I have a dilemma on my hands.

My boat hangs in an open boat lift (overhead motors and cables) with a sundeck above. We had some tornadoes come thru in January; front cable broke and the bow went into the water. Long story short...Progressive wants to total the boat. My boat shop put together a work order to fix everything if I choose to go that route versus a total loss. Neither Progressive nor my shop found any evidence of structural damage so I'm not really sweating that right now. So the choices regarding my boat are take the total check for $39,000 or fix it for $27,000 and continue life.

If I were to take the $39k and buy another boat, it would cost me about $20k to get into what I want. This would include a little deeper/taller sides and a little more power. I like my little bay boat but it is slightly underpowered when I take it in the Gulf, and the gunnels are a little low. The current boat also rides a touch rough in chop as the bottom is flatter, so it slaps some. I could be happy in a new rig, and I could be happy in my current one. The only wrong answer is to fix, then sell.

I doubt I would ever be able to get $39k for my current boat, which means the only way that the out-of-pocket number to get a new boat shrinks is if boat prices fall equally with trade-in value. I feel like boat prices aren't coming down, trade-in values aren't going up. And any purchase will be cash, not financed. The bottom line is I just finished building a new office building, took a month to go to Australia/New Zealand with my kid, and am trying to finish restoring a Mustang so my hesitation is not in not having the $20k, but not wanting to spend it at the moment.

What would your move be, fellow boating enthusiasts?

I would take the $39k and buy the $20k boat. Sounds like it'd be an upgrade over your current boat and you'd have an extra $19k for when your new boat does boat things.

OP, you described how this will be the best possible opportunity to get the new boat you want. If you have the money, do it. You can either continue to be unhappy and hate your present boat and all of the gremlins that will appear, or you can cough up some cash, accept the insurance company's overvaluation, and be happier in the long run.

ETA: Another way to look at it is through the loss in value. Let's say you fix the boat. What do you think you could actually sell it for? (And yes, you'll probably sell it one day). The value will definitely far less than $39,000. Maybe $15,000 with the damage history? That's a loss of $24,000, though unrealized right now. So in a way, it's cheaper to take the money and get a new boat.

BOAT :

Bust
Out
Another
Thousand

If money isn't an obstacle, then thake the $39k and buy what you want. Life is short and you never know what is around the corner. Don't believe me? Just ask my friend who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and is on borrowed time. Shocking but true. I for one am re-evaluating my priorities.

Take the 39k and get what you want.  Your boat now has a damage history.  It will be tough to sell it in the future if the perspective buyer does his homework.

If progressive totals it they will take the boat to sell the salvage. They might allow you to keep
salvage for a reduction in settlement and they will brand the title as salvage.