How in the hell do you guys do it?

[ageless]

Am I just delusional to think that the marine industry might ever be "affordable" again? I just got the bill for the monthly bottom cleaning that is done regularly, most recently in the St Aug area. $6.75/ft for monthly bottom cleaning 49-60' boats, $430 for "normal" growth, nothing extra. 2.5 years ago in the Stuart area $3/ft =$170 cleaning. By no means are we struggling but at some point you have to stop the exsanguination, THIS IS F'ing ridiculous.

 

[Bob Quinn]

Well, this is why some of us are thinking about getting out of it.
We don't have to do the monthly bottom cleaning but just everything that ads up and up and up!

 

[carolinacoast]

We were 3/ft pre covid. 2 diver companies just closed. Now it's 5/ft, but best service ever.

 

[Captain Ralph]

most recently in the St Aug area.

Was that Barnacle Ben?

 

[Pascal]

That’s insane.

I m paying $2.25 for my 26, 2.50 for my 53 and $4 for the 110 I run plus a $40 extra for the hydraulic platform. Two divers they usually do both boats in 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Lot more competition in miami I guess.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Also, wast hat a one time cleaning or monthly service $$?

 

[jmooney]

I pay $2.50 per foot here in Miami.

 

[madhatter1]

My guy is still at $2. I should probably bump him up a little. Great diver and I have had him for years. My detail guy still charges what he did in 2019 when I started with him.

 

[Briankinley2004]

The guy I use charges by the hour ($100). First cleaning he did it had been over 6 weeks since I had cleaned it and the viz was bad due to rains from the hurricane. It cost me $220 for a 46’ boat. The second cleaning he charged me for one hour and I gave him an extra 20. This is on West coast of FL. When I did myself it usually took me an hour and a half to two hours

 

[JD5652]

Am I just delusional to think that the marine industry might ever be "affordable" again? I just got the bill for the monthly bottom cleaning that is done regularly, most recently in the St Aug area. $6.75/ft for monthly bottom cleaning 49-60' boats, $430 for "normal" growth, nothing extra. 2.5 years ago in the Stuart area $3/ft =$170 cleaning. By no means are we struggling but at some point you have to stop the exsanguination, THIS IS F'ing ridiculous.

Mine is about $350/month in summer.... this time of year we go to about every $ix week$.... but ye$.... everything is more expen$ive the$e day$...

 

[Bottom Line]

I'm in Saint Augustine and pay $3 ft for monthly cleaning. Dockmates pay the same with a different diver. Boats are 33-36 ft.
Don't know what the bigger boats pay.

 

[ageless]

Was that Barnacle Ben?

no---that rip off artist already took me for a $600 cleaning. I arrived to the marina when he was 1/2 way through cleaning the wrong vessel, then claimed mine had "horrible growth" when it had only been back in the water 3 weeks since bottom paint.

I am set up for monthly service with these divers

 

[ageless]

I'm in Saint Augustine and pay $3 ft for monthly cleaning. Dockmates pay the same with a different diver. Boats are 33-36 ft.
Don't know what the bigger boats pay.

would you kindly share who your diver is?

 

[ageless]

Clear Blue updated their website yesterday, here you go

https://clearblueseaservices.com/underwater-services/

 

[ageless]

Well, this is why some of us are thinking about getting out of it.
We don't have to do the monthly bottom cleaning but just everything that ads up and up and up!

The same discussion is in the forefront for us

 

[Pascal]

These rates are insane. Over twice what I pay here in miami.

All costs have been going going thru the roof…. We re paying the price of 4 years of over regulation which has caused massive inflation. The war on lead has caused batteries to double… diesel price has made every part or product to go up… the list goes on.

 

[rwaldrop13]

Pre-Ian I was getting 54' widebody for $150/flat. But I was getting a veteran discount, and I NEVER let the diver go without offering lunch and a bottle of water with electrolytes. The company closed post-Ian (owner sold to the 2 lead divers) and Ft Myers still has not recovered in terms of marinas.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Last time I had it done in Annapolis, 36 feet, $100.

 

[Scarlett]

Well at least there is one thing cheaper in Southern California. We do yearly contracts diver cleans once a month for $100.00 on our 53.

 

[cww]

Here in Northeast Florida the prices have gotten insane, but it's also a get-what-you-pay-for situation. I had the $100/mo diver for 10 years and they'd gotten so bad that 1:2 times I left the dock the boat wouldn't plane. The final straw was the boat got hauled for an insurance survey he didn't know about, and the only thing that was clean was the props and the 8" of the hull right below the waterline that I could see. The rest of the bottom hadn't been touched in months or a year, it was filthy. He was scamming me. So I'm now with the $300/mo company and the bottom is always spotless and the boat always runs right.

But yeah, across the board prices have gotten nuts. Maintaining the boat like it should be maintained plus all the fixed costs of dockage, insurance, etc., has crept up to where it now costs me the better part of $5-$10k/mo. It's painful. I just keep doing it because if you go down the road of letting things slip, in a year or two everything on the boat will be falling apart, it'll look like an eyesore, and it won't be a fun experience anymore. It's easier to keep it up than to bring it back from a pile of deferred maintenance, or so I keep telling myself.