Median Prices of Boat Classes

If you want to know what people asked for used boats sales last year this information comes from Boating Industry January 2015.  The information comes from boats listed for sale in Boat Trader, boats.com and YachtWorld which is mainly used boats for sale.  I'm not sure of how this compares to new boat companies reports which I have yet to see any signs of.  Interesting maybe?

What makes a decent water ski boat?

I get a lot of people shopping Dyna-Ski boats which is great!  There are several boats around similar in size to the 17.6 Open Bow Dyna-Ski. There are runabouts, fishing, fish & ski, bass, deck and pontoon boats.   They are not tournament style water ski boats. 
I wonder why there never seem to be any 
pictures of boats pulling skiers in most boat companies ads?

A Dyna-Ski 17.6 is a tournament style water ski boat.

17.6 Open Bow with 130 Evinrude E-Tec V-4 on Lake Dyna-Ski

Dyna-Ski boats are designed to pull water skiers from
idle to 40+ mph for barefooting. 

We do an excellent job of this.

 17.6 Open Bow with a V-Drive Barefoot Boom and 150 Mercury 

Do not try this at home.

With a water ski boat you don't want the bow up in the air while you are pulling skiers. It isn't safe either. Dyna-Ski boats have very little bow lift from idle to wide open.  A water ski boat needs to hold steady speeds from idle to 40+ mph because people ski at all these speeds.  A Dyna-Ski will hold steady speeds in this range. At faster speeds trimming up the Dyna-Ski boat motor slightly flattens out the boat's ride, decreases the boat's bow steer and makes the steering easier.  I don't know how the runabouts, fishing, fish & ski, bass, deck and pontoon boats preform and I don't care as Dyna-Ski Boats do what is needed for water skiing!  

17.6 Open Bow with a 150 Mercury 

 Not many people still fly flat wing kites but it is nice to know that you could pull one if you ever need to perhaps? 

We have flown a parasail behind my 17.6 sadly I never took any pictures.

 17.6 Open Bow with a BI Tower and 150 Evinrude

We can add most anything you want if you like, it just costs money.

We build Dyna-Ski boats for water skiers.  

We must be doing a decent job as we sell boats and most people keep them forever . . . . . . .

If you are shopping price I don't know how the others compare.  The outboard motor prices should all be about the same. Same thing for trailers however I put very nice custom trailers under Dyna-Ski Boats unless the buyer wants to save a few hundred bucks with a cheap trailer.  

Your boat will spend a lot of time on the trailer so I think it is worth the money.  

Fiberglass boats cost more than aluminum boats. 

Tilt Hydraulic steering cost more than cable steering,

recessed controls and premium cables are worth the money,

a dash full of gauges cost more than a gauge or two,

GPS Speedometer is awesome but not cheap.

Please feel free to share with me what the other boats sell for. 

You pay your money and you get what you want at Dyna-Ski. 

No matter how we rig the Dyna-Ski boat & what you pay for it you it will have a very good water ski boat.

Touch a Dyna-Ski before you buy?

When a person spends their hard earned money for a water ski boat they may want to touch one before they buy one.  Some want to drive one or ski behind one.  Believe me I understand this need although I bought my new Hydrodyne boat in 1987 without driving, skiing behind or touching one.  I bought mine based on reputation of the company and a couple of my friends had them.  It seems to have worked out well.  When the boat is a used boat without a warranty you should be extra cautious before jumping on a deal no matter how great it seems. Buyer beware.

When people ask me to touch one, etc. I do my best to get them in touch with owners of Dyna-Ski Boats.  I have a couple owners scattered around the US and Canada that love talking about and showing off their Dyna-Ski Boats.  These folks don't sell boats and all have real jobs.  You will need to fit into their schedules. They won't pressure you to buy and most don't usually know what a new Dyna-Ski Boat costs since many have owned their boats for several years however their spouses might still remember what they paid perhaps?  If you want to buy their boat go ahead and I will sell them a new Dyna-Ski but don't be surprised when they want to keep what they have.

So if you want to touch, ski behind and drive a Dyna-Ski just tell me and I will pass along your contact info to the proud Dyna-Ski owners. Once they give me the OK I will share their info with you.  Keep in mind that you will need to make all the arrangements with them unless you are coming here to Dyna-Ski World Headquarters as I like to call my place on Lake Noquebay in northeastern Wisconsin.  These are not vacation destinations or free ski schools, etc. so please be respectful of them. The costs incurred checking out the Dyna-Ski Boats are yours alone and won't be paid by anyone. Giving the boat owners a few bucks for gas is always a great thing.

