Carver Owners Forum

I brought out a captain/shop owner to go over some things I want repaired. I do most of the work myself. But some stuff I'll leave to experts.

I have a leaking gland on my port rudder post. So of course I want to replace all the stuffing on the mains and rudders. I was quoted $850 to do it without a take out. Is that reasonable?

The next set of tasks is repair 7 blisters, r&r the boot stripe with a nice fancy black stripe, certify the halon system, and put a fresh coat on the bottom. $350 to repair blisters, $35 a foot for bottom fresh coat (not r&r. My bottom is good, just an extra coat while it's out), $240 for zinc, and... I think that's it...

Opinions on pricing? I don't think this is unreasonable. Just want to make sure I'm not getting taken for a ride!

Thanks

Steven

I do things myself, so I have no idea what people are paying.
I kinda choked when I saw these costs.

The rudder stuffing seems a bit high, although I don't know how difficult the access is on a 400? the others don't seem to far out of line. I would ask what paint they are using. Paint can be from $70 gallon to close to $400 gallon. I would guess 2 gallons for your boat.

Too difficult to render an opinion sight unseen. Accessibility is key. We can't cut up a price not knowing what the conditions are even if we have the same model. Factory options or modifications made by a previous owner may affect the job. If I were to ask the same about my aft shower sump from someone with the same model, the opinion sight unseen would be useless. A previous owner modified the birth and installed an aft windlass which makes accessibility to the sump all but impossible.

Regional door rates and hardware costs may differ considerably so what may seem really expensive to one will look like a bargain to another. Different brands of the same hardware may have slightly different builds that require more labour than others to remove/install. Are fasteners corroded and therefore previsions made in the estimate for the extra needed to remove? Each shop will have their way of performing certain tasks. Some will be picky about their work and do it right, others not so much. Doing it right takes more time as there's usually more steps involved.

For the blisters; how big are they, how deep are they, are they using premium or substandard materials, will they do it right by performing all the necessary steps, are you paying a lower or higher rate for one of their junior or senior techs?

Too many variables to offer an opinion unless you're comparing apples to apples IMO.