Best Price Awlgrip Paint Job

I am soon going to need some fairing and a full Awlgrip paint job. My vessel is 67' powercat. Looking for best value for price. Yard can be from Florida to North Carolina. Looking for quotes now. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

A cheap, mediocre job will end up being very expensive. I would unhesitatingly, based on personal experience recommend Thunderbolt Marine in Savannah. Extremely professional and stand behind their work in an "above and beyond" fashion. The boat manufacturers in Carolina also do paint jobs, well known for quality. Around here Jarrett Bay, Bayliss and Spencer have great reputations. Labor rates are going to be lower than Florida for the equivalent amount of skill, but the good yards will spend many more hours on prep, the key to a good job.

Big bucks

You might consider Sterling. I think it's more repairable than Algrip. I've able to add cabosil to sterling and make repairs using it as paste filler. Just like gelcoat. I believe they
Still have a 10 year warranty. I have it on my boat and it still looks new after 10 years. If you have wood that you intend to paint,make sure it very dry and well sealed. If not blisters will form under the paint. Is this boat glass?

Scary said:

You might consider Sterling. I think it's more repairable than Algrip. I've able to add cabosil to sterling and make repairs using it as paste filler. Just like gelcoat.

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That is new and interesting information to me. Thanks. I've heard many good things about sterling, just have to figure out how to get it to Canada.

Yes. My Boat is glass. How does Sterling compare in price to Awlgrip?

I just had lunch with a good friend whose opinion I respect. Given that tenniscaptain shows a Myrtle Beach homeport, he strongly recommended Bennett Brothers in Wilmington. I have always heard very good things about them, but on other types of work (including a guy with the same model Hatteras as mine getting a major refit). No direct experience myself.

Some of the major yards, such as Jarrett Bay, and Hatteras themselves, have switched to Alexseal, and seem quite happy with it. Guy I know had his Hatteras LRC done by JB and it looks great and he signs its praises. Again, no direct experience myself. In the end, the price of the paint itself is to the right of the decimal point in terms of the overall cost.

On Yachtforums.com, there's a post under general discussions of a fellow who just had his 56' Matthew MY totally painted. He has photos and high recondmendation s for the outfit in Daytona that painted her. He seemed to have brought her down from South Carolinas to have her done.

I don't think he took it down there just to have it painted. Not to say the guy in Daytona isn't worth looking into; just be cautious, all paint jobs look great when they are new.

caltexflanc said:

I don't think he took it down there just to have it painted. Not to say the guy in Daytona isn't worth looking into; just be cautious, all paint jobs look great when they are new.

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You read his post? I think I would take the advice of a long time owner of a classic much loved yacht before anyone else. One garners experience in time.

pilothouse king said:

You read his post? I think I would take the advice of a long time owner of a classic much loved yacht before anyone else. One garners experience in time.

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Oh, then excuse me, I missed the part that his boat is all of 8 years older than mine, and that he's owned it three years less than I mine. So whatever paint work I have had done, ot the immediate PO, is certainly irrelevant, as is that of the other very experienced owners I know that have had their boats painted. So I must recuse myself, no question about that.

Again, I have no knowledge one way or the other about the guy in Daytona. We stayed in the marina next to the yard site there, a few years ago that's the extent of it. With any yard, the OP must determine if they can get his boat out of the water.

A 67' power cat might be too beamy for many yards. Try to find one that has an enclosed paint shed that fits the boat. FLA does seem to have more price competition than NC. If hull is already faired, prep work is not that intensive. Depends on how much stuff needs to be removed.

Ski is right. Your challenge to find a "deal" may be to find a yard that can handle something that big. Yards that handle that size of boat in the US are probably not the yards that you'd find a lot of discounted work (overhead, etc.). Hope that didn't sound negative.

I'd check Maryland Eastern Shore first.

Best Price Awlgrip

Thanks for all the tips. I have my focus on Daytona, Thunderbolt, Wilmington and the best quote out of Florida.

Look at BAE in JAX. Look at the alternatives to Awlgrip, especially if you are shopping for price. A "less expensive" Awlgrip paintjob might be far more costly than you think and touchup is not really an option.

I don't know where this "you can't touch up Awl Grip" myth comes from. Purely and simply not true. Yes, it takes skill, but it can be done quite well. I know this from first hand experience, a real pro can do it so you have no idea it is there if the proper method of color matching is used.

I'ts about the same

tenniscaptain said:

Yes. My Boat is glass. How does Sterling compare in price to Awlgrip?

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A quart with reducer is about $300

caltexflanc said:

... a real pro can do it so you have no idea it is there if the proper method of color matching is used.

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Therein lies the rub.

Plus in a year or so of sun, the "patch" will show up again. It is the chemistry of the paint just as much as the skill of the applicator.

There are damn few pros around who do enough Awlgrip work to pull off an invisible touchup and when or if (depending on where you are) you find one you will pay dearly for it.

There is little consistency in color matching or application skills in the Awlgrip world so the exception to my statement does not mean repairing dings is going to be as successful or economical as it can be with other paint systems.

If you have a million $ plus paint job, and the boat is in a place like Fort Lauderdale where Awlgrip pros are available, you stand a good chance of getting good results. Otherwise, it's an expensive and probably unsatisfactory crap shoot.

I'd find the painter and the yard first, then after discussions with the painter, make your paint choice. Most painters have their favorite paint that they have built their reputation on. Axelseal, Awlgrip Topcoat or Sterling are all good paints but not every quality painter has experience with all three.

RickB said:

A "less expensive" Awlgrip paintjob might be far more costly than you think.

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Not if you are selling the boat after you paint it...

Second that about letting the painter select the paint, or at least being in agreement with type of paint. Seen an instance where the painter did not want to use a certain paint. After the job came out not-so-perfect, painter stated "I told you that paint was no good..". Got ugly after that.

bligh said:

Not if you are selling the boat after you paint it...

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Well no one is going pay for a bad paint job.

N4712 said:

Well no one is going pay for a bad paint job.

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I think the point is that a bad paint job can shows itself years after you paint it and paid for it.

my experience with Algrip and Sterling

Both brands in the whites do a good job of color control batch to batch. Sterling can be color sanded and buffed to blend in. Algrip is more difficult to work with buffing out. It is better find a natural cut line and spay that section again. Neither is hard to spray at the right temp. Boats are big projects to paint . I have seen several boats started by owners only to be redone by pros.

Here is an Alexseal paint job just finished last week---midnight blue.

Moonstruck said:

Here is an Alexseal paint job just finished last week---midnight blue.

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Don: Any progress pictures of Moonstruck?

And here's Awlgrip's Awlcraft 2000. It is an acrylic urethane, not as hard as the Awlgrip Topcoat, but can be touched up easily.

Larry M said:

Don: Any progress pictures of Moonstruck?

And here's Awlgrip's Awlcraft 2000. It is an acrylic urethane, not as hard as the Awlgrip Topcoat, but can be touched up easily.

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No, Larry. They just started sanding and priming this week. As you know it is a really intensive process. Just getting the dinghy and platform off is a pretty big job. Then they have to mask everything.

Hopefully I will get some pictures in a week or so.

By the way our last boat had AwlCraft 2000 in flag blue. It was pretty easy to touch up.

Anyone know where I can find White Caterpillar Paint?

Alemao said:

Anyone know where I can find White Caterpillar Paint?

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Caterpillar.