Advice on selling composite canoe

[Bill Keane]

I plan to sell our 2003 Bell "15th Anniversary Edition" Northstar touring canoe and would like some good advice on how to do this. "15 th Anniversary Edition" means that it has:

* red cherry woodwork (gunwales, seats, thwarts & decks) instead of the usual ash
* a gorgeous hand carved portage thwart that curves to fit the contours of a back instead of the usual flat design.
* a Black-Gold hull (graphite on the out side and Kevlar inside)
* a plate on the bow floatation chamber that designates its special status and says that it is #16. The head craftsman signed it and the designer's (David Bell's) initials are on the stern.

The boat has only seen use on flat water and it has rarely touched bottom. There are a few very superficial scratches in the protective gel coat layer that I can surely polish out. The seats are essentially new since I replaced them when the boat was new with a bow kneeling thwart and Wenonah bucket seat. I used the original seat holes in the outwale for the replacement thwart and seat, so I can replace the original seats, just like it came from the factory. I secured knee pads and foot chocks to the bilge with outdoor carpet tape so removing these will reveal a thin coat of Barge cement. Otherwise, the boat will look essentially new. As Bell claims, it is "a work of art, built to last a lifetime."

Bell presently lists Black-Gold Northstars with ash trim for $3,178. It seems to me that the right person would be willing to pay $5,000 for our unique boat. What do you all think about price? Can you recommend any places to advertise, other than C-Boats and Paddling.net?

Thanks, Bill

[PAC]

Bill I moved the original post to the C forum thinking you'll get better response there than there in cboats travel center. I left a "ghost post" there just in case.

Oh and if you don't find a home for it I can always long term store it for you at my home for wayward boats! Our tripp'n in Candian has the family hooked! Unfortunately the clan is a tad tougher on boats than what this boat desires! Paul C.

PS: The XL14 is 1/2 way outfitted and will be taken out by the Boys Scouts in the spring with some other boats recently fixed up! I'll keep you posted as to the fun!

[Mikey B]

I had a BlackGold NorthStar...great boat...wish I never had to sell it! Boy, I'm not sure you'd get that kind of price?
Paddling.net has always been good for me.
Good Luck

[sbroam]

In my experience, paddlers are tightwads! At least the whitewater ones I've seen the going rate for high end sea kayaks and outrigger canoes, so many our flat water brethren are a little more, um, "liquid".

[Sir Adam]

Putting it up for sale here is fine, but I'll chime in and add as well that flatwater specific places may be a better bet. I have yet to meet a whitewater paddler that will willingly pay retail. Just look at used (even lightly used) kevlar / glass boats - a NICE C2 will set you back 2k or more easily, but good luck selling it for more than $800. Same goes for for C1's - it may cost $1,600-2k new, but good luck selling it for half that, even with NO use.

As a designer / builder, I'm not sure that's how it should all work.

As a consumer (with A LOT of boats I've picked up cheap) I can't really say much overall

Sounds like a nice boat!