Helping My Dad Price His 1984 Cobalt Boat

[boatinthedesert]

Hello and thank you in advance for any assistance you can offer.

I just joined this forum because I'm helping my dad price his 1984 Cobalt boat -- based on photos and research I've done I believe it's a 1984 Bowrider 190 with a MerCruiser 260 engine and it has a custom canvas cover and double axle trailer. My uncle has suggested he wants to purchase it, but I have to help my dad price it. I see there is a pinned post about buying a Cobalt boat, but I'm looking for some insight into pricing/selling. We live in a desert (New Mexico) so there's not a lot of boating resources here!

I have searched this site and others but not really found what I'm looking for. The JD Power site is very odd in pricing as the "suggested" price is 20x higher than the "retail" price, but perhaps that's because it's an older boat so there is no retail information?

I joke that he took better care of this boat than he did his children -- it's in amazing condition for a 40 year old boat. Never left in the water and stored indoors when not in use. As children we used to complain we spent more time cleaning the boat than we did on the lake.

I attached a couple photos in case that would be helpful. Thanks in advance for your advice. If there is a better part of the site to post this in please also point me in that direction.

[jhnmdahl]

It's going to be really tough to price. It's clearly in fantastic shape, but you need a group of transactions from potential buyers who wants a classic Cobalt instead of a modern design and layout to get enough transactions on similar boats to determine a "market value." I just don't think you're going to find that for a boat like this - there won't be many transactions to use as references, and the average boat will be in much rougher shape, while many sales will be even rougher "project boats."

I'd do some searches at a site like this to get a feel for what people are asking https://boats.iboats.com/used-cobalt-bo ... 82&yh=1988

but I think if I were selling it I might ask somewhere into five figures (10-12k?) but have some flexibility in coming down into the high four figures.

Hopefully others will chime in to share their perspectives as well.

[AsLan7]

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Boy she’s in gorgeous shape for her age. Agree with John, …she’ll be hard to price in this post Covid market. Someone local is your best bet. Do you have any boat dealers around you who can suggest a price if taken on consignment?

Sometimes eBay completed listings and sold items can help you in pricing. Keep in mind though that that is for a national market.

And welcome aboard mate.

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[jwill323]

A friend of mine sold a 21' open bow, same year almost same color and same engine but no trailer a little over a year ago at lake of the ozarks. I don't think it was in quite as nice of shape as your boat looks to be and he let it go for around $7k. I think you looking at high 4 figures on this boat.

[jhnmdahl]

Here are a couple more $5k boats in my area. High four figures sounds right to me.

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/ ... 83945.html

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/ ... 05559.html

[boatinthedesert]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts!