Cost for Bottom Painting on a Cat

[Blc7]

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone might be able to help out with some general information. I am having Progressive Marine in St. Pete haul out my Lagoon 420 for a bottom repaint.

First question, Does anyone have experience with Progressive that they could share with me. Good work? Good prices?

Second question, Does $5800 for the haulout, sandblasting, epoxy, full service bottom job sound reasonable? I've owned the boat for a little over a year and this is my first haul out and bottom painting.

Any advice would be helpful!

[colemj]

Why are they sandblasting and epoxying? Do you have blisters, delamination or some other type of hull structural problem? If not, then don't do it.

Don't sandblast at all - this is generally a somewhat destructive method that can really do a job on your glass if not done with high skill. Instead, if you need to remove paint, blast with soda or another soft medium. If sand is the only option and you must strip, make very sure they know what they are doing and are not just sending out the teenager on school break to do the icky job.

Mark

[Blc7]

He saw a couple of small blisters. He recommended the full treatment (sand blasting, etc.) No delamination.

He also gave me a price of around $5000 for just sanding the bottom and putting on a barrier coat prior to painting.

For the routine bottom job it was about $3800.

Again, I'm new at this and I just want to make sure this is reasonable. I'm now wondering if the sand blasting is unnecessary.

[Campbellcruiser]

How old is your boat? Never ever in a million year blast a fibreglass boat! Your gel coat will be destroyed period no matter what is used!
A couple of blisters, if treated properly are no big deal. Don't barrier coat unless you absolutely have to, and by that I mean you have a lot of blisters . I have an islander 37 MS. I did the bottom myself this last fall. There were a few blisters and the previous bottom paint was falling off in flakes. The guy at the yard (who has tons of experience and is highly regarded) said to wait a few year and see what happens. He said (it's taken 30 years to develop those blisters. Fix them and wait till next haul out and see if it's gotten worse and decide then.
It sounds like these guys just want your money. In the end it wouldn't hurt to do a barrier coat, but why unless you have to.

[CharlzO]

Originally Posted by Campbellcruiser

How old is your boat? Never ever in a million year blast a fibreglass boat! Your gel coat will be destroyed period no matter what is used!

I'm no expert by any means, but I was under the impression that sodablasting was, when done properly, safe on the gelcoat, and perhaps that's what the yard had in mind for the OP? Not saying it's true, and if they DO want to sandblast instead of soda, I would definitely stop unless there was major issues to address.

Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with yard prices for the job at hand though, so I'm not opinion for that.

[44'cruisingcat]

$3800 for a "routine bottom job"? sounds expensive. But. What does it include? Does it include haulout, waterblasting and hardstand fees? Do they do everything, including moving the boat?

Prices also vary wildly from place to place.

[Factor]

The bigger question is why does it have osmosis?

[downunder]

Get another Quote /opinion.

[atoll]

i did my 37 ft prout for under $200 using 3 gal of hempel af,lift in and out aprox $400.
i took 3 days doing it my self,probably 12hrs labor in total

[Blc7]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

$3800 for a "routine bottom job"? sounds expensive. But. What does it include? Does it include haulout, waterblasting and hardstand fees? Do they do everything, including moving the boat?

Prices also vary wildly from place to place.

It does include everything.

[thinwater]

$3800 for a routine bottom?

Leave.

I agree that for a few blisters I would simply repair them with local sanding and check at the next haul (2 years). You will have learned more about good shops by then as well.

[Lojanica]

Mono here. A short story: Old boat. Lots of bottom paint. A few blisters but otherwise good. Friend had a soda blaster so I was ready to blast the bottom with soda (at a substantial discount as this was a bro deal). Then the soda blaster went belly up literally the day before haulout. Hauled anyways and did the bottom. Then a well-respected vet halfway through the bottom job did a gratis survey of the hull and said. I don't know why in the world you'd strip the bottom. It's fair has a ton of bottom paint on it and essentially no blisters. It's not like you're a racer trying to save a few pounds. Fix the blisters (which had already been done) paint it and dunk it. Check again in 2 to 3 years.


Well that's what I did and guess what. It's been a couple years and the bottom is great. At least in my case unless it needs to be done it may be better left alone and monitored closely.

[Blc7]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I just didn't want to go the "cheap" route if it was really important to get the full job done ("Penny wise and pound foolish," as they say). This is our home and we will be doing some extensive cruising.

I will probably just do the standard bottom job and check it again in a couple of years.

[valhalla360]

Even if you stick with the standard bottom job, shop around. $3800 seems pretty high.

Assuming ablative pain, if you can find a yard that will let you work, you should be able to get it down around $1000 (or less) including haul out. Messy job but for $2800 in savings...

[Campbellcruiser]

Have it hauled out, pay someone to fix the blisters, watch and learn for next time, and paint the bottom yourself. As long as you can read and follow instructions you are good to go. Like painting a wall in a house. And yes shop around for prices. I had a 27 ft hauled, stripped (had old bad bottom paint that was falling off and yes I was new to boating) through hulls replaced, fibreglass work done and ablative applied all for $2000. Most of that was the labour to scrap/sand the bottom fair. Shop around.