Marinette Boat Forum

We have an 88 32' Sedan FB that we bought as a project boat and have never finished. My husband had hired a guy to rebuild the engines which he never did and we started working on bottom paint and the outside. Our goal was to get it running and get the outside up to par then put it in the water and finish the inside. Well my husband is tired of trying to find somebody to work on the mechanics and the boat has been out of water for many years. He wants to donate it and I am wondering if it should be appraised or if the 5K write off would be all it is worth. The 2 Chrysler 318's need to be overhauled. There are no electronics on the flybridge. We have painted the bottom with zinc chromate but not bottom paint yet. The hull is in good condition, the back deck has some rotting and the inside needs some work of course, mostly elbow grease. The engine room has been cleaned up waiting for the engines. So my question is for those of you experienced rebuilders do you think the value would be more than 5K and worthy of an appraisal?

Mfroggie

Those pictures might get you an offer on that nice looking 32. I bet you could get a lot more than 5K for it.

If you are donating the boat to a charity that puts it up for auction, the charity should advise you of the price it gets at the auction so viola, you have the amount of your charitable deduction. It's likely the IRS would accept the proceeds the charity got over any appraisal.

Now if you had a 37. . .

Good luck.

Joe

Not sure where you came up with the $5k figure in lieu of appraisal. Joe was on track but it's just a tad more specific. In old days, cars & boats were tax deductions for some inflated guide book value. Except that the IRS (and, I think, congress, too) got wise to the fact that the actual market values (what someone was willing to pay for the donated item) were significantly lower. So, perhaps 15 yrs ago rules changed to put the deduction at what the charity got for the item.
Most charities hire a commercial firm to dispose of the items and they split the proceeds. Call a boat donation program for the charity of your choice - you can google which ones take boats - and they will give you correct info. Don't depend on us forum denizens (IRS doesn't accept our "opinions"). Check a couple and make sure they are legit charities. You can also go to the IRS web site and search for something like "deductions for donated boats."
Sorry to hear your dream project went down the tubes. Did you consider buying rebuilt engines with a lot less home work bench monkey business involved?

I have talked to 2 charities that specialize in boats and yachts and they both said the IRS limit without an appraisal was 5K so if I thought the market value was more than that I should get an appraisal. That is where the 5K figure came from.

Mfroggie

You might try calling Jasper Engines if you would like to keep her.
They have a very good reputation.
I think they will want some numbers off of each engine in order to make sure you get the proper ones.
There are also some other companies that offer rebuilt engines as well.

mfroggie wrote:I have talked to 2 charities that specialize in boats and yachts and they both said the IRS limit without an appraisal was 5K so if I thought the market value was more than that I should get an appraisal. That is where the 5K figure came from.

Did some research and that's essentially correct. Here's more for you at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4303.pdf
If you think the boat in its state is worth more than 5k, consider the appraisal. If it's not, you still have to determine fair market value and deal only with a legit (501C3) charity.
Also, while others can recommend additional sources of rebuilt engines, I used Jasper and was satisfied. They take your old engines in exchange as part of the deal.

Thanks for your help. I will look into Jasper, I would like to keep it and get it running, my DH not so much. We are also in North Texas and in a terrible drought so we have no water to put it in at this time. I will read up at the link for the IRS also.

If you are willing to take a 5K write off on the boat, you should list it for that on CL and just donate the cash. You may be able to squeeze a few more K out of it if the boat is all there.

Ok I'll bite what the heck is DH

dear husdand
deck hand
di@k #ead
bill

Dear Husband but Deck Hand works too.

Michale