cost to have topside painted

[Tim Ward]

I am looking into having the deck on my 1969 Bristol 32 repainted. Structurally they are in good shape, eustatically they look terrible, a lot of cracking and spiderwebbing, especially on the cabin top.
This is a vague question, but can anyone give me an idea of what I could expect to pay to have the redone?

Tim

[Frank Vernet]

Tim,

Not sure if this will be helpful but I recently got a quote to have redone (e.g. sand and paint) the non-skid on the coach roof of my CD33. This is quote from a reputable shop located on the Chesapeake Bay that is primarily engaged in the repair, reconstruction and refinishing of yachts, gelcoat repair, awlgrip, etc...

The quote was $1700.

Hope this helps a bit.

[joelcunningham]

Maybe your are not looking for this type of answer, but I just wanted to comment. You can save a lot of money and DIY. Maybe you have deep pockets, little time, and don't like to get dirty. If this is not the case, the job is not that daunting. Preparation is 80% of the job. You sand, you clean, you rinse with degreaser and you tape. Use a good "high build" primer to hide the spiders. Use the best quality paint. Modern paints have excellent self leveling properties, so you don't need to spray. You can use a good quality brush, or even a fine foam roller and get excellent results. Reputable auto body shops are using rollers to prime these days. The job isn't that big and don't let anyone tell you that you have to be a pro to do it.

[Kevin Kaldenbach]

If you are going to repaint the interior anyways practice roll and tipping and if you can get it to flow on in the cabin you will most likely do a good job on the cabin top. I used Interlux two part polyurethane with a flattener agent on my deck of my typhoon. It turned out good. I still need to paint the interior and have been dreading doing it. All of the corners etc. just don't sound like fun. But I will get it done soon enough.

Good luck

[Ron M.]

I can tell you this........it is a lot of work to do properly. That 1700.00 quote does not sound bad, but I wonder, how specificaly, they prep. What do they do about cracks, is deck hardware removed or masked ? How many coats of primer, topcoat, etc.
I have painted a number of boats, mine included. I have no overhead to speak of other than equipment...... I MIGHT consider doing a job like that for twice your quote on a vessel that size. That's not to imply I'm the consumate expert or professional but you need to make a reasonable profit.... there are always issues that pop up, not to mention you need to stand behind your work. So, I quess I'd be leary, get it all spelled out in black and white, and obviously check refs and see some work they have done.
________
COLORADO MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

[Russell]

When I first got my CD36, I got a couple over the phone quotes to have the decks professionally painted with awlgrip. Mainly to use as a bargaining chip when making an offer on the boat.

A proper professional job includes removing all hardware that can be removed, ports, hatches, stanchions, everything. Plus masking everything that cannot. Then lots and lots of sanding, decks have lots of nooks and corners that are very difficult to get to even with all hardware removed. Fairing and repairing of imperfections such as crazing, is labor intensive. Small crazing cant be just filled with epoxy, it has to be ground open first, and you cant just paint over it, the crack will come back through the paint much of the time.

Anyway, its much much more work the doing the hull. The quotes I got ranged from $12K to $15K for a CD36. Its expensive.

Now you might find some yards who are willing to do the job just by masking, and no hardware removal, it will be a fair bit cheaper, but any yard willing to cut corners there, I would worry would cut corners elsewhere. Besides, repainting is a good excuse to rebed all that hardware that probably needs rebedding anyway.

Now if you are talking the nonskid only, that is an entirely different story, as it is large areas largely with no hardware in the way and should be rather inexpensive (but also very easy to do yourself in a weekend). But entire deck, be prepared for sticker shock if quotes are based on doing a proper job of it.

[Frank Vernet]

I can tell you this........it is a lot of work to do properly. That 1700.00 quote does not sound bad, but I wonder, how specificaly, they prep. What do they do about cracks, is deck hardware removed or masked ? How many coats of primer, topcoat, etc.

Good questions. Here is the description of the work to be performed pulled off the estimate:

"APPLY NEW NON-SKID TO COACH ROOF. Remove canvas studs. Mask 5 panels on coach roof, including sea hood and companionway slide. Sand for new gelcote. Roll out new gelcote non-skid w/grit."

16hrs labor ($1,440 of the total - 8hrs prep, 8hrs application), 1.5 gal Gelkote, 1/2qt Awlgrip Grip-Tex Non-skid, sundry rags/tape/etc...

[Cathy Monaghan]

Will you be hiring out the work completely or doing some of the work, at least some of the prep work, yourself?

