Used baot market

[Lewing]

So I have taken a break from fishing for the past 6-8 months trying to start a new business and get it off the ground. I have had my boat for sale the entire time and haven't really had any serious interest. It is a super nice rig with all the bells & whistles. 2021 Bullet XRS. I started out asking around $78,500 if I am not mistaken. Now I am down to 65K and still no interest. So my question is, what's the deal? Is it the high interest rates? Are new boats cheaper now? Economy? Or is it just me Lol?
I mean, one of the main reason's I originally boat a bullet was because it wasn't a cookie cutter, they are handmade and tend to hold resale much better, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Hopefully, someone smarter than me can chime in and give me an idea as to what's going on in the used boat market. TIA.
Thanks
Jakey Lewing

[Hawg]

LOTs of factors.

1. a bullet boat is a special niche boat. It will not appeal to the masses like a "cookie cutter boat"
2. Interest rates are a lot higher now than during covid.
3. covid brought a lot of business forward. I think people that were going to purchase in 2023-2024 purchased in 2021 and 2022 due to FOMO effect.
4. inflation, things just cost more in daily living.
5. election year, big ticket item sales are almost always flat or slightly down in an election year. Doesn't really matter what party wins the election, once the election is over people usually going back to purchasing bigger ticket items once they realize the world didn't stop spinning.
6. time of year, school started back up, still mostly hot out, hunting season around the corner, fall sports in full swing and throughout most of the country, the fishing sucks
7. people who are buying either are looking for a steal of a deal or they don't care about anything above that I posted and they want to purchase what they want and more importantly they can afford it.....these people tend to either order new ones or just buy a brand new one instead of hunting a used one.

Hope this helps, it'll get better in January and February as seasonailty comes back into the boating/marine industry.

[wareagle24]

Around here it seems like the Bullets aren't holding their value like they used to. I have no idea why though.

There's two 2021 21 foot Bullets for sale local to me. One is a SDC with a 300 in it and it's in excellent condition. They have it priced at 60,000.

The other is a XRS with a 250 on it, custom wheels and it's in very good condition. They are asking 59,500 for it.

[Lewing]

Thanks for the info guys. It does make sense. I reckon, it'll sell when the interest rates come back down or around the start of next season. Otherwise, I'll just keep it Lol. The only problem is, I just don't have time to fish like I used too. Heck, I don't even have bow stands hung yet. First time in my life that I am not ready for bow season....

[Mark Perry]

Is it an odd color etc?

[Lewing]

No Sir. Its Blue/Grey. Absolutely beautiful. If you go over to the "Boats for Sale" section and go to Bullet. I believe it's the first one on the list.

[av]

Boats are just not selling well definitely not a Bullet thing , go look at the Ranger and basscat for sale some were listed as far back as 9/23 still for sale , if I was a betting man I would put my money on high interest rates slowing the market down like it was intended to do.

[Keoweefishing]

Much more difficult market now with lots of boats for sale at prices far lower than a year or two ago. That model will also only appeal to a segment of the bass fishing population. A dealer might be able to move it on consignment since they can often get folks financed.

[Bass Cat Boats]

Jakey,

On your boat it does look clean, and here’s another view on your rig. It’s a niche, inside a niche, with another third opposing force.

The mismatched motor, in a 2019 on a 2021 boat does bring buyers minds to question why. The motor is also a Mercury Racing 250R series with 400 hours, plus the Sportmaster case. All of that narrows the niche of this rigs marketable buyers. Then there’s the warranty question, as that’s not mentioned. Most on rigs with 2019 engines, in what is now the 2025 model year, do prefer some warranty to soften the chance that a problem exists. If this engine has a year of warranty you pull more into considering it.

For us we know the 250R series is the same basic engine as the 250 Pro XS, and 400 hours is like buying a car with around 20,000 miles on it. Though many perceive them as race products, and some feel those owning them do run them harder. It also depends on how you operate the rig. If you do a lot of side scanning, many of those hours are idle hours at 3-4 MPH.

Your price isn’t bad and the rig has good equipment, while appearing to be clean. Bullet’s are good rigs and the market is not large, though it’s a lot larger than the market for an Allison. The market in northern Alabama and south to east Tennessee should be home turf on one like this.

The right buyer will come along and this one too will find a home.

BCB

[Jasonrs]

No Sir. Its Blue/Grey. Absolutely beautiful. If you go over to the "Boats for Sale" section and go to Bullet. I believe it's the first one on the list.

That is a beautiful rig!

[n2ratfishin]

LOTs of factors.

1. a bullet boat is a special niche boat. It will not appeal to the masses like a "cookie cutter boat"
2. Interest rates are a lot higher now than during covid.
3. covid brought a lot of business forward. I think people that were going to purchase in 2023-2024 purchased in 2021 and 2022 due to FOMO effect.
4. inflation, things just cost more in daily living.
5. election year, big ticket item sales are almost always flat or slightly down in an election year. Doesn't really matter what party wins the election, once the election is over people usually going back to purchasing bigger ticket items once they realize the world didn't stop spinning.
6. time of year, school started back up, still mostly hot out, hunting season around the corner, fall sports in full swing and throughout most of the country, the fishing sucks
7. people who are buying either are looking for a steal of a deal or they don't care about anything above that I posted and they want to purchase what they want and more importantly they can afford it.....these people tend to either order new ones or just buy a brand new one instead of hunting a used one.