Keep in mind at my place you won't see boats being built here as we do that at the boat shop near Iola, Wisconsin which isn't a cool place to visit at all.  Fiberglass products are very dusty to make.  They don't have a sign out front or posted hours of business.  Appointments are needed well ahead of time just like my owners group.

Dyna-Ski Boats

W6116 Pine Lane

Crivitz, WI   54114

Phone: 715-854-7501

Email: info@dyna-ski.com

 

Dyna-Ski Open Bows with towers

 Dyna-Ski 20' Open Bow with Barefoot International Tower

People often ask about towers on Dyna-Ski Boats.  Ask and you will eventually receive!  I'm not a big tower fan so I prefer and always suggest extended pylons as they can be removed although it can be a pain to have to put them on and take them off over and over.  The big reason that I don't like towers is a long term one and it is if you or your kids stop using the tower it is still on the boat.  With an extended pylon you just put it in the back corner of the garage and forget it is there.  Remember this is only my opinion and worth every bit of what you paid for it.  Nothing!  When you order a new Dyna-Ski you get what you want.

This is the same Dyna-Ski boat as the one pictured in the wrap around seats article so I won't go into great detail about the boat.  http://www.dynaskiboats.com/2014/08/wrap-around-rear-seat.html

Dyna-Ski 20' Open Bow is in South Florida which generally refers to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and Palm Beach (or West Palm Beach).

We have put a tower on a Dyna-Ski 17.6 Open Bow with a 150.  The boat pictured below was sold several years ago and I have lost track of it.  I am pretty sure some owners of Dyna-Ski Boats have installed their own towers but no one has shared any pictures of them with me.

  Dyna-Ski 17.6' Open Bow with Barefoot International Tower

ON LINE PRICES

Many people tell me they cannot find prices for Dyna-Ski Boats on line.  This is a true statement and the reason I don't post prices on line are many.  Here are some of them: Everything we build is custom made to order so it is hard to have an MSRP on custom products and it seems no two boats are ever exactly the same.  I would have to keep updating the prices as the cost of materials keeps changing (increasing), trailer prices vary, motor prices vary widely, etc.  In short it is nearly impossible to have set prices unless you have a big markup and you can absorb smaller increases in costs. 

I am not saying that many boat companies have a large margin on their package MSRP pricing but they must don't you think?

If you want a general price range send me an email at:

 info@dyna-ski.com or give me a call at 715-854-7501

 

I normally reply from info@dyna-ski.com but I like to carry on conversations from my long time home email address which I will send you in the first reply.

If you want a great price on a Dyna-Ski Boat you will get one when you shop for one. Telling me your honest time frame is a good idea as many special deals I have go away very quickly.  The special deals are usually on the motor which can save you several thousand dollars.  If you keep shopping the prices do normally go up as all prices with products will continue to do except for big screen TV's it seems.

The trend I seem to be seeing lately among boat companies is simple.  They come up with a low price on a bare bones boat and then over price accessories to make good profit when you upgrade.  Sure they build and sell a few basic boats if you push hard to get one but it may not be easy to find one.  Dealers like to sell you a boat they have in stock as they know what that boat cost them and is costing them every day it sits in their inventory. A custom made to order water ski boat is exactly what you want and will get as well as being only what you pay for at Dyna-Ski.  I'm really an order taker and I do my best to keep prices affordable which gets tougher every day.  I give you a firm price that is good for 30 days.

Our suppliers are increasing the cost of everything including motors, rigging, steering, trailers, etc..  I will always try to put a water ready package together for a buyer if they have a realistic budget in mind.  Often times shoppers may not have done much homework though and then Dyna-Ski prices may seem high as they are comparing new Dyna-Ski Boats to boats purchased in their past and/or older used boats that the owners want or need to sell.  The reality is there are a lot of old used water ski boats for sale. Many used boats are very used!  Very few if any true used Dyna-Ski boats available though and only a Hydrodyne or two here and there.  Hydrodyne last built new outboards in the early 1990's. That's 25 years ago!

New boats have a warranty, old boats don't.

I sometimes get people shopping for just the boat or hull for various reasons. They have a "great" older motor being one of them.  It is often expensive to make a much older motor work on a newer boat.  The labor to remove a motor along with all the old rigging and then reinstall it on a new boat is not cheap.  Keep in mind that labor is one of the biggest costs other than the materials needed for making the actual boat. The highly skilled fiberglass workers in the shop are not marine mechanics familiar with all the parts and pieces used rigging motors in the past. We also don't want the responsibility of making sure that the older engine ran well before and will run well afterwards.  If we have a problem with a new motor we take it to a local dealer for warranty service before you get the water ready boat.  This does happen from time to time.  So if you want to use your own used motor make a deal with your local marina to do the swapping.  Remember it isn't usually cheap. Check their shop rates. Get an estimate.

