Making money on restoring tinnies?

[jigngrub]

I know an old guy that lives on the lake and he has 4 or 5 tinnies (pack rat) between 12-16' and they all need work. I'm sure I can talk him out of 2 or 3 them for cheap, especially if I say something about buying them in front of his wife.

They all need new decks, carpet/vinyl, probably transom repair, leaks fixed, and the motors and trailers need work too. Trailers probably need new hub assemblies, tires, and paint... no telling what the motors need.

I've been thinking about getting them and making decent looking dependable boats out of them over the winter and then selling them this coming Spring when prices and demand rise.

There's just so many people selling crap boats and lying about their condition, I'm thinking that a ready to go good looking boat would sell pretty fast and for a fair price.

Do any of you think I could make a fair profit doing this?

 

[JB]

Re: Making money on restoring tinnies?

Really like your attitude and your plan, grub. Too many people sitting around whining about the economy and too few looking for opportunities to create their own job.

I say go for it.

I think I would use bedliner material in cheerful shades rather than carpet on the interiors, both as a sealant and easy-clean interior surfaces.

Good luck, and keep us up to date on progress.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Making money on restoring tinnies?

I was actually thinking more along the lines of Nautolex vinyl for the decks, I think they would sell better/quicker.

If/when I start I'll do resto threads in the resto forum for each one I do.

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Making money on restoring tinnies?

jig - That'll keep you off the streets - LOL. Ya know, even buying cheap and simply cleaning them up will let you sell at a profit. So many of the old tinnies on CL (F/Gs too) look like the CDC has lost some of their lab experiments. Turns off potential buyers.

Sounds like a plan! Good luck.

 

[RZR2007]

Re: Making money on restoring tinnies?

I think it's a great idea, especially if you enjoy doing it!

 

[relocyo]

Re: Making money on restoring tinnies?

How are you gonna pay to insure all those boats!

 

[ward cleaver]

Re: Making money on restoring tinnies?

Speaking from a business perspective, I think you have to decide how much money you want to make. If you live in a large market area I garrentee you can buy and sell 12 and 14 foot aluminum boats and trailers for about 40% profit. The problem is you have to do a lot of deals because you can only make a few hundred bucks per deal - thats without putting any money into them aside from some misc costs. The more money you put into them the higher the risk that you will actually lose money because you cant recover your costs. Even if you pay yourself $5 an hour its hard to recover cost. But as a hobby, it can be fun and not too expensive. As a business, you must have a large market or you will not see enough opportunities for both buying and selling. I can say this from experience, buying and selling 12 foot aluminum boats is a for-sure winner in a good market. BTW highest demand in my experience is June.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Making money on restoring tinnies?

How are you gonna pay to insure all those boats!

Insurance is cheap here in 'Bama, and they won't be expensive boats. Prolly get a 6 mo. policy on each one for less than $100.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Making money on restoring tinnies?

Speaking from a business perspective, I think you have to decide how much money you want to make. If you live in a large market area I garrentee you can buy and sell 12 and 14 foot aluminum boats and trailers for about 40% profit. The problem is you have to do a lot of deals because you can only make a few hundred bucks per deal - thats without putting any money into them aside from some misc costs. The more money you put into them the higher the risk that you will actually lose money because you cant recover your costs. Even if you pay yourself $5 an hour its hard to recover cost. But as a hobby, it can be fun and not too expensive. As a business, you must have a large market or you will not see enough opportunities for both buying and selling. I can say this from experience, buying and selling 12 foot aluminum boats is a for-sure winner in a good market. BTW highest demand in my experience is June.

I figure I'll be lucky if I can make 15-$20 an hour, probably less... but you never know.

There is a pretty big market here because we have quite a few large lakes close by.

Our Crappie season starts in Feb./March here in central 'Bama and those will be the people most likely to buy what I will have to offer.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Making money on restoring tinnies?

I say go for it too. It helps that you can/will do several at once. Hopefully, you can buy your supplies in bulk and get a better deal on them. You might even get lucky and find that a couple of the transoms or floors are actually in good shape and can be left alone. A penny saved is a penny earned. Good luck! Keep us posted! I look forward to the resto threads.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Making money on restoring tinnies?

In my area a decent tinnie with trailer and motor would go for $800-$1500. If you could get them real cheap, it might be a nice money maker.