Going back to one of the comments made comparing an older boat to an older RV. That may or may not be true depending on the quality of the original boat and the care it received over the years. No question a new build is beautiful, shiny, latest electronics, new engines, etc. And if money is not a factor that would be the way to go. But generally a solid fiberglass hull from a quality builder is going to be a solid hull 20-40 years later. All the internals can be rebuilt or replaced. Never going to be as shiny as a new build but probably 20% or less of the new build cost. As with most high end luxury items there will always be those who just want and can afford new and they will pay the price. Fortunately for me and others like me we can buy older boats and over time bring them up to as close as possible to a new boat operationally. Example engines tend to last much longer and be reliable than most recreational boat owners will run them so you might not even need to rebuild and you almost certainly don't need to repower. But even a repower can be significantly cheaper. Just about all other systems (heads, solar, inverter, audio/video, batteries and cosmetics (paints, fabrics) can be replaces to nearly match a new build and you still will be hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead. But you have to be willing to either pay someone else or do work yourself. I would not be looking to buy new but if I were I would not be too excited about the 50-60 foot new boat that sells for under $1 million as I would have serious concerns about the quality and how well it is equipped. Before anyone calls foul I am sure there are exceptions but probably not many. Most new builds 50-60 feet are going to be well north of $1 Mil. As an example a 2006 Nordhavn 55 is on the market now for $1.25Mil. Great looking boat but new I imagine you would be looking at >$2Mil.
Oh, by the way I have a 20 year old diesel pusher. Not nearly as nice as a new one but does everything I need and new one is at least 20x more than what I paid (with 80K miles). I may sell it in a few years and even if I gave it away my total cost would not be close to just the extra taxes I would pay on a $1Mil RV. So if you have not figured it out yet, yes I am a fan of buying used, normally almost to vintage qualification but needs to have been loved and without potential/common catastrophic failure points that I would not touch (such as a cored hull for example).
