• Happy Weed Appreciation Day! 🌱🌿🌻

Seller’s Market for Used Canoes

G

Guest

Guest
In discussion of the OT Pack Larry mentioned
I have one and paddled it for about 3 years as a first canoe. It has been hanging unused in my garage for about 7 years now BTW.

I’m back to near daily searching of Craigslist and FB Marketplace within a 200 radius, for a shop project canoe as well as a canoe for a friend. I know it is winter, when used canoe pickings typically get slimmer, but dang, there is nothing out there.

Nothing in several ways; not many listings, and of those few not many canoes I would take even if offered for free. And the asking prices for what is listed are the craziest I’ve ever seen; it’s a used canoe pricing bubble of unknown duration.

I expect that boat bubble to eventually burst when Covid is under better control, and a lot of folks who bought used (and new) canoes want their garage or lawn space back. Gonna be a flood of heavy/crappy poly boats available used.

Larry, and anyone else holding an unused and unlikely to be used canoe (or kaya….), right now, and maybe this spring, with a lot of folks apparently desirous of some leisurely social-distancing outdoors activity, is the best seller’s market I have ever seen.

Any canoe, perhaps as a novice package with an old paddle and PFD included, should bring good money. At least the Pack isn’t an overpriced Coleman, Pelican or MRC Adventure; I would feel bad about selling someone a soon-to-be-unused poly anvil.

I’m curious about whether this is a regional bubble (I’m searching PA/NJ south into the more distant got-friends-there Carolinas), or something folks have noticed as more widespread.
 
Widespread I think. Lots of people camping, hiking and picnicking here due to covid restrictions in the cities. Canoes here in Az that were running $300 or so jumped to $600. Outfitters like Sportsmans Warehouse can't keep canoes, tents, etc in stock. I expect the gold rush to cool off just as quickly as it started.
 
Same here in NY State. I typically flip 12-15 boats a year since I retired, but the used prices lately leave little opportunity for profit. My radius is 150 miles from Rochester NY. It was nice while it lasted, and when the bubble bursts there will be such glut prices may just crash.
 
I hear that facebook marketplace is draining some listings off craigslist. So, maybe that's part of it. I vowed long ago to never go on facebook, and even used canoe bargains galore would not cause me to break my vow.
 
Here in northwest North Carolina this is about the time I would normally expect a surge of canoes to be popping up on craigslist (based on my short three Springs of experience) so maybe things will change but..... Pickings have been slim indeed with the notable exception of a really nice Wenonah Spirit II in Tuf-weave layup that I bought last week along with a very clean Trailex all aluminum trailer and a heap of other goodies thrown in.

Among the many overpriced listings that have apparently sold we've seen an OT Tripper near Roanoke in what I would term fairly rough shape listed for $1200 and be gone in a few days, rough Grummans for $450-600 (60-70% higher than a year ago and Pelicans or Colemans for as much as a new one that seem to sell just fine. There have been no shortage of OT Discoverys that sell quickly for as much as $700 with a few $900 ones .And pretty much anything with a recognizable brand name seems to sell pretty quickly.

I suspect part of the issue is that more of the current cohort of buyers are more often clueless than is usually the case and to them, a canoe is a canoe and that they have little experience with the recent norms in pricing. A year ago I would have expected to see maybe 6 new canoe listings a week in the Winston-Salem CL and a total of 15 or 20 between W-S, Raleigh, Charlotte and Roanoke (all within two hours). This morning ,between those 4 cities, there's a $550 Grumman 17' canoe, a $500 Discovery 15' canoe, a $450 14' Pelican, a 14.5' Esquif Pocket Canyon for $1900 (no, that's not a typo) and a fairly rough OT Heavy Water wood canoe for $2000. No, I don't mean that's new CL listings. That's it! That's all the canoes listed in those four cities.

If you have the "include nearby listings" option selected you will see a few more but a year ago there would have been far more with new listings pretty much daily. As I sit here thinking about it I wonder if the big price spike means that a lot of canoes that would have come to market in a steady stream over the next few years got sold last year and until the post COVID realization that folks have unused canoes they ought to sell sinks in they won't be around. Or maybe some of it's because it very hard to find a canoe or kayak, at any price, in many retail shops right now.

As a last thought it can't help that many manufacturers of outdoor products have jacked up their advertised MSRPs due to increased retail demand which skews what someone new to canoes sees as a deal.

Here in NC, state park usage and launch point usage hit an all time high last year. The three state parks closest to us, Pilot Mountain, Hanging Rock and Stone Mountain State Parks were all around 20% above their historic norms. Until or unless the outdoor recreation spikes drops some I really don't see any big changes coming soon.

Best regards to all,


Lance
 
Same here in NY State. I typically flip 12-15 boats a year since I retired, but the used prices lately leave little opportunity for profit. My radius is 150 miles from Rochester NY. It was nice while it lasted, and when the bubble bursts there will be such glut prices may just crash.

Yup. Rochester has always been a hotbed for used canoes. I have found some great boats and deals in that region of the state. I have the same radius as you. Not finding much of anything on CL. Facebook market place is worse.
 
I hear that facebook marketplace is draining some listings off craigslist. So, maybe that's part of it. I vowed long ago to never go on facebook, and even used canoe bargains galore would not cause me to break my vow.

I am likewise not on Facebook and never will be. But for some reason I can look at FB Marketplace and, several friends having found stunningly good deals there, thought I should see what the hubbub is all about.

