Curious...price for hull compound and wax?

Wnats an average price?
Also how often do you typically do it? Yearly? Every other?

Star, I had my 35' trawler hull and fly bridge waxed (Collinite Compound) last year for $750 and should last at least a season, probably 2. I wash the boat regularly as it lives near a coal burning plant.

Greetings,
Mr. S. I suppose it all depends on the local labor rate. Had some painting done in NC for $20/hr. Painting in FL is (ONE quote only) about $30/hr.

We have our hull washed and waxed once/year. Haven't had to compound...

-Chris

My 34 mainship pilot in South Florida gets a Polish and wax twice a year. 950 each time.

I spent $1000 for a compound and wax on my 41' LOA, 36' LWL. That's one job I have not tried to do myself but I probably should try. It seemed like a lot of money to spend. The guy used some 3M product and it turned out really well.

What do others use who do it themselves? Do you have a big buffer? Do you float in the dingy while compounding the hull?

In my area, about $20 per foot.

cardude01 said:

I spent $1000 for a compound and wax on my 41' LOA, 36' LWL. That's one job I have not tried to do myself but I probably should try. It seemed like a lot of money to spend. The guy used some 3M product and it turned out really well.

What do others use who do it themselves? Do you have a big buffer? Do you float in the dingy while compounding the hull?

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Floating in a dinghy while using an electric buffer is something I would avoid.

I've paid people who do it from a dinghy and I've paid people who insisted that it be hauled and blocked.

I've tried it myself from the dock but each time, I've run out of steam before finishing. Compounding and waxing boats is a job for younger people.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. S. I suppose it all depends on the local labor rate. Had some painting done in NC for $20/hr. Painting in FL is (ONE quote only) about $30/hr.

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Now, I'm red with envy, work here to pay $ 70 per hour ...and it is more than half too much for me, because I make myself.

I have the boat hull and all super structure waxed and buffed once or twice a year with Collinite. Probably takes 20 to 25 hours at the hourly rate. They tend to break it up over several days as you can only run the big variable speed buffer but for so long before you need to take a break. Wax makes cleaning the boat so much easier! If you have good new shiny paint, keeping wax on it pretty much eliminates the need for compounding.

Ted

WesK said:

Floating in a dinghy while using an electric buffer is something I would avoid.

I've paid people who do it from a dinghy and I've paid people who insisted that it be hauled and blocked.

I've tried it myself from the dock but each time, I've run out of steam before finishing. Compounding and waxing boats is a job for younger people.

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Yeah the 110v buffer in a dingy idea sounds really stupid, and I can't see bending over at the dock with the buffer to do the hull, so I keep paying the price.

How heavy is the oxidation? Depending on how heavy the oxidation it might need to be wet sanded. Price is largely dictated by size and condition. We can't see the condition so it's hard to tell.

Wet sanding is typically followed by progressively less aggressive cutting agents, so it might not be a '1 coat' job so to speak.

I would expect the boat would need to be hauled for this job.

I think $20 a foot is close. I pay $600 for my 35 footer. They are just finishing it up today.

With that said, as far as how often, it all depends on the condition of your gelcoat or if it is paint. If it is gelcoat, then it depends on how good your gelcoat is. Carver gelcoat is notoriously horrible. I had mine wetsanded in September and am now compounding and waxing. I honestly was not too thrilled with the wetsand job at $1700. No problem with the price....they just didn't do a spectacular job. Now the compound and wax job being done right now is stellar. Anyway, I will do mine 2-3 times a year. If you have tan gelcoat like my last Mainship, I would do it 3-4 times a year. That tan gelcoat goes south pretty quickly if it is not taken care of. It looked brand new when I sold it....and the reason why it sold!!!

Now, if you have paint like an Imron, then you can get away with longer intervals. My buddy has a Hatteras(Imron) that looks amazing and he only does it once a year. His guy quoted me $1300 for a compound and wax. I almost did it based on how good his boat looks. Allegedly you are not supposed to compound and wax Awlgrip....but people do it.

I will take pics of my boat when I go down to it today and post up. I will admit, my people do the stainless and clean the vinyl seats and clean the canvas if there is any mold on it. They even cleaned up all of my fenders last time!!! IOW, the boat is completely clean....Spic and span!!!

Baker said:

Allegedly you are not supposed to compound and wax Awlgrip....but people do it.

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Awlgrip is a paint where the shine is only on the surface. If you cut through the surface (compound) you lose most of the shine. It will be sort of shiny if you apply wax on top, but the shine fades quickly as the wax wears away. Best to keep a modern formula wax (like Collinite) on the Awlgrip, and avoid the need to compound years later.

Ted

I have two quotes to compound and wax our 41 foot boat this spring. One was $35/ft plus materials. The other was $1600 with materials. They are pretty much the same price. Both tell me to expect them to take about 3 days getting it done. Both work by themselves. There are not too many people in my area that will do this work.

Thy local yard charges $110/hour per person plus materials. Their crew spends much of their time standing around smoking with no management watching their work... It appears to take them 3 days on most of the boats I see them do. With three guys working, that is $2600, plus materials, plus haul out... Not something I will pay.

That sounds really high IMO.

S41 said:

I have two quotes to compound and wax our 41 foot boat this spring. One was $35/ft plus materials. The other was $1600 with materials. They are pretty much the same price. Both tell me to expect them to take about 3 days getting it done. Both work by themselves. There are not too many people in my area that will do this work.

Thy local yard charges $110/hour per person plus materials. Their crew spends much of their time standing around smoking with no management watching their work... It appears to take them 3 days on most of the boats I see them do. With three guys working, that is $2600, plus materials, plus haul out... Not something I will pay.

