[C320-list] Hull cleaning

[Jack Brennan]

I guess it all works out.

We get cheap bottom cleaning, but there are almost no DIY boatyards. And a bottom job at a yard can run many thousands of dollars. I just took Sonas to an old-time yard 25 miles across Tampa Bay to get one for 2K.

The local yards around St. Petersburg and Tampa are staggering. The lowest quote I got was a minimum of 3K. And most of them have this trick where, if they see you have a few chips of bottom paint gone, they insist you need the bottom sandblasted with an epoxy barrier coat.

Of course, the 320 doesn’t need a barrier coat because the bottom is vinylester. And letting a $10-an-hour yard hand loose with a sandblaster on your boat bottom is asking for disaster. But pulling the boat out of the yard is losing $600-800 in haul and block fees.

On the other hand, letting them do their thing with the sandblaster and epoxy can cost you 5-7K in addition to the potential damage. One yard, in its estimate to me, wanted 1.2K just to sandblast the prop and stainless steel (!) shaft, then coat them with epoxy and paint them. Yeow!

You can’t win. That’s one reason everyone goes a minimum of three years between bottom jobs. You only haul out when the diver goes into endless complaint mode.

Jack Brennan
Sonas, 1998 Catalina 320
Tierra Verde, Fl.










Sent from Mail for Windows

From: Joe M
Sent: Friday, November 5, 2021 10:05 AM
To: C320-List at catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Hull cleaning

Thanks Jack.

Tes the bottom paint is just under $1,000 fof 2 coats by marina. The going
rate here.

And the diver gets 150 per month, also the going rate but my waterline
looked bad and I got whacked for $30 for a shaft zinc that reallcosts $5
dollars. So this year I double zinc there but want to cut out the diver
expenses altogether to save money.

Just really looking for an adequate flashlight to use. The water is never
clear here but no shark’s either, otherwise I wouldn’t be going in the
water at all.

Joe 2002 C320 # 902

On Thu, Nov 4, 2021 at 3:21 PM Jack Brennan <jackbrennan at bellsouth.net>
wrote:

> Hi Joe:
>
> $1,000 sounds like a lot. Maybe you should shop around a bit. I pay $55 a
> month in St. Petersburg, Fl.
>
> Be careful with cleaning ablative. The soft kind comes off verrry easy, as
> in there are clouds of it in the water. The newer hard ablative is supposed
> to be better.
>
> I don’t have any answers on murky water. Personally, I don’t go in unless
> it’s clear. That’s because I live in bull shark country in Tampa Bay. They
> have been known to take a nibble now and then when they sense something
> moving and can’t see what it is 😊
>
> Jack Brennan
> Sonas, 1998 Catalina 320
> Tierra Verde, Fl.
>
>
>
> Sent from Mail for Windows
>
> From: Joe M
> Sent: Thursday, November 4, 2021 2:54 PM
> To: c320-list at lists.catalina320.com
> Subject: [C320-list] Hull cleaning
>
> Looking to cut costs and prepare for trying to keep our boat into
> retirement years, I want to do my own hull cleaning on the mooring.
>
> Bottom paint is $1,000, planning on having it painted with ablative every
> other year here in the northeast. The monthly diver is another $1,000 per
> season, so I want to drop that expense.
>
> I have snorkel gear. My present issue is seeing down there. I read some
> amazon reviews and tried a flashlight but couldn’t see adequately at all. I
> need something that would actually be useful down there. Any
> recommendations?
>
> Joe 2002 C320 # 902
>
>