I'm in
San Diego, but the
price is about the same if you have a yard do the
work. It's time consuming. You might be able to reduce the cost if you do some of the following things yourself: Unplug the
radar,
VHF antenna cable, all the
electrical lighting cables (remembering to label EVERYTHING), label the shrouds and other standing
rigging, and prep them for
removal (pulling cotter pins or rings from turnbuckles,
purchase ahead of time all of the replacement fittings,
antenna and other new
gear, confirm you have all of the mounting
hardware in advance, order new bearings,
compression posts and spreader bolts (yeah, these really should get replaced at overhaul), even replacement
electrical wire if the existing is fifteen years old or more. If you can remove hardware yourself, do so. Buy, borrow or rent an impact screwdriver to remove frozen stainless fasteners in
aluminum masts. Drill out the pop rivets holding the sail track, remove the
halyard winches and
overhaul them yourself. LABEL EVERYTHING AND STORE THEM WHERE YOU CAN FIND THEM LATER. Chemically strip the mast and boom to cut down on sandblast charges. TAKE PHOTOS OF THE MAST USING A LONG TAPE MEASURE to identify the holes you want to save, remember what side was up on the original hardware. Fill the leftover holes with
epoxy putty and sand them fair. Strip the
aluminum with acid-prep yourself, using obvious
safety considerations. Brush the prep coat and LPU primer yourself (remembering most of it comes off anyway for the LPU. Have a pro
paint the mast, or do it yourself and accept the consequences. Let the
paint get hard before messing with it. Don't forget to use light line, tied to the ends of your electrical
cables, internal halyards, antenna cables, etc., BEFORE removing them from the mast (and don't forget to LABEL EVERYTHING). Then rent or borrow a professional pop-riveter (air-powered are REALLY nice) for replacing sail tracks. Use Alum-Elast or equivalent thread sealer when replacing the stainless bolts back in the aluminum mast. Use Loc-Tite or nylock nuts on stuff up in the air. Check all of the electrical, SEVERAL TIMES before stepping the mast. Don't forget the mast boots, wedges, or other stuff if you use them. Replace the spreader boots, standing
rigging, halyards, and other toys at the masthead before anything leaves the ground. Everything that can be done at ground level, by you, makes the billable time less. The crane is only a couple hundred bucks. The rigger is more than willing to do everything for you, at his hourly wage. You can bring the total
price down to a couple thousand bucks if you do much of the
work yourself. And you'll learn some valuable lessons that are easier when the masthead is on a sawhorse rather than describing a ten foot
arc while tied at the
dock and having folks walk back and forth on the
deck. And dropping stuff three feet is a whole lot less traumatic than the option. Good luck!