Complete Interior Fit-out Labour

[Downunderjumper]

Hi,

Forgive me if there is already some threads on this topic, I searched and didn't seem to find any.

I am considering purchasing a 47 steel ketch that has been stripped internally, I have no idea how much labor hours it would take for a professional to build and install the entire interior.
I would do the plumbing, wiring, and electronics but my skills in joinery and carpentry are not sufficient.
Can anyone share their experience. I am hoping if I can get a ball park on the labor then I can build a bill of materials and come up with a cost estimate.

Would love to hear of some experiences and fit outs for similar size boats.

Thanks

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, ...Jumper.


Depends upon the quality you desire.

[Fore and Aft]

Unless you really love the yacht I would forget a project of thst size.
I can easily see a 1000 to the sky is the limit hours going into her. It all depends on your standard of finish. My local boatbuilder charges $80 an hour australian plus materials and fittings. Very quickly that boat is going to be uneconomic to finish.
But in saying that I was once fired after a week of fitting out an empty 40 foot steel yacht. The owner thought I was taking way to long and he did the rest of the fitout in a month using a skilsaw and cordless drill. The interior was VERY VERY VERY rough but it did the job.
I surveyed an empty steel yacht and the widest sheet of plywood on the diagonal that could fit through the companionway entrance was only 900mm. A sheet of plywood is 1200mm so there was going to be a lot of small panels in that yacht. I recommended cutting the entrance bigger while fitting out.
Cheers

[Downunderjumper]

Thanks for responding GordMay

To be honest material quality wise painted ply with a little wood trim, no veneer or elaborate use of expensive timber. I am more focused on function over ascetics.

It is the hours involved with fabrication and installation that I am trying to get a feel for. A reasonable build quality, as we want to cruise for year to come, but are not to interested in fine cosmetic detail.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Downunderjumper

Thanks for responding GordMay

To be honest material quality wise painted ply with a little wood trim, no veneer or elaborate use of expensive timber. I am more focused on function over ascetics.

It is the hours involved with fabrication and installation that I am trying to get a feel for. A reasonable build quality, as we want to cruise for year to come, but are not to interested in fine cosmetic detail.

very difficult to give a build time as this is directly related to complexity and finish quality but here are a few tips for reducing build time.

first having a reasonable sized work space platform at deck level in a covered enclosure will reduce time spent going up and down to the boat to use larger tools,like table saws etc

modularise as much as possible so it can be built off the boat,then fitted onboard.

use faced plywood,that is treated on both sides before use,so apart from cutting,drilling,screwing and glueing needs no further paint treatment .

pre varnish machined wood trim in full length strips before cutting and fitting.

we were able,2 people,to fit out a 63 ft alloy yacht to a reasonable standard in 6 months,expect to be spending about $2-3K+ per week on materials and fittings .

i would also advise applying spray foam insulation to the hull if this has not been done already.

2 pack coatings are far superiour to single coat paints.
spray paint saves time if used on large areas and gives a much better finish

[rourkeh]

If you got it done for $50,000 I would be surprised. This is based on experience with the similar work I had done on my boat at a hugely discounted rate.

[Cheechako]

My experience is that you are FAR FAR lower cost to buy a complete boat. This may even be true if you could do the work yourself. A 31 ft boat with the interior roughed in (bulkheads, cabinets, berths etc and engine in place) took me 2.5 years to complete. My guess is 2000 hours + material costs.
2000 hours at $100 an hour is $200,000
2000 hours at $35 an hour is $65,000. 30 years ago I probably spent $50k in materials. Today for a 31 footer that might be triple.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Downunderjumper

Thanks for responding GordMay

To be honest material quality wise painted ply with a little wood trim, no veneer or elaborate use of expensive timber. I am more focused on function over ascetics.

It is the hours involved with fabrication and installation that I am trying to get a feel for. A reasonable build quality, as we want to cruise for year to come, but are not to interested in fine cosmetic detail.

the build was 2500 hours,over a period of 6 months for 2 people working 6 days a week

[Downunderjumper]

Thanks for all the information.
As much as would love to purchase this boat, as the work completed to date is of an excellent standard and the blank canvas of a freshly epoxied interior to fit a interior layout of my choosing would make it my dream cruiser, but its clear 60k would probably not be enough of a budget to get the interior completed.
Thanks for the advise, I will keep looking.

Joshua

[TrentePieds]

Quote: " I will keep looking".

Sensible man :-)!

2 men for six months is one "man year", normally 1,750 hours. Atoll sez 2,500 hours which fits with a 6-day work week. $35 to $50 per hour would be the going rate around here, but competent help would be hard to find since competent help tends to be in permanent rather than "precarious" employment.

There are lot'n'lots of boats ready to go for a "fully found" price of about 1/2 of what you would spend just on the labour, let alone the materials, to build the interior.

What you buy "off the shelf" won't be your ideal layout, of course, but you will soon adapt to whatever it happens to be.

TP

[SpillTheWine]

Wow! Some of the best replies I've seen on here to any question asked. Very glad I peeked in here. This changes some of my plans as well.

I've learned heaps! And I am forewarned from this.

Thanks to all.

[roland stockham]

With a project that size it may be worth looking at shipping the hull to a different location. There are places where skip woodworkers will work for $50 a day not an hour and were good wood is also cheaply available. Having the interior professionally do to a 'custom standard' will mean the boat has a resale value. Rough completing either as a home build or by someone like a kitchen fitter is quite possible but will mean you will not be able to sell her for more than the price of a bare hull at best and that may even be less the cost of stripping the interior. So all depends on your long term plans.
As a rough guide all the advice I have seen for home builds is that hull, interior and rig/sails are each about 1/3 of the new value but that does not include labour.

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

My experience is that you are FAR FAR lower cost to buy a complete boat...

This.

OP--as you are unqualified to build yacht interiors, don't buy a boat that doesn't have one.

[ZULU40]

If anyone has a Skene's 'Elements of Yacht Design' (mines out on a borrow)
theres a calculation in hours per displacement

[alansmith]

About a year ago I went through the same situation as you. Cruisers forum talk me out of buying the stripped out interior boat also. This boat had previously won the Transpac race. It was Bruce Farr's boat back in the 80s. I still get shivers when I think about that boat it was so beautiful. I have halfway decent skills. But I realized that it would take me years to bring that boat back. I'm in my mid 60s so time is more precious to me than money at this point. I would love to have had that boat when I was in my 40s.

You were doing the sensible thing by walking away from that boat. The boat can be such a seductress.