It just occurred to me, as I looked over a valuation sheet sent to me by a seller, how bankers express their reluctance to make boat loans. Like insurance companies that premiums on certain product lines use that pricing to control their overall exposure to the risk in the market place. A banker can look at borrower and measure the character and capacity with (payment history and ability to repay,) and have a quality loan, but the collateral (includes down payment amount) is on an asset they just don't want to mess with and this case it is a boat!
Where bankers are out of touch with maritime history (isn't everybody) is that pricing an item in the model as Low Retail and Average Retail presumes there is an active after market for used boat gear. Although many marine exchanges thrive around the country it is not a business that has wide spread appeal as there is very little useful used marine equipment. In addition technology changes quickly, and replacing many items on a boat with used product may impair safety and operability of the vessel. Mariners of old expected items damaged by loss to be replaced with new. Similar to your current home owners policy which has direct lineage to yacht and ship policies. So replacing gear on a boat and using some arbitrary valuation for used gear seems silly. Nobody is gonna do that. Ok, I do know someone who would, but they shall remain nameless. If the VHF quits chances are it is replaced with a new one, or the autohelm. If the running rigging needs replaced, typically it is replaced with new line, and so on.
Fighting with a banker, is like fighting city hall. There may be some short term gratification, but in the long term you only get tired.
