I'm not going to hold you in suspense. You've probably been thinking about painting your boat and you want to know what it costs to do in Guatemala. So hear it is, and what it covers:
For a Selene 57
Haul/Launch & 4 months storage: $1,370
Superstructure: $34,844.34
Hull: $21,541.39
Bottom Option 1: $5,989.50 (sand blast old bottom paint and barrier coat, 2 coats of barrier paint, 2 coasts of Pettit Trinidad Pro)
Bottom Option 2: $3,639.50 (pressure wash, sand and 2 coats of Pettit Trinidad Pro)
I am doing the Bottom Option 1, so my total cost to paint the whole boat is $63,745.23.
Estimated time to complete: 4 months.
I'll cover other costs, like living expenses, insurance, etc. in another post.
I would recommend the removal of the bottom paint and barrier coat for a few reasons. 1. If it hasn't been done in a while, then it's good to get the old paint off and start with a solid substrate. 2. You have a wider choice of possible bottom paints. 3. The sand blasting process uncovered some blisters in certain areas that RAM will repair (no additional cost). They would not have been discovered without the sandblasting process.
RAM will use any paint you want, but they have experience with Awlgrip products. Awlgrip employees will be traveling to RAM in a couple of weeks to do some training with the crew. I chose Awlgrip (because it is hard and resistant to scratches) for the superstructure, and Awlgrip HDT (because it is easier to repair) for the hull.
Untethered is not a dock queen (yet). There are issues with the boat that I knew about when I bought it. There was moisture in and around the pulpit and windlass. The area had been painted (very poorly) by a prior owner. The gel coat had been worn through. Brown water oozed through cracks in the gelcoat. You get the idea.
Several issues in the bow pulpit area.
There were portions of Flag Blue hull that had large bubbles in the paint. Other spots in the paint were cracked that you could easily detect and almost pry up with your fingernail. Oddly, all of the defects were in the aft 1/3 of the hull and mostly on the port side. Howard Chen saw it and said it was bad fairing ("must use Awlfair"). Other experienced painters wouldn't speculate without taking a core sample for examination.
Area just above the rub rail on the port side below the port cockpit boarding gate.
Untethered headed into the paint shed after the bottom was sand blasted. The lift had plenty of capacity to lift our 135,000 pound boat.
After the boat was on the hard in the paint shed and some of the hardware was removed the RAM crew and I walked around the boat discussing the areas that needed special attention. I pointed out several of the issues as well has some legacy holes that I wanted plugged.
Boat in paint shed. The bottom after sand blasting.
Shortly after arriving in the shed a team of 4-6 guys removed the stainless rub rails, bimini, hawse holes, dinghy cradle, life raft cradle, anchors and chains, flybridge windscreen, all locker doors, every snap and fastener, even the horn trumpet tubes. The dust started to fly as the sanders and grinders started spinning. It was a big, dusty mess. They covered all of the doors with plastic to prevent dust infiltration. I removed the back cover so I could enter the boat to do some odd jobs. I dogged the door down to get a better seal. Also, I started a dehumidifier in the boat to prevent mold and mildew. The boat remained about 85F inside, but it wasn't too uncomfortable because the humidity was 40-50%.
The men focused on the areas that needed the most attention. I'll let the photos do the talking.
The port aft hull was the worst spot. This is where the paint was bubbled and cracked.
A closer inspection still doesn't explain what caused this defect. Was it damage, manufacturing defect, material flaw? If you suspect something, please write in the comments.
The swim platform was cracked horizontally where the rub rail mounting screw holes are. That will be repaired.
The sandblasting revealed many blisters in the starboard aft part of the hull that were ground out and will be filled. The blisters were confined to this area only for some reason.
There were cracks in the rudder shoe.
As I suspected, there are issues here.
The fiberglass covering the top of the pulpit will need to be removed, the rotten wood removed, new wood encased in glass and fitted in place, glassed again, then a new top skin glassed in place.
What is included in the price, and what will cost extra you might ask? ALL of these repairs are included in the quoted price. Also included:
- Replacing rub rail screws with new 316 SS screws and bedding them
- Polishing the rub rail
- Removing, replacing and bedding all other rusted screws
- Removing the doors and painting them (including removing the teak and painting the inside of the pilot house doors to look like teak)
- Repairing a crack in the lazarette hatch
- Repair the cracks in the rudder shoe
- Repairing a bulge in one stabilizer fin and a hole in the other
- Filling in a few legacy holes in the fiberglass including an old through hull
- Rebedding 6 deck drains
- Replacing caulking around windows, the joint between deckhouse and boat deck, and caulking under cap rails
In addition to the painting/fiberglass repair work, we are also having the following quoted on:
- Fabricate a new rail mounted life raft cradle
- Recaulk and sand teak decks
- Sand and refinish sun and water damaged teak in pilot house
- Fabricate a fiberglass hardtop
- Replace cutlass bearings
- Rebuild PSS shaft seal (and probably install a new Tides shaft seal on the rudder stock)
- Remove autopilot pump, clean off rust, paint and replace
- Install new hot water heater
- Fabricate and install a new flybridge windscreen (old one was crazed)
- Fabricate 2 new bow rollers using owner supplied Delrin
- Galvanize one anchor