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Your $1600 quote is not TOO far off the mark. Luckily down here in South Texas, we have no shortage of cheap labor.

O C Diver said:

Awlgrip is a paint where the shine is only on the surface. If you cut through the surface (compound) you lose most of the shine. It will be sort of shiny if you apply wax on top, but the shine fades quickly as the wax wears away. Best to keep a modern formula wax (like Collinite) on the Awlgrip, and avoid the need to compound years later.

Ted

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Is collinite like a polymer coating versus an abrasive "polish"???

Baker said:

Is collinite like a polymer coating versus an abrasive "polish"???

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They have several different products. Think my guys mostly use the #925 Fiberglass wax, and I use the #850 Metal cleaning and polishing wax. They do have a #920 Fiberglass Cleaner surface prep that may be more abrasive.

Collinite Wax Products

Ted

Unless your hull is really oxidized, and only you can answer that, I'd try just washing and waxing the first time and see how the results turn out. If you're not satisfied, then next time do the full compounding and waxing. The following time go back to wash and wax. Florida sun is tough on finishes so it may be a stretch to get more than a year between wax jobs. Just my 2 cents worth.

S41 said:

I have two quotes to compound and wax our 41 foot boat this spring. One was $35/ft plus materials. The other was $1600 with materials. They are pretty much the same price. Both tell me to expect them to take about 3 days getting it done. Both work by themselves. There are not too many people in my area that will do this work.

Thy local yard charges $110/hour per person plus materials. Their crew spends much of their time standing around smoking with no management watching their work... It appears to take them 3 days on most of the boats I see them do. With three guys working, that is $2600, plus materials, plus haul out... Not something I will pay.

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cardude01 said:

That sounds really high IMO.

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That is just slightly over what I paid last summer for a complete compound and wax of my NP43. I thought it was a lot of money, but was competitive for a very good crew. FWIW, I paid cash. They did a great job and the boat ended up looking really good. I may have them do a wax again this year as my back really doesn't do well with that kind of work.

We don't have lots of cheap labor up here in the Puget Sound area and it will get worse as the minimum wage just bumped up to $11.00/hour.

S41, PM me if you want the name of the guy that did my boat. Might not hurt to get another quote. He gets really busy as boating season approaches.

Yeah maybe that's not all that high-- that P43 has a lot of fiberglass to compound and wax.

Thanks everybody...good info.
The yard is doing ours for $18/ft. plus materials. That seems very reasonable comparatively. I'm not sure what products they use. The hull is gelcoat.
We have a fiberglass guy doing some work on the hull first. PO's had a dryer vent installed for one of those combo washer/dryers that we don't use and are removing so we removed the vent and he's closing up that hole. He's also fixing our transom door where hinges had been removed and replaced a few times.
They have the first coat of bottom paint on as of yesterday.
They're saying 2-3 weeks to get everything done. But hubby keeps adding more work! Lol

Greetings,
Ms. S. Ah yes, the dreaded yard creep. What starts out as s $XX job turns into a $XX+++ job. Try to limit the +'s.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Ms. S. Ah yes, the dreaded yard creep. What starts out as s $XX job turns into a $XX+++ job. Try to limit the +'s.

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Super Fly nailed it! What was just a bottom job turned into a genny repair/ prop tuning/ re-packing/bilge pumps replaced/re-bed windows super $++++++ bill! Beware of the yard manager with a list!

Forget the yard manager, look in the mirror! "As long as we're doing this........"









$1200.00 to $24000.00! But it was all needed. Or so we thought����

O C Diver said:

They have several different products. Think my guys mostly use the #925 Fiberglass wax, and I use the #850 Metal cleaning and polishing wax. They do have a #920 Fiberglass Cleaner surface prep that may be more abrasive.

Collinite Wax Products

Ted

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Their cleaner is a very mild abrasive...More of a cleaner and wax remover that provides a nice clean surface to apply wax. It does have some polishing action but very mild.
They do not offer a polymer finish that I'm aware of.
I started using a swirl remover w a foam pad and dual action polisher and it worked great for gelcoat that isn't severely oxidized but just needs a good shine.
I've also switched from Colinite waxes to polymer coating and very pleased w ease of application, durability, and look\ shine.

Bacchus said:

Their cleaner is a very mild abrasive...More of a cleaner and wax remover that provides a nice clean surface to apply wax. It does have some polishing action but very mild.
They do not offer a polymer finish that I'm aware of.
I started using a swirl remover w a foam pad and dual action polisher and it worked great for gelcoat that isn't severely oxidized but just needs a good shine.
I've also switched from Colinite waxes to polymer coating and very pleased w ease of application, durability, and look\ shine.

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I would think a polymer coating would work wonderfully on a shiny hull!!! I use Zaino on my cars. It would be quite expensive to use on a boat but I am sure there are cheapers version of it out there somewhere. It looks like a liquid shine....amazing on a black car...

Baker said:

I would think a polymer coating would work wonderfully on a shiny hull!!! I use Zaino on my cars. It would be quite expensive to use on a boat but I am sure there are cheapers version of it out there somewhere. It looks like a liquid shine....amazing on a black car...

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Baker, what kind of car do you own? I'm guessing something fast like a Porsche, Ferrari, Vette, etc.

bcam said:

Forget the yard manager, look in the mirror! "As long as we're doing this........"









$1200.00 to $24000.00! But it was all needed. Or so we thought����

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Yep...guilty. This is all us...ok mostly hubby. Lol
Since she's out of the water...since we're doing this, might as well go ahead and do that.
What started out at around $2500 has ballooned to over $12k!