INCREDIBLE DEALS AT DUSSELDORF BOAT SHOW

This is a post about boat prices and great deals on the Dusseldorf boat show but only valid for 3 days or so (during the boat show). I thought that even so this probably would interest some. As usually I went to the Dusseldorf boat show, to Dusseldorf  too, for the beer and the people that I find great. They like to socialize through the night, drinking beer, of course,...on the outside, sometimes with temperatures below zero. I guess it's a way of maintaining the beer cold LOL. Now for that you need to be German or at least Nordic, not for me even if I like the spirit.  Anyway inside the good old breweries it is crowded and it is very difficult to find a place to seat anyway, even in the middle of the week.

Jeanneau 379

Now, regarding boats, this year a friend asked me to help him to buy a boat and as I have said the best thing when one is going to buy a sailboat (unless the money is no problem) is to have an open choice and look for good deals.

My friend wanted a boat between 37 and 40ft but the budget was not really up to it. He wanted also a fast boat. So we started with the Oceanis 38 that was discarded because he did not like it and I have to say I was not impressed with the finish too. I heard so much good about the interior on American forums that maybe they are better finished on US, I don't know.

Dehler 38

The Jeanneau 379 looked better to us and we went for a full offer. My friend is French and we found a nice guy, a French dealer for most of Southern France (the best ones are almost always the bigger dealers). He went below standard price offering not only the boat show discount but also a dealer discount. The boat with all the options and VAT cost a bit less than 200 000 euros. That's about what I expected. Not a great deal, just a fair one.

Varianta 37

Then we went to Dehler and the very practical young  German dealer said to us that no way we would have a minimal equipped sailboat for less than 220 000 euros (with VAT) and I know that if he said that then a decently equipped boat would went for more, so we looked instead to the Varianta 37, with pretty much all options. A good fast sailboat with an Ikea interior that would go for about 135000 euros including VAT. My friend did not like the Ikea interior. I still think it is a great boat for the price and the interior can be bettered with time.

Elan 400

We had a look at the Elan 400 but they said the minimum price for a minimum equipped boat should be about 240 000 euros, so we gave up. Went to Dufour that has a new 382 with a fantastic interior but with undersized winches and a kind simplified rigging and the price was just a bit over the one of the Jeanneau 379 but then it happened the first interesting thing:

Dufour 382

This dealer was the only one that was a sailor, understood what we wanted (by the comments about the Dufour 382 to be all about interior and less about sailing) and said that unfortunately that's what people want and that real sailing boats, like the performance Dufour series (like the First from Beneteau) were selling badly, that they were not even bringing the boats to the boat show and were lowering the prices, saying that probably they would stop doing them.

Dufour 40e

So I asked, lowering to what point? and asked him about the best possible bargain for a Dufour 40e performance. He talked to his boss in Paris, we talked about options and I was really surprised with the price he could make on that boat. As he understood that even so it was out of budget, he talked again on the phone and the final price was (if I remember correctly) something like 214 000 Euros (or 204 000?), including everything and delivered on the med. That was a very good price, specially if compared with the one from the Jeanneau 379. The Dufour 40e is a much better boat and with a lot more sailing equipment, much bigger too. He took out of the boat price more than 35 000 euros. If you are interested go for it. The same kind of discount (a huge one) can be made on the Dufour 45e, an awesome boat.

Ok, the price was great but a bit out of the budget so we went to Salona. They will have a new 38 not on this summer but on the next one and I was hopping that they could make a great price on the current 38. My friend sails on the Med, not in France so I asked to the guy from the factory for a direct deal, picking the boat at Marina Kastella, near the factory in Croatia and the results were quite surprising: 25% discount on the boat 50% discount on extras.

Probably you will only get this if you buy directly the boat from the factory and not through a dealer so don't even mention that to the dealer in your area. The result: A well equipped Salona 38 by almost the same price of the Varianta 37!!!! (135 000 euros without VAT).

The boat can be bought with a French leasing and the final price will be lower than the one of the boat with VAT. That's the one he bought. I have to say that in what regards size, quality of building, deck hardware, speed and seaworthiness the Salona is way better than the jeanneau 379 (that is a 36ft boat) and being able to buy one for about 30 000euros less than the Jeanneau is absolutely incredible and just gives credit for what I said: When buying keep an open approach and look for the great deals, that most of the time are not the boats they have on the boatshow (Salona had no boats on the boat show).

No, this are boats with the hulls from the last generation and that's why you can have good deals on them. Will they have a difference in performance regarding a new hull? Well, if everything was equal on the boats, yes a slightly one and probably an increased downwind performance but irrelevant in what regards cruising and I was saying if everything was the same. Like its is the Saloan 38 will blow completely away the Jeanneau 379 or the Dufour 382, new hull and all and the Dufour 40e will be even faster than the Salona.

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