Hope this helps, it'll get better in January and February as seasonailty comes back into the boating/marine industry.

Good list, people tend to forget just how much of the average American household lost in disposable income with the latest round of inflation. We have a whole generation of Americans that are feeling it for the first time. The Millennials are now in their mid 30's. They have always known 2 or 3 percent inflation.

https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_c...os=io.&ref=app

Using the governments inflation calculator you can see that buying a 78,500.00 ______ in Jan 2020 would now cost 95,791.72 and interest rates are now back to 6.99% on a new boat. I have paid 6% on a boat several times over the years. Eventually wages will catch back up, but I don't think the average person will see it for a number of years based on how long inflation lasted in the late 70's through the late 80's.

I have the new boat bug so bad it not funny!! But, I like the financial freedom of no payments more than the smell of new glass. I am looking at new boats around 60,000 and would finance around 42,000.00 out the door. That is about 840.00 a month for five years and 7,000.00 dollars in interest on top of 4,000ish in sales taxes to replace a perfectly fine 8 year old boat. In addition insurance and maintenance cost would double for me coming out of a 18' tin rig with a 115. I keep typing this out trying to keep that little gnawing boat bug off my a$$.

Someone out there is looking for your XRS, you may have to drop the price to make em jump?

[BassinPaPaw]

I’m not in the market, but just an opinion from outside looking in. 65k for a 4 year old boat with a 6 year old motor with 400 hours. I know I couldn’t make myself pay that much for it. It seems crazy to me, but all these things are outside an average persons budget.

[Engelmeyer]

All great points from everyone. As stated, Bullet is a great boat but does not appeal to the masses that you see with some of the blue-chip brands. I saw the Ranger/BCB comparison above, they are not really comparable as BCB produces around 500 on average per year and I have no clue on Ranger, but it is much more than that.

I think you will just have to find the right guy for your boat. Most people that are looking at it see a 4-year-old boat (6-year-old engine) (Being we are in Model Year 2025 for Boating) listed for 65K with 400 hours. The guy that is just looking for a fairly loaded nice pre-owned boat won't really be drawn to that as he can purchase a newer (Insert Bigger Boat Brand) for around the same money with less hours and more warranty. Or, he spends not much more and gets something a year old or potentially new (Take this with a grain of salt). The overall point is while most of us here on BBC understand the value. The masses don't and that is because Bullet is a custom low volume brand that builds great boats but isn't really gaining giant market share and doesn't have a massive dealer network.

Therefore, IMO you have two options. Wait until you find your Bullet guy, he will buy quickly if it is close enough for what he wants (Recommended). Or start cutting your number until you become competitive with higher volume brands (Not recommended). You do have large economic factors working against the entire boating market currently but that is everywhere, boats are still selling somewhat. I don't actually think the macroeconomic factors are working against your boat as much as other larger brands. As while the more niche boats are small markets and there isn't as much direct competition as you would have with (Insert Larger Brand). For example, hypothetically there may only be 4 2021 Bullets listed for sale but there may be 30 2021 Skeeters. So, while the buyers are less, so are the sellers.

[BassBoatElectronics.com]

I've been a Bullet guy for a very long time, and I want an XRS for my next "fishing" rig whenever that may be. To me, the Sportmaster would stop me from buying as I personally don't like how they run on the heavy XRS. The boat appears to be loaded well, however as mentioned the used market is hard right now. There is a dealer selling new 2023 Caymas CX20 boats for 66k. Granted they're very different, but the Caymas is more "popular".

I think it will sell, just have to wait it out a little bit.

[kondan]

$65k for 5 year old outboard with 400 hours? Hard pass. Plus you need more pictures on your ad. Lots of sellers are still priced too high imo.

[dean c]

That’s a nice Bullet…it will sell, but the market will determine the price. I don’t understand why people freak out over 400 hours on a motor that will go 2000 or more.

Sportmaster on a a 225 promax was a dog on my 21XDC. A 250XB torque master woke that boat up into a true 80 plus loaded rig.

[dean c]

Boats are just not selling well definitely not a Bullet thing , go look at the Ranger and basscat for sale some were listed as far back as 9/23 still for sale , if I was a betting man I would put my money on high interest rates slowing the market down like it was intended to do.

100 percent

[Mcjenson]

I've been a Bullet guy for a very long time, and I want an XRS for my next "fishing" rig whenever that may be. To me, the Sportmaster would stop me from buying as I personally don't like how they run on the heavy XRS. The boat appears to be loaded well, however as mentioned the used market is hard right now. There is a dealer selling new 2023 Caymas CX20 boats for 66k. Granted they're very different, but the Caymas is more "popular".

I think it will sell, just have to wait it out a little bit.

Yup, it is just hard for the vast majority of guys, myself included, to buy a 5 year old boat when you can get a brand new boat for basically the same price.

[ttranger]

You have a very nice boat, but a Bullet is designed for a real niche consumer. It's a great product, but it's like trying to sell a used Blaser rifle or a Breitling watch. You have to wait for just the right person who truly understands the value of that product.

[Okie Poke]

Good luck and hope you sell it. Lots of money for a used boat w/ 400 hours.