The expense is labor for prep - removing hardware, filling holes, applying sandable primer, sanding smooth, faring/long-board sanding, spray, buffing, inevitable touch-ups, re-install hardware. To do a quality job on an
entire boat (vs hull-only), spraying is faster than roll/tip. Once prepped, an entire 60-footer can be sprayed by one guy and a helper in a day. No idea how long it would take to roll around all the windows, cleats, and other non-removable hardware, but probably 4-guys working 10-days or so. Keeping a wet-edge is impossibe.
I'm not really sure how much I paid in Ensenada MX 4-years ago because I had so much other work done - somewhere in the $25k range but that included some extras such as re-fiberglassing large holes from old speakers and depth/speed instruments. I also had my wood caprails encapsulated which was money well spent. The was driving between Ensenada and San Diego frequently and picked-up supplies for the yard. The painting supplies really added up: paint, primer, solvents, tyvek suits, sandpaper, etc. probably exceeded $4k or so.
When I was considering having the work done in the US, I asked around California and Florida. Surprisingly, yard rates weren't that much different and no one was interested in discounted labor for a large project - around $125/hr even in rural parts of Florida where I thought they might be hungrier for long project.
Personally, I'd head to Rio Dulce Guatemala but with caution. There is a ton of online chatter that always cautions "you have to oversee the project daily" implying that foreign yards will rip you off or are incompetent. In my opinion, boatwork is exceedingly custom and a ton of questions come up all the time and if you don't really know your stuff or aren't available to answer questions, work will halt (and sometimes the billable meter doesn't). That's a problem with boat work, not foreign boatyards. If the expectation is to drop a boat off as you would a Toyota at an auto body shop and pick up 2-weeks later, you're in for a very rude awakening no matter where you have the work done.
From my experience having work done in Ensenada, which is 80-miles south of San Diego, I could avoid the high cost of parts and supplies outside the US (316 stainless is difficult to source). But there was a noticeable lack of productivity enhancements at the yard. A quality US yard has a full wood shop, metal shop, machine shop, and paint shop and full compliment of power tools. Every yard I've seen in a developing country has adequate tools to get the job done, but require additional labor to make it right. For example, instead of a large Delta table saw, they might have a smaller contractor 10" saw. So while the labor rate is lower, there is some loss of savings due to productivity.
I bumped into a guy in Barra de Navidad MX last year who had very nice work done at a Rio Dulce yard. Pretty sure it was
"RAM" (HERE).
Good luck - as a guess, over/under is around $125k US; $80k in Guatemala once you include some of the peripheral costs of having work done so far from home.
Peter