It just so happens that yesterday we met with the head of the yard where we keep our boat to discuss having all of the gelcoat cracks on our CD32's deck, coach roof and cockpit repaired. We thought we might have some delamination in the foredeck so we had him check for that too. He used a hammer and sounded the entire deck, coach roof and cockpit as well as using a moisture meter nearly everywhere as well. To our delight he found no problem with the foredeck but he did find an air pocket on the port side near one of the stanchion bases right up against the toe-rail. The only moisture he found was, no surprise, in the cockpit sole. So that will have to be repaired.

Anyway, I should have an estimate in the next few days. The estimate isn't just for painting, it'll be for the repair of all of the gelcoat cracks, repair of the cockpit sole, and refinishing everything. And repair of the deck will require removal of most, if not all, of the deck hardware as well as the steering gear in the cockpit.

Bruce and I will remove all of the interior panels that hide access to the backsides of deck hardware. We'll probably remove the hot water tank from the port cockpit lazarette as well as the battery box so that they'll be able to get at the stern cleat on the port side. And I think we'll remove the steering pedestal ourselves as well since there's so much wiring for all of the instruments inside the pedestal and both sides of the pedestal guard as well. The more we do, the less manhours we'll have to pay in labor. The labor rate is about $90 per hour and there will be alot of hours and more than one laborer involved, not to mention the price of new gelcoat or paint.

Anyway, I'm just hoping the estimate will be less than the value of the boat.

Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[captzigzag]

I'm right in the middle of doing the teak and topsides on my 33' CD. For you who are going to take this on please find the link below of a must have tool.

This is not a dremel tool, it's a sander.

http://www.amazon.com/Dremel-6000-01-Co ... B0000302XT

[Russell]

I'm right in the middle of doing the teak and topsides on my 33' CD. For you who are going to take this on please find the link below of a must have tool.

This is not a dremel tool, it's a sander.

http://www.amazon.com/Dremel-6000-01-Co ... B0000302XT

That is a knock off of the Fein multimaster detail sander kit. If it works anywhere near as well as the Fein does, its certainly worth owning. I think Feins patent must have run out or something because suddenly every company out there is knocking off their stuff. 5 years ago I paid $350 for my multimaster and you can get similar tools for far far less now! I doubt the quality level is there though on the knock offs.

[Cathy Monaghan]

Okay, I mentioned to a couple of folks that I would share the estimate for the cost of repairing and refinishing the deck of our CD32 by the folks at the boat yard here in NJ where we keep our boat. I was told it would be a really big and really expensive job, but I didn't think it would be this much. And these are just preliminary numbers.

The cost in labor alone for the removal of all hardware -- that's everything attached to the deck except for the toerails and the bowsprit -- is approx. $20,000.

The cost for repainting the deck is approx. $1000 per foot. So we're talking $32,000.

That doesn't include the repair of the gelcoat cracks. There are ALOT and that will take alot of manhours as well.

It also doesn't include the cost to repair the wet cockpit sole.

And it doesn't include the cost to reinstall all of the hardward.

If the boatyard takes on the entire job it will probably run around $70,000 to complete. Keep in mind that our CD32 isn't worth $70,000.

Right now Realization's deck is bone dry except for the cockpit sole. We keep her covered during the winter months so the decks don't get wet and water can't get in those cracks, freeze and expand, so I think we'll just continue to do that. I think we'll probably continue to live with the cracks and just repair the cockpit sole.

Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[Como No Cruising]

Holy Smokes, Cathy!! It might be cheaper to ship the boat to Trinidad or Venezuela to have it done. Even with shipping costs you would likely come out for less than half the prices quoted.
The other alternative is to just go cruising and have it done in New Zealand or in Thailand. The folks at the Boat Lagoon in Phuket are experts and they turn out some beautiful work for some amazing prices. Let's see--your boat and the amount of work to be accomplished; probably around the $15,000 mark, including painting the entire hull and bottom.

Another example of prices getting out of hand here. But, to be fair, labor is expensive and we are talking about a labor intensive job.

Wow!!

Will & Annie

[Maine Sail]

Cathy,

I'll pull all your deck gear for 15k... Man those guys are HOSING you...

I have stripped a fair number of boats of deck gear, hatches, ports etc. and @ $75.00 per hour they are claiming 6.6 40 hour work weeks or 266 man hours of work. I want what they're smoking, must be good stuff..... About 8 years ago two of us stripped an entire Sabre 34 in 14 hours. Even with two guys at $75.00 per hour that is $2100.00. The CD is more complex to strip but not $17,900.00 worth... Doh' !!!!!!!

Of course if you have ever used "Devils Glue", AKA 5200, w please ignore my above comments because the guys at the yard were spot on..

[moctrams]

The folks at Flag Harbor Marina in St. Leonard, Md. removed/re-installed all deck hardware, repaired the soft foredeck and several other soft areas, paint and non-skid for $7000.

[gates_cliff]

Wow! that is an amazing difference in price. I think I need to investigate Flag Harbor.