Dennis to put a real keyhole cockpit in the sea kayak. Valley and others soon followed suit - though I still find the NDK keyhole the best.
I bought a used fiberglass skerray that
was in very good to excellent condition for $600. It was made in 1994. The hatch covers were dry rotted which I replaced with Select covers for $142 for two ovals. The seller threw in a new wetsuit, like new Lendal paddle and like new neo snap Dragon spry skirt. I figured I could paddle it for a few years and then sell it for what I bought it for.
Two fiberglass skerrays and a nice trailer were just listed on craigslist in Wisconsin for $2000. It sold in just a day. Now one of the Skerray’s is listed on craigslist for $1100 OBO. I don’t know if that was a bad deal. Buy the two and a trailer for $2000 then sell the one you don’t want for $1100 and have the trailer and a Skerray for $900. And that’s if they paid the asking price of $2000.
Are u sure …
D.H. didn’t invent the keyhole cockpit? 
Large ocean cockpit
The Skerray is a larger volume boat than the Anas, Pintail and Nord. I think the logic was to have an ocean cockpit with a little more room for for easier entree for larger people who would buy the larger volume boat to accommodate their larger bodies. The Skerray was the large volume boat in the Valley line at that time.
What’s a keyhole? That thinking wasn’t around then. Why on earth would any kayaker want that?
Of course it was DH, what was I thinking
White water influence
My first sea kayak was an original model Elaho. It had aggressive thigh braces, Bomber Gear back band, etc… I got spoiled. It made sense to outfit a sea kayak like a ww boat, especially one in which a paddler would play in lumpy and moving water.
It always surprised me how long it took sea kayak cockpit design to catch up with ww. If Nigel Dennis is correct that the Romany was the first sea kayak with a keyhole cockpit, then it wasn’t until 1993.