INVESTIGATOR 563

$10000 for a new Investigator. Not bad now but in 1987 a deposit on a house!

That's the ad that said the 563 was made by Sonata Yachts, thought I remembered it. Interestingly, LOT 11 Macquarie Rd is now the Mitsubishi dealer according to Google Maps or Aldi. Manufacturing of the 563 is now ancient history, sadly. Any economists among you who can tell us what 10 grand is worth in todays money adjusted for inflation, peterol fluctuations, reality TV and the internet

Sonata 7 $18.6K. As I mentioned elsewhere, friends just bought one , a keeler version for 3k.

http://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualDecimal.html

Just looking at this old post and found this Reserve Bank Calculator site above .

$10K adjusted to 2016 would be $23,349.49. Maybe for a new boat with new 5 hp mariner and trailer that would still be reasonable if anyone was making them.

Think that ad was earlier than 1987, more likely in the 70s. If you want a new one, there is the a hull and deck available plus the molds for $6k.

It would be an interesting exercise to cost actually building a boat from a mold then fitting it from scratch with all new gear . Fittings , sails , ropes , stainless , windows , motor , trailer.

23 k might not get you there at today's prices . Second hand boats look better all the time .

I remember yonks ago when I was interested in cars one of my work mates had an article where Wheels or Modern Motor magazine costed building a standard Holden , maybe a Commodore from new spare parts and it was half a million or similar.

I think that the 1987 date is probably correct. There is an advertisement in the December 1981 edition of Australian Boating that lists the price of an Investigator as $6995 sailaway. $10,000 by 1987 sounds about right.

Interesting to read that the ad talks of the "fin case" for the centre board housing.

Note that the blurb for the Tropic 520 talks about "thrills and excitement". In other words, low ballast ratio, and you could go for a swim if you are careless.

I found the same advertisement in a book of boat tests from 1985. Of interest, the price of the Investigator was the same as the 1987 price, but there were substantial increases in the costs of the other models during those two years. I guess that that they were trying to clear stock. The last Investigator sold in 1989.