Realistic cost to refit a 50ft cruising boat

[aajora]

i just spent 7 years and 80k refitting (from complete sand blast of bottom to new wiring and everything in between) a 1974 fuji 35… All the work performed myself.

I would say a good rough estimate is 20k/foot.

the dry docking/storage/transport costs add up over time so the faster you work the cheaper it will be

[sv Stella Maris]

General Refit Cost is about 5-10% of the vessel’s replacement value cost…this does not include a repower.

What you described is borderline “rebuild”, not “refit”

Good Day,

CatamaranConsultant.com

[aajora]

yes, it was a complete rebuild.. i quote that cause initially it was going to be a refit… but the more I got into her the more needed to be done. Unfortunately small projects on boats turn into big ones.


QUOTE=sv Stella Maris;3833976]General Refit Cost is about 5-10% of the vessel’s replacement value cost…this does not include a repower.

What you described is borderline “rebuild”, not “refit”

Good Day,

CatamaranConsultant.com[/QUOTE]

[lifeofreilly57]

Originally Posted by wet_dreams

How much should I realistically expect to spend refitting the major systems on a 50ft sailboat from the 1970s if I did all of the work myself.

New engine
New sails
New rigging
New wiring
New solar system
New autopilot
New ground tackle / windlass

Etc etc etc

Did a refit 6 years ago on a 47 footer.
Engine- if you install it yourself? $15,000 to$25,000. But, if your increasing HP from original, add for new transmission, prop, possibly a thicker prop shaft and the stuffing box to fit.
Sails - Say $25,000, but you an do better shopping around.
Rigging- All replaced? $20,000 on a 36 footer if you do the install and tuning yourself, assuming the mast is in good shape.
Wiring- this depends on the sytems you choose. About $3,000 for materials, wire, buss bars, protective fuses, breakers, etc. Are you replacing the breaker panel? Add the cost for that.
Solar- Are you adding an arch to cary the solar? On a smaller boat figure $6000 to $7000 for arch and panels. Then add solar charge regulator, dc to dc charger to keep starter battery charged.
Instruments- If replacing or adding an auto pilot, add it to the cost of the instrument package, it's usually best to get the same brand as the instrumentation. In my case, B&G. Figure about $12,000 if doing a full package, autopilot, wind instruments, AIS, chartplotter, communication backbone, etc.

[Ceryan]

As some people already mentioned, you will be spending at least 100K and the market value of the boat will be half of that.

[Giro]

Back in 2019 I had a boatyard refit my 25 foot sloop with everything on your list except for the windlass and autopilot you mention. My hands-on involvement was very minimal. In addition to what the boatyard staff did, I paid for the interior cushions and upholstery to be redone by a very competent marine upholstery shop. Bearing in mind that I am a tenant of the marina of which the boatyard is mutually owned by, my cost was:
$44,789.71 (Boatyard)
$ 3,029.00 (Upholstery Shop)
$ 3,509.00 (New Outboard Motor)
$. 9,768.00 (New Sails and Covers)
$ 520.00. (New Marine VHS)
$. 1,500.00 (Miscellaneous)
ALL THIS FOR A SAILBOAT THAT MAY BE WORTH $10,000.00 ON A GOOD DAY.
I suggest, if you have the skills and the time, DO IT YOURSELF!
The best of luck to you.

[gulfislandfred]

Been there, done that, on boats up to 30 feet.


It's almost always more expensive than finding a boat for sale that someone else has done the work on, and it's ready to go.
The work you list will take years to do. Years that you won't be sailing.
Professional yards take a rough estimate and multiply by three to get what a refit will cost. This is not a joke.

Look at some 36 to 40 foot boats 1990 and newer. You may find that they have as much space inside as an older style 50 footer, better creature comforts, and maybe sail better.

[Baba Buoy]

Originally Posted by 5BTM

About $320K, over and over again.

By the time you finish the new engine will be seized from lack of use, the new sails will be old sails, new technology will make everything worthless and obsolete.

I think you are being a bit too optimistic. You forgot about over three years it would take in your labor to do this work, not to mention all the rework to fix your mistakes. And the work is never finished.

Not to be a Debbie downer, refitting an old boat is a lot of good experience. If you don't die before being able to reuse all these new skills. The silver lining is these skills are necessary if you have to fix something
1000 miles away from anything.

[geozeck]

It will take every dollar you have and it will be worth much less than what you have in it.

[Plumbean]

If you are going to jump down into the bottomless pit that is refitting an older sailboat (and I am speaking from experience here), one of the most important things to consider is the row away appeal of what you are buying. Being able to appreciate the beauty of your vessel years on, notwithstanding the financial pain, will help considerably. Or at least, that is what I keep telling myself ...

[akopac]

It doesn’t stop with a refit. I did it in 2000 for our 1979 38 foot ketch and am doing it in pieces again now.
Bottom/blister job in SF Bay and refrigerator box gut and rebuild.
Bright work in Mazatlan for hurricane season
Thruhulls in Fiji
Rigging, and deck hardware rebedding in New Zealand for cyclone season
I refuse to sit at a dock or in a yard doing this stuff and dreaming about cruising til I’m too old to do it...

[gordonhinds]

I bought a 40’ cold moulded timber yacht built in 1986. You should budget for $150k plus two- three years. Old bigger yachts are very expensive to refurb and as someone else pointed out… still not worth much.
A new teak deck alone is $40k.

[FlyingScot]

This mistake is so common. What you want to find is a boat that some other person or two almost finished all the work and gave up for the reasons listed above.

We have dropped over 100K into our 15 year old catamaran doing a major refit and we did probably 70% of the labor ourselves. We worked probably 60% of the last 18 months on the boat.

When I read the for sale ads before buying this boat, I always questioned the legitimacy of people saying they spent over 100 thousand dollars on a recent major refit. Now, I understand how fast it adds up. The total I listed doesn't include yard fees, our labor, our travel, just parts, yard labor, outside contract labor and shipping to the islands.

[Dave Isom]

You’ve been given a lot of very sound advice from experienced people.
The consensus is clear and I hope you heed the message. ie. DON’T !
Having sailed for 60 years including a 5 year circumnavigation here’s mine.
If you wish to go cruising buy a manageable sized boat ready to go or one that just needs minor tweaking to get ready. 50 feet is far too big unless you have experienced crew and lots of dough ! Even 40 foot is big to start .
If possible buy someone’s broken dream ….there are no shortages of those as has been pointed out by others ! The cheapest way to go cruising is to learn to sail properly and go as crew. Learn as much as you can, do courses,know how to work on diesels and outboards and if you can cook properly you’ll be inundated with offers to crew anywhere in the world !
Good luck and don’t get despondent from all the sage advice. Just go into it with your eyes wide open !

[gsuescum]

PLEASE don’t do this.

It will consume soooo much $$, TIME and break your heart. By the time you’re “done” you won’t love your boat any more and only see what’s wrong and think about all the time (years) you didn’t actually get to use her.

If you go ahead with this refit, the next owner is going to get a great deal.

All the above happened to me.