Boat cleaning/detailing prices?

[River Shredder]

I was wondering what current detailing prices are and found this old thread. Can anyone give me an update on pricing? We were quoted $800 for our 2009 RZ2 which seems excessive to me. Thanks.

[boardman74]

If that includes buffing/ waxing and the boat needs it badly(which it probably does since you are wanting a pro to do it) that is not far off. Thats what I remember charging for a heavy oxidized and very dirty 22VE. Detailing a boat is very time consuming especially the cutting/ buffing/ polishing. Considering most dealers are $100+ an hour for labor that not out of the realm of possibility. A detailer can easily put 8-10 plus hours into that boat if its dirty.

[River Shredder]

If that includes buffing/ waxing and the boat needs it badly(which it probably does since you are wanting a pro to do it) that is not far off. Thats what I remember charging for a heavy oxidized and very dirty 22VE. Detailing a boat is very time consuming especially the cutting/ buffing/ polishing. Considering most dealers are $100+ an hour for labor that not out of the realm of possibility. A detailer can easily put 8-10 plus hours into that boat if its dirty.

Thanks for your reply.

We keep the boat very clean. I personally "detail" the boat after every use. I'm just too lazy and busy to give it a good wax job myself this year. I did further research today and a friend with an older, similar boat he just purchased had it detailed and buffed and in his words "it looks brand new". He paid $500 and it was in bad shape. I also called local dealer and they quoted over the phone $300-600 depending on condition. Another friend was quoted $700 but that included wet sanding on faded paint. So it sounds like for the condition our boat is in $800 is about double a reasonable rate for our area. This quote was given by a new marine shop that we are trying out. Their maintenance prices were also a bit high, but not unreasonable.

[JohnZ3]

Shredder, if your boat just needs wax, then that's a very easy job.

Do you have a rotary buffer or Dual Action buffer? If so, you can wax or polish that thing in under 2 hours.
Even if you have to compound some of the dull areas, it shouldn't take too long.

If you really don't want to do it, take the boat to the place that is quoting the price. Once they see it's not a "big" job, you may get a much better price.

[c_hotshot]

In Texas - we can generally get it done for $14-18/ft depending on the level of work.