Paint options for Albin 43 Trawler

I have owned my Albin 43 trawler for over 3 years now. I have done many upgrades. Glass decks, new tanks, sea cocks, interior, etc. I have also been attempting to paint the entire topside on and off this whole time (roll and tip). By now the whole topside has been primed with interlux 2 part primer and much of the boat has had a coat or two of perfection however most of its been sanded down. There is still a good amount of fairing left (from a professional view). I am now exploring having the boat professionally painted. The hull, decks and topside. I am in the process of replacing all of the windows as some leak and others are very scratched. I bought the boat for a very good price. It is a 1981. I don't have the time, experience or patience to paint myself. I am considering having it quoted by professionals. I have heard prices can be over $1,000 per ft. Can anyone share there experiences and or opinions. Thanks!

So what was the final quote you went with?

You might want to think about having the boat painted in steps. I paint part of the Eagle each year. This year the Portuguese bridge, the port salon house, and port hull between the gunnel and the rub rail. Next year when we pull the entire hull below the rub rail. 80+% of the work in prepping and priming which can be done by no skilled labor with some supervision. It’s the final pretty top coat that requires so practice/skill So at least have the price broken down between non skill worker and skilled workers. If one person the rate should be sort of an average rate.

When we sub contract work, we ask for a detail break down estimate/price.

There are options out there. We painted the hull with Awlgrip Awlcraft 2000 and re-gelcoated the house and fly-bridge this past fall/winter in Trinidad. One of the reasons for doing it in Trinidad was the expensive labor rates that the US has. Material costs were the same or slightly higher in Trinidad. All the work was contracted. Hobo's hull paint was $4,300 US. If we had wanted to paint the house and fly-bridge the cost would have been ~1/2 of the $8,600 US we paid for the gelcoat. The total cost of the job was $12,900 US.

Well Daddyo, as with everything I do… it’s complicated. Long story short I worked a deal with a yard in Slidell La just north of New Orleans. I started this project last October as I was headed out of the country for 4 months that turned into almost 8 months, so I was in no rush to finish. The yard wanted the work to keep his folks busy through the winter, it is a fix price yard so he said he would match the lower bid, $15K, with the understanding that he would work on it when things got slow, in other words no set due date. He is not charging me a monthly storage fee, so free on the hard storage …. I’m still in no rush so it has worked out great for me. As with all projects once the boat got there I added other stuff, I had them install a bow thruster, cutlass bearing etc.. If the weather holds up he will paint next week. I should be back in the states mid June, can’t wait to get back and see it. Doing this long distance is definitely not recommended.
I have really enjoyed following your recent trip, I would love to meet up some day for dinner and a cold one with a tour of Grace. My boat is a one of DeFever design, basically it is a stretched DeFever 48.
Joel

I got a quote about a year ago to prep and paint my 43 Viking DC - good yard, boat needs a lot of fairing, AwlGrip, etc. $34k out the door. That led me to Phil's philosophy - treat it like a big bridge - work it a manageable piece at a time if $ are an issue - when I get her finished, it will be time to start again at square one. .