YOUR refit costs

[moonie5961]

x

[boatpoker]

I am not allowed to play with the cheque book so when we bought our boat I told my wife "if you give me a year and $10,000.00 I'll get her perfect (the boat not the wife)".

I did everything myself and spent at least $10k per year for the next 15yrs and never did get her perfect (her either). No regrets, loved every minute of it.

What would I do differently ... save more and buy one closer to perfection to begine with.

[celenoglu]

Normally the refit costs for a second hand boat are estimated as as 30-35% of the purchase price. You better estimate 35-40% if she is neglected.

[tommays]

Well as a guy doing machine repiars for over 35 years there is USED and there is USED-UP


And while even USED-UP can be bought back to life it usally cost way to much money


Last fall i passed on a FREE 1974 Saber 28 with a non-running atomic 4 ,it had to be removed from the yard and transported to my house becasue the yard KNEW nobody could afford to pay them for the repairs and they did NOT want another dead boat taking up money making space

As best as i can guess i would have been into the FREE boat for about 2K buy the time i had it hauled washed ,moved and bought jackstands NOW i did look around at used ones on yachtworld and found boats in good overall condition in the 15000 dollar range


Going buy the money i have spent on my J24 which was in pretty good condition i am kind of scared what the saber would have cost to bring back to life

[serah]

An interesting post indeed! We're in the process of doing exactly that - if all goes to plan, we'll be the proud new owners (parents? slaves?) to a ~1974 Swiftsure 24' that we're purchasing for $2000. I figure about another $2500 will be put into her over the next two years. This is after going through each project and listing associated costs. This is also on the understanding that this is what it will cost to make her presentable, safe and stretched into a more comfortable weekender. We intend on doing all of the work ourselves, and buying used when possible.

Then again, who knows how much in the red we'll be when these projects are complete!

[funsailthekeys]

We bought our 1985 45' Hirsch Gulfstar and have spent about $50,000.00 on dual chart plotters, dual a/c's, reefer system, inverter, stove, vhf radio's, stereo system, dual radar's, wind system, new furler, standing rigging, sails, canvas, water maker, batteries and general engine fixing up. Now we are finishing up with the cosmetics 3 years later, because you can sail an ugly boat. We have done all the work ourselves because to hire the work out would have been way too expensive. So for us the refit was about 75% of what we paid for the boat.

[sailingdog]

If you're not going to do the bulk of the work yourself, you really can't afford to buy a boat that is in need of refitting. Having a boatyard do the work is very, very, very expensive.

[mikethecapt]

Having just completed “most” of a very MAJOR refit, from auction derelict to better than new I can tell you my thoughts on everything I did. Who knows if it was right or wrong. Your individual experience will more than likely vary quite a bit. To preface let me give you my stats; I am a Merchant Mariner working two months on/two months off and my “belief” was that I couldn’t afford to buy a “completed” boat but that I had six months a year to work on one and six months a year to pay for it all. I’m not sure I did it right, but I did it my way and it’s working, more or less. I paid under 10k for the boat, a 1978 S2 9.2c. The boat had been neglected for a while and had been vandalized but the hull and decks were solid and the engine (Yanmar 1 lung 12hp raw water) ran and the sails were good and I really liked the cabin layout. Those were all the pluses. The negatives, or opportunities as we like to call them were actually pretty vast. Structurally, the floor frame under the compression post had rotted due to bad chain plate beddings, which had rotted the chain plate bulkheads also. The “running” engine quit doing that very well and was woefully under powered. Upon hauling, prior to peeling the bottom, I ground out 330 blisters. Those were the biggies. So, what did it all cost? Well, eleven months on the hard, bottom peal, new bottom, barrier coat, bottom paint; about 15k. New Yanmar 3gm30, new prop, cutlass and everything else to make the engine room acceptable; about 9k. New dodger and enclosure; about 3k, new paint; about $700, new head, lectra-san, holding tank and stuff to complete head; about 2k. New standing rigging 3k (and I got ripped off). New running rigging (most of this I got at work). ground tackle; about 1k… I could go on but I just realized it wouldn’t stop. I hope I didn’t turn you off to the cause or anything. In the end, it takes all of my money and I don’t care.fficeffice" />>>
>>>>>>

[zz4gta]

Bought the boat, trailer, and outboard for $1200.
Needed bottom paint, re-core, a couple stays, lots of cleaning, some hardware, and a bunch of other stuff. Doing all the work myself, I've easily spent an additional $2k on the boat. Pals in comparison to some others, but honestly, there's no way we can tell you what it'll cost.

I've found a simple formula to work well. Itemize your costs, and your time for each project. Then go ahead and double the amount of time and money, and you'll be pretty close to the real costs.

[sailingdog]

His total costs were over $30,000. Of course, a 1978 S2 9.2C is decent shape probably would go for less than this refit cost as seen here.

That is generally the case. If you have a choice between a boat in decent shape and the same boat in need of a major refit, the boat in decent shape, while it will cost more initially, will generally be far less expensive overall.

Cheap and free boats are very, very rarely worth the money. That's a major reason I wrote the Boat Inspection Trip Tips thread. It helps people avoid getting a survey on a boat that isn't worthy of looking at any further.

Originally Posted by mikethecapt

Having just completed “most” of a very MAJOR refit, from auction derelict to better than new I can tell you my thoughts on everything I did. Who knows if it was right or wrong. Your individual experience will more than likely vary quite a bit. To preface let me give you my stats; I am a Merchant Mariner working two months on/two months off and my “belief” was that I couldn’t afford to buy a “completed” boat but that I had six months a year to work on one and six months a year to pay for it all. I’m not sure I did it right, but I did it my way and it’s working, more or less. I paid under 10k for the boat, a 1978 S2 9.2c. The boat had been neglected for a while and had been vandalized but the hull and decks were solid and the engine (Yanmar 1 lung 12hp raw water) ran and the sails were good and I really liked the cabin layout. Those were all the pluses. The negatives, or opportunities as we like to call them were actually pretty vast. Structurally, the floor frame under the compression post had rotted due to bad chain plate beddings, which had rotted the chain plate bulkheads also. The “running” engine quit doing that very well and was woefully under powered. Upon hauling, prior to peeling the bottom, I ground out 330 blisters. Those were the biggies. So, what did it all cost? Well, eleven months on the hard, bottom peal, new bottom, barrier coat, bottom paint; about 15k. New Yanmar 3gm30, new prop, cutlass and everything else to make the engine room acceptable; about 9k. New dodger and enclosure; about 3k, new paint; about $700, new head, lectra-san, holding tank and stuff to complete head; about 2k. New standing rigging 3k (and I got ripped off). New running rigging (most of this I got at work). ground tackle; about 1k… I could go on but I just realized it wouldn’t stop. I hope I didn’t turn you off to the cause or anything. In the end, it takes all of my money and I don’t care.