madmike wrote:
Ahoy. We've signed the contracts and are looking forward to closing on our T37 next week. The surveyor recommended two jobs before we launch her:
1. stripping the bottom and getting it repainted
2. remove, replace, and rebed chainplates
I got a quote from the boatyard in California where we'll be launching the yacht. To sandblast the bottom, apply 2 coats of epoxy barrier, apply 2 coats of Petit Trinidad, and clean up the mess, they want $12,000. To remove and replace the chainplates they want $9,000.
Both prices were something like 3 to 4 times more expensive than we anticipated. Are we clueless? Is the yard over-estimating? What sort of prices do people actually pay? I can find lots of internet posts about how boatyards are expensive and people save money by doing the work themselves. But nobody actually seems to post numbers.
Thanks for the help. This board is pretty great.
Mike
Yards with high demand can charge anything they want. I pay about $200 mast out and back in for my T37 in Maine. In the Virgin Islands it is $1200. Got to pay for that crane.
The bottom job is beyond the pale. I'd want the decks and topsides painted with awlgrip and clearcoated as well for that price. I just did mine with paint stripper and a 4' floor scraper from Harbor Freight, then a buzz with a DA and 80 grit. 4 coats of barrier coat and I've got 5 more gallons of Micron 66 to go on (which will wait until Spring). Probably $4000.00 in very pricey paint (M-66 is hard paint, almost $400/gallon) and supplies. The rest is low wage scratching labor.
I would NOT have the bottom "sandblasted." I don't even like glass beads that well. If not handled by the yard monkey correctly, the fiberglass can get heated to the point of serious detriment. Last blast job I did (with my own soda blaster) took a half a day. You can cut a hole through the boat with bicarbonate of soda as well, so it's an art.
I don't know what 316 stainless costs these days, but four of the chainplates are easy and 2 of them have a funky weld in them. Last time I did all (abeam) chainplates on a boat it was an Endeavour 40 about 15 years ago and it cost $1000.00. I did the removal and install. So yeah, even at $100/hr. for labor, I can't even get to half that quote on the chains.