How Much Does It Cost to Haul Out and Bottom-Paint a 60-Foot Yacht?

A published South Florida schedule lists one-coat bottom-paint packages for 60–69-foot boats at $65.50–$84.50 per foot, depending on coating. For a 60-footer, that means $3,930–$5,070 before tax, including haul, block and launch, pressure washing, one hour of preparation and one day on the service pad. Excessive scraping and machine sanding cost extra.

A Port Townsend yard’s January 2025 schedule illustrates a different arrangement: $59 per foot for a monohull package covering round-trip hauling, a 30-minute wash, two weeks ashore and labor, but excluding paint and anodes. That is $3,540 on a 60-footer before those missing items and applicable charges. Treat this dated schedule as a comparison benchmark, not a current booking offer.

A 2026 Waukegan schedule prices a single maintenance coat on powerboats over 40 feet at $49 per foot for non-ablative paint or $59 for ablative paint. Those figures include paint, equipment and labor; the listed painting scope does not include haul-out. Supplies and an environmental charge are additional.

The lesson is straightforward: compare complete jobs, not headline rates. Ask each yard to return the same written specification, with exclusions beside the price rather than buried beneath an acceptance signature.

“Bottom job” is not a sufficiently precise instruction. Before booking, request a work order identifying:

• The billed length, including how platforms and other projections are treated.
• Haul-out, blocking, pressure washing and relaunch.
• The preparation allowance and hourly rate beyond it.
• The exact antifouling product and number of full coats.
• Any extra application at the waterline and other high-wear areas.
• Included days ashore and the daily rate afterward.
• Treatment beneath support pads before launching.
• Separate prices for anodes and running gear.

Ask for the old paint to be identified from the previous invoice or maintenance record. Compatibility matters: an unsuitable new coating over the existing system can cause adhesion failure and turn a maintenance repaint into a removal job. Paint selection also needs to reflect hull material, operating pattern and local fouling conditions.

Do not substitute a cheaper paint merely because it is available that week. Have the yard explain the proposed system and its preparation requirements before approving a change.

An aluminum hull or aluminum underwater component needs particular care. Antifoulings containing metallic copper or cuprous oxide should not be used on aluminum; specify a compatible coating and primer system rather than extending the fiberglass hull treatment onto every appendage.

Consider a 60-foot fiberglass motor yacht with sound existing antifouling, twin shafts and no known blistering. The following is an illustrative owner’s allowance, not a yard quotation or an assertion that every boat needs every item.

Use a $75-per-foot one-coat package as the starting assumption, within the published South Florida package range. Then allow separately for the additional scope the owner wants.

• Haul, wash, block, routine preparation, one coat and relaunch: $4,500.
• A second full coat, assumed additional labor and materials: $1,200.
• Cleaning and treating the running gear, assumed allowance: $650.
• Replacement anodes and fitting, assumed allowance: $450.
• Additional time ashore, assumed allowance: $180.
• Planned subtotal before tax: $6,980.
• Owner-held contingency of 15%: $1,047.
• Rounded cash provision before tax: approximately $8,100.

Replace every assumed allowance with the yard’s written price before authorizing work. The second-coat figure is especially dependent on product, hull area and the package’s existing preparation scope.

The contingency stays with the owner. It is not an instruction to spend another $1,047, and it should not appear as an automatically billable work-order item.

Also keep the propulsion arrangement in view. This example specifies shafts; for a pod-drive yacht, obtain a separate scope for the drive units rather than copying the running-gear allowance into the budget.

Routine maintenance pricing assumes the existing coating is suitable for recoating. A 2026 Richmond, California rate sheet expressly excludes excessive growth removal, failing-paint removal, blister work and driveline cleaning from its bottom-paint scope. It lists bottom-preparation and painting labor at $140 per hour.

At that rate, an additional 20 labor-hours means $2,800 before associated materials and charges. That is why a cheap repaint allowance can become misleading as soon as the pressure washer exposes a poorly bonded coating.

Request photographs immediately after washing, before additional preparation starts. Have the yard distinguish between:

• Isolated loose edges needing local attention.
• Widespread peeling or heavy coating buildup.
• Exposed substrate requiring a revised paint system.
• Blisters requiring investigation and a separate repair proposal.

Those categories are not interchangeable. Manufacturer guidance treats widespread cracking, peeling and failing buildup as reasons to consider stripping rather than simply painting over the surface.

Do not demand that the yard hide a problem beneath fresh black paint to protect a launch date. Equally, do not approve full removal from a vague telephone description. Ask for the affected area, proposed method and separate price.

A useful instruction is: “Complete the agreed wash and inspection, then pause for approval if preparation exceeds the included allowance.” Name the person authorized to give that approval and make sure that person is reachable on haul-out day.

A hull-paint package does not necessarily include the equipment attached to the hull. Published schedules exclude anodes, outdrive painting or driveline cleaning, so require these items to be marked either included, excluded or separately priced.

Ask for a short underwater inspection report before coating starts. Useful photographs include the propellers, shaft supports, rudders, thruster openings and existing anodes, plus anything the yard believes needs attention.

Do not issue the blanket instruction “replace all zincs.” Ask for an itemized anode list, the specified alloy and the reason for replacement. Keep any investigation of unusually rapid consumption separate from the simple replacement allowance.

Days ashore deserve equal attention. The Richmond yard’s 2026 schedule lists drydock laydays at $5 per foot per day under specified circumstances, including completed work awaiting launch or delays involving owner work or approvals. On a 60-footer, three chargeable days at that rate add $900.

Before accepting the slot, ask who pays when weather prevents painting, a part arrives late or the yard moves the launch. Record the answer on the estimate. A low paint price is less attractive if the storage terms remain undefined.

There is no universal “paint today, launch tomorrow” rule. Drying requirements vary by coating and temperature; one EPA-approved antifouling label specifies minimum launch waits of eight hours at 90°F, 16 hours at 70°F and 24 hours at 50°F. Those are product-specific figures, not instructions for every paint system. (www3.epa.gov)

Ask the yard to put the selected product’s technical data sheet in the job file. The schedule should accommodate its recoating interval, required film thickness and launch requirements, including any maximum period permitted before immersion.

For a November 2026 booking, use this sequence:

1. 1Send the previous paint invoice, yacht dimensions and recent underwater photographs before requesting a firm slot.
2. 2Agree the coating system, preparation allowance and exclusions before paying the deposit.
3. 3Arrange availability for the post-wash inspection decision.
4. 4Confirm any additional work in writing, with its effect on launch timing.
5. 5Request completion photographs and the coating record before relaunch.
6. 6Retain the final invoice, product details and anode record in the maintenance file.

Avoid committing to a guest pickup immediately after the proposed splash time. Leave room to inspect the completed work and resolve unfinished items without a waiting party dictating the decision.

At handover, ask the yard to show that support-pad patches were completed and identify anything deferred. Keep the closeout practical: a properly documented bottom job is more useful next season than a receipt that says only “antifoul.”