It would kinda suck if I did find a canoe I wanted on FB. With no way to contact the seller I’d have to ask some friend who does Facebook to respond for me, which starts to sound suspiciously like “My friend Nigerian Prince wants to buy boat send you a cashier’s check for twice amount and have his shipper pick up

I have heard of a couple people finding canoe deals on Craigslist under the Sporting Goods section.
 
Last edited:
In spite of having no interest in Facebook for it's social messaging purpose, I did join solely to facilitate canoe searches, then discovered that I could sell items with less nonsense from buyers than via Craigslist. I do peruse both sources regularly for canoe deals and have found (and missed) several nice boats- mostly w/c canoes.

Now... if that elusive sub-40lb solo composite perfect (read: cheap) tripping canoe would show up I'd be thrilled!
 
Patrick, I can’t thank you enough for keeping an eye out for the
elusive sub-40lb solo composite perfect (read: cheap) tripping canoe
I’m looking for ;-)


Out of curiosity I checked Sports in a few Craigslists and found that that’s where the paddles, roof racks, floatation bags and other accessories are.
 
I've been out of the canoe market for a long time. How is Craigslist holding up with canoe listings?

I do check Facebook for other things I'm looking to buy and find it much better than Craigslist. Partially because we don't have a local Craigslist and people seem more inclined to list something on Facebook since they're already there anyway and it's so easy. Messaging back and forth is easier too.

I've sold a fair amount on Facebook too. I get a lot more response than I used to on Craigslist.

Besides Marketplace (which allows you to choose how big of an area to select) there are multiple private for sale groups. These are usually by region or county. Not everything that's in these private groups will be on Marketplace and vice-versa.

Alan
 
New canoe purchases are difficult as well.

I had to buy a canoe from a remote outfitter 7hrs away in order the get the model I wanted. When I called around, I spoke with many of the retailers in a 7 hour radius of here and they told me that most of the canoes that they've ordered for this spring are spoken for already. I'm glad I didn't wait another week.
 
Well Michael, don't say I don't love ya, for, as Ray and and the late Tommy would oft remind, "THERE! You've gone and squandered another perfectly good hour..." In this and my case, perusing the Zuckerberg portals of (better off with Zuckerman's famous pig and its arachnid spinning sidekick) face-to-faceless merchandising. AND, in a 500-mile radius, mind ya! Because, Michael, you could use a good road trip.

Anyway, DRRRRRECKKKK. Unless, that is, you want an Alumacraft cold-tempering in a drift on snow-covered upstate NY ground. Or a Next here, a nevermind there, or one of 4,000 rock-rashed roto-moldings harboring those hidden secrets that have crept through uncovered cockpits, to dwell within those all-so-inviting bilges.

Hey, but at least there's those clever salesmen who've stationed their buxom, bikini-clad wives and girlfriends (hmm, maybe even one fella so bold as to use both at once, in a tandem SOT'em and ignore a) to heighten the discriminate boat shoppers' arousal:

She seems the fine vessel,
perhaps top-heavy craft.
Those are commodious bilges.
Does she maintain a low draft?

A bit wide in the beam.
Will she spin on a dime?
I guess it's bit over the top,
to think I'll edge those hard chine.

(OK, OK, a bit sexist. Somebody post their Facebook Marketplace sale of a Baboosic with Chippendale Antoine d'Allure aboard, and I'll see what poetic travesty I can brew for the ladies.)
 
I've been looking every day on SearchTempest (Craigslist), Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, Paddle.com, BWCA.com, WCHA.com, and EBay every day, almost nationwide, for four months. I've found maybe three canoes in all that time that meet my criteria but foolishly passed on them thinking I'd eventually find an equivalent at a lower price or closer. I didn't. I can't even convince a vendor friend to take time off to send more pictures of a used canoe. He's too busy building.

I joined vile FB solely to get access to Marketplace, which non-members can see but can't communicate with vendors, but bizarrely FB blocks you completely from even seeing Marketplace for about two weeks when you become a new member. Something to do with fraud.

Meanwhile, I have found great deals on three used paddles (still need a 54"), a slightly blem new canoe cart, and lightly used OEM canoe racks (along with brand new free brake pads and rotors) for my newest car to transport my . . . so-far non-existent tandem canoe to my granddaughter in Florida.
 
Yup. Rochester has always been a hotbed for used canoes. I have found some great boats and deals in that region of the state. I have the same radius as you. Not finding much of anything on CL. Facebook market place is worse.

Over the past year there has been an additional challenge by folks who 'bid up' the advertised price of listed boats. I lost three canoes by having someone offer more than the advertised price between the time I contacted the seller and the time I was able to get there. Is the opposite of a 'lowballer' a 'highballer'?
 
I've been looking every day on SearchTempest (Craigslist), Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, Paddle.com, BWCA.com, WCHA.com, and EBay every day, almost nationwide, for four months. I've found maybe three canoes in all that time that meet my criteria but foolishly passed on them thinking I'd eventually find an equivalent at a lower price or closer. I didn't.

The dearth of decent used canoes at decent prices has made routine checking too depressing. I need a boat in the shop to keep me busy, and did every bit of maintenance and outfitting upgrade to every boat we own over the last Covid hermit year.

All that’s left is the already refreshed RX Explorer, which needs only DIY spray covers in place of the tiny bow and stern covers I retrofitted years ago. If I go slowly enough that will keep me busy for a week and then it’s back to thumb twiddling. At this point I don’t care if it is a boat I even want or would use, just something to play with in the shop, repair, outfit, give to a friend.

If a spring trip to visit your daughter is in the works I’ll keep my fingers cross that you find something soon.

Used or demo Hemlock Eagle, or three seater Curtis Northstar?
 
Back
Top