The lenders seem to want to use nada value but will not add any option what so ever. Even if you have a blue motor, they will value the boat with base 454 power. They will not even add on for dual ram steering, silent choice, etc...even if it is factory installed.

Why does the National AUTO Dealers Assoc. get to decide what our boats are worth?

What a bunch of BS!

they dont.. they get their info from the boat manufactors. and they tell them what they think their worth... lol

then why has every boat broker i have spoken to about boats stated the present market reflects SUBTRACTING $10K-$15K OFF OF LOW NADA PRICE? no matter mfg,engines,color,access.

my insurance company looked at the value(NADA) for one boat i was interested in. and the calculator started spinning its guts out as i mentioned higher horsepower than OEM from the mfg. it was a repower.

now lets use high end sports cars for example. lets say you have a pristine concours perfect scoring porsche. that would be 130 pts on the PCA scale. low low mileage. one owner. not a nick in the paint nor a bug splat to be found. you might get if your lucky(todays market) low to medium bluebook, and the only reason would be if it was a rare very low number produced model. a porsche precision inspection costs about $4-$500 bucks and makes a marine survey look like kindergarten. 130 points PCA concours is the white glove treatment. and it better be equal to showroom new or better!


take that same model low mileage porsche add all sorts of suspension crap, create some ungodly amount of blinding horsepower, slap a cage in it, big brakes,fuel cell, motronic computer, take it to the track and your going to be very very very upset after spending uber bucks on what the reality is , the day you sell it. on the other side of coin i have watched insane money placed into street cars with high mileage, ie. 3.8's with motronics, the entire carbon fiber gig, and they have spent 250K. they will never sell it for that ! EVER! unless of course they win a hardcore venue. and as we all know winning costs more money than god has and the chance of winning is slim to none with 42 other cars!

if you sold the above car for 1/2 of what you paid AND what you put in it, it would be reason to go on vacation to barbados for a month.

if you wrecked the same car(highly likely) and the buyer has brains enough to check the venue you were racing(very easy) and found it was wrecked, despite "bubbas best body shop" covering up damage, the PPI(if buyer smart) will uncover the owners errant foolish ways. and obviously buyer will only offer so much.

now if yer porschen wins lemans or sebring, then yer in fat city for quite awhile since it has a "race history"> and then its uber cool. and worth the bucks. if steve mcqueen/jerry seinfeild/nick mason/brian redman, farted in it, then its uber uber cool to some porsche freaks.

so from this, you can see that adding anything from the norm(OEM) be it boats or cars is equal to adding a $100K swimming pool to your home. adding a $100K pool, to your home does not now make your $500K home worth $600K!

the only value you gain from the $100K pool is how many times you get layed in it.

What about going the way of top engine builders,like Potter performance,MRD,Cheif,MDG performance,JC performance,
Zule, and any of the other good builders,will a boat be less with one of there engines to a Merc engine?

remember as i mentioned............if you have a corvette with a 427 from the factory your going to get quite the sum of money. if you replace that with a 454 from some zooomy engine builder, that might be a "buzzword" to about 1 out of 10,000 people.

use a porsche for example again. i have patrick motorsports build me a full blown motronic 3.8 and slap it in a 1970 911. its gonna cost insane money, its going to go insane fast, but i have completely flown off the charts as far as finding a buyer when i list it as a 1970 911. narrow the window of opportunity down to some 16 year old gear head who doesnt have the money you want to sell it for. yes YOU will have big giggles and haul ass and beat the snot out of quite a few cars. but you will never RECOUP THE BUCKS you spent dollar for dollar unless you find the perfect match. actually you have defeated the original value of the vintage car by bastardizing it.


me as a buyer of a boat.........i want mercs that have had nothing done to them, certified repair/normal maint. receipts from a certed merc mechanic, all warranty paperwork, low hours. same as if i were to utilize a PPI(porsche precision inspection) i would get a marine survey.

once you go over the top there is no turning back. its a SLIPPERY SLOPE!

none of the engine builders listed nor patrickmotorsports is going to warranty ANYTHING to a 2nd owner once the engine hits the streets/track or the water.

all the engine builders listed may build the most rock solid long lasting engine on the planet, but honestly unless racing..........it only gives you bragging rights.

a little insight on racing(ask me how i know)...........you may be the HOTTEST POO ON THE PLANET TODAY............but theirs always somebody at the next race GUNNING FOR YOUR ASS! and technology and luck have quite abit to do with it. whats hot today aint tommorow.

Any modification from a stock motor will lower value, PERIOD. Boats break down enough without molesting the motor, the average buyer will see it that way also.

I get the biggest kick out of idiots who put a procharger on a 6.2 and claim their boat is worth the same as a 525efi boat, yea for the full 50 hours it runs then you got nothing, and my 525efi is still humming away. Their is no CHEAP, RELIABLE, HOURSE POWER, out there.

My initial answer is YES. (with an explanation)


The boat will be worth less in the general boating community BUT to the right buyer, they are worth the same. Not more.

I dont necesarily agree with that but it is a fact. You left Teague, Sterling and Ilmor out of the list. They, too, fall in the same category.

I will agree with this answer with the addition of if your boat is worth 50K you put 50K in "premium Builder" motors in, your boat is not going to be worth 100K, what will it be worth?????? way too many factors to even try to guess. Obviously the difference is that you add motors that were built to create the proper HP and not molest the stock ones.