Good luck with that One thing that most people don't realize is Hobie kayaks hold their value better than anything else I have seen out there.
Places like Florida near the ocean where I live, there are kayaks sitting in every other yard, I suspect kayaks for the vast majority of people are like those expensive exercise machines, people buy them with good intentions, use them for a short time then they just sit in a back room somewhere until they want to sell them to make space two yrs later. If you go on craigs list you can see dozens of kayaks that are a couple years old for $50 bucks that you can put your fist thru (pretty hard to sell, in reality they are worth zero). I think Hobies kayaks are in a different category, most people that buy Hobies kayaks, have been thru the learning experience and are serious buyers who actually use the equipment and plan to continue with the lifestyle on a regular basis, almost never a whim purchase. In my opinion Hobies kayaks are second to none, and most people who buy them plan to use them and do not want to get rid of them, that's why there is almost no resale market, used Hobies are very rare and get scooped up very quickly. I have yet to see a used Mirage drive on craigslist.... the ones I have seen are very old and beat up (more than 5 yrs old), and they are asking over $400 bucks (new they are over $600 I think) I think of owning a Hobie as a renting experience, I buy it, get to use it for a couple years, then I can sell it for almost as much as I bought it for, then buy my next one (as long as you take care of your stuff). Very popular boats like the Tandem Island most of the time sell within a couple days (I'm on my 3rd one now). I do not recommend buying a new Hobie on line, the support you get from the local dealer is invaluable (your paying the same price regardless), yea you might save a couple bucks on state sales tax, but your only hurting yourself in the long run avoiding state taxes, that money goes to better schools, roads, boat launches, kayak parks, etc provided by your state for you, if they have no money, you get nothin... Bob
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