People must think that there is a big markup on the trailers and motors, there isn't in a water ready package.  Our money is made on building boats and not reselling motors and trailers. We sell outboard motors and trailers because boats need them.  Some of the labor rigging the boat for the motor is done while the boat is being assembled which saves time and money.

A replacement or "crate" 350 V-8 motor for a vehicle can be purchased for $1500 or so.  I just put a new 350 chevy in my 1970 plow truck.  Larger displacement V-8 motors cost a little more depending upon what the buyer wants.  My point is that I/O and inboard boat companies motors and very simple running gear costs way less than an outboard motor does. I/O's tend to be cheaper than outboards while inboards tend to be more than Dyna-Ski boats. Both I/O and inboards require way more maintenance every year.

Gas prices are down so now is a great time to sell a gas sucking inboard or vehicle.  I'm sure the prices of gasoline will increase because the oil companies are now used to making big profit on gasoline sales and when prices are down so are profits.

Getting the water out of your boat.

A neighbor and friend of mine has a 1991 Master Craft Outboard.  He called me the other day and said his boat has a bad crack in it and could I take a look at it.  So I did expecting to find a crack in the transom area as typically these boats crack in the back after a while when a more powerful and heavier outboard motor has replaced the original engine.  This was not the case though as this boat is cracked in the hull area but on the inside of the boat. There are other smaller cracks all over that don't show up in the pictures. The boat must have been stored with water under the floor which froze and the fiberglass cracked. When the owner picked up the uncovered boat from the dealer where it was for winterizing there was enough water in the boat that the battery compartment had water in it.  YIKES!

Obviously this isn't good.  The big problem is that water has soaked into the floatation foam under the floor.  During the summer water weeps out of the cracks. Every time the boat freezes in cold storage the more cracking is likely to occur. I suggested the owner weigh the boat and try to determine how much water the boat may have absorbed.

The fix can be very expensive.  It requires taking out the floors and removing the fiberglass surface (liner) and then scraping out all the water soaked foam. Install new foam, new fiberglass and then reinstall the floors. If  the cracks are just fixed chances are the cracking and others will happen every winter the boat is cold stored.

So make sure you get all the water out of your boat before you store it.  I do this by parking the boat and trailer on a steep incline at my boat landing and pulling the plug.  I patiently watch water slowly trickle out of the engine and wait if any water comes out of the hull drain plug until it has stopped.

While on my boat lift the drain plug is removed from the boat and the bow of the boat is higher than the drain plug on my lift.  Keep in mind that the bilge pump will not usually remove all the water from a boat. 

New Dyna-Ski Model?

I have been thinking about adding a new model to the Dyna-Ski line up. The model would be based on the old 18' model called the Blitz Boat. The old Hydrodyne boat company was way ahead of the rest of the world with some of their product offerings.  Sadly most of the molds were buried, destroyed or something and no longer seem to exist. The old Blitz Boat is about the same size as the 17.6 Open Bow and fit nicely on one of my lifts I have for 17.6 Dyna-Ski Boats.  I'm partial to the Port-A-Lift brand and I have four that I purchased used over the years of searching CraigList.

I somehow got a nice scan of an original brochure for the boat which was a member of the Hydrodyne Flat Top Family.  I honestly don't remember where I got the information from. I also have a 24' Hydrodyne Outboard Flat Top that is waiting for a future use and not for sale.  Sorry!

The old Blitz Boat is rated for 100 hp and I had an older good running Evinrude 85 hp available so I replaced the 85 hp Chrysler that came with my purchase found on the internet. I actually sold the old Chrysler engine. We put on new Evinrude controls and rigging using a 6 gallon gas can with the engine which requires oil to be mixed with the gasoline. Unfortunately the motor has no power trim or tilt yet. Transom is OK but not great and the boat seems pretty solid given its age. It is not a light boat by any means.

The boat had the side rails like the ones pictured on the brochure which I removed and saved because I did not like them on this boat for my intended use.  I have the ski pylon for the boat but removed it for my testing so far.  It appears easy to remove and install. The boat has a nice small wake very similar to the Dyna-Ski 17.6 Open Bow. The first Blitz Boat I saw several years ago did not have the railings on it. The boat was used as a pickup boat at the Division II Show Ski Nationals by the Silver Lake Ski Team.

It won't be cheap to build a new mold and I would most likely use the same hull mold that is used for the 17.6 Open Bow to keep the development cost down.  This would make the wake very similar to the excellent small ski wake that the popular 17.6 Open Bow has.

 

So what do you think?  Would you buy one?  

How much should it sell for water ready with a 90 hp motor and a decent trailer?