Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

Tatman 17.5' McKenzie value?

Hey folks. I was wondering if some of you could weigh in on the value of my 17.5 ft Tatman with trailer. I built it in about 1995-6 and myself and my family enjoyed many river trips in our home state of Wyoming. Unfortunately, a guy drove a Buick through it today. Yep, it happened to me. I need to put a realistic value on the package for the insurance people. It was in very good condition, revarnished every couple of years, MTBE full length bottom, Bo's anchor system. Any ideas?

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Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on April 3, 2012 at 10:03pm

This is always a tough one. Replacement cost is well above real market value. Top materials alone will run 2k for a boat and the trailers are $1,200 to $1,500 new. Real market value for a 27 year old boat depends heavily on the area you are in.

In Oregon there are quite a few wooden drift boats around of the 1995 vintage. One in good working shape with a great trailer can usually be purchased used for $1,500 to 2,000. You see some for sale for $3,000 if people have done a lot of work to them and they are top of the line; however, they sell very slow.

Prices seem to be higher in Colorado/Montana.

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Permalink Reply by mitchell on April 4, 2012 at 12:54pm

I think Randy has the price dialed in. But with insurance...think real replacement cost. That'll bump it up some i bet. With my boat insurance..they made me list a replacement costs and that's what they based my insurance payment to them on. What a racket i tell ya. But, it's nice to have insurance.