having gone to sea, as in the pacific, atlantic, indian, and north sea the answer is simple: one can't afford to tolerate anything that is sub-standard and doesn't do what's advertised there's no Ace Hardware down the street nor a place to go if things go south . RESPECTFULLY: El Faro. What a tragedy, could have been me any time any storm. I am a 20+ year sailing Chief Engineer, unlimited horsepower, steam, motor, gas turbine. I have seen the cost of stuff suited for sea and often thought that I entered the wrong end of the shipping business.
Benetti motor yacht Cheers 46 offered for sale | Boat International This yacht was parked outside my room in Ft Lauderdale a few weeks ago, looked it up and saw it was for sale. $16M. In person, to be honest if you were worth nine figures ($100M+) it doesn't seem that out of line for what you would get. It is damn impressive in person. Might cost you $2m/year to crew and run the thing, but what a boat.
I'lll agree with the OP that prices have gone nuts. In the 90s my father bought a 10 year old 27' century cabin cruiser with twin 350's for 10k. 15 years later that boat sold for 10k. I looked at a bunch of 27' 10 year old cabin cruisers and the prices were in the 50's and 60's. I have a 35' express and it'll cost me about 12-15k a year between maintenance and storage. I looked a bigger but the prices are astronomical. More than i'm willing to spend on a money pit. Its big enough.
I look at boats from a practical stand point. Its a fiberglass hull, some motors and some electronics. I guess im the blind idiot. I bought a Scarab as my first boat. Growing up poor taught me to weld, lay fiberglass, some electronics, turn a wrench, painting etc, but the most important....problem solving. The issue with certain boats is brand specific custom parts IMHO. My 'retirement boat' is an Azimut in the smaller range. The brand specific parts are a deal killer. Although my retirement boat has changed, Ill still get one with good bones.