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King Harbor Marine Services--a DIY boatyard

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I had the bottom painted and a new boot top stripe painted at King Harbor, which is the small artificial harbor just about six miles south of Marina del Rey.

There couldn't be more contrast between King Harbor Marine Services and, say, The Boat Yard in MDR. The Boat Yard (that's its name) has many employes, a busy yard, and an advertising budget. Their bid for two and a half coats was $1500. That's for off-season, after Nov. 15, when they waive the $250 haul-out fee.

King Harbor Marine Services is tiny, with one Travelift. The yard is neat, sort of, but the platform ladders used to board boats that are hauled and blocked were made out of 2x4s about 15 years ago, never painted, and are falling apart. The owner is Abe. The yard manager is Scott (thanks for correcting the name, VOR). I wondered the first day if I'd made a mistake, motoring here in an hour or two to save some money. The vibe was very unboatyard-like. About 18 months before I had interviewed at three yards on the topic of DIY. Most, of course, don't want any part of that. Most permitted no outside workers. But King Harbor said $800/month, any workers you like, and you can use our air and power and advice.

That was a restoration project I wound up not doing, but I had at the time that same feeling--this is a yard from 1950, is it...capable? Where's the hard sell? Where's the "we'll take care of this, sir, don't worry about anything." Nothing had changed by last week. And frankly, I still don;t know what to think about this odd little business. But I do think I saved money, and I did tell them I'd spread the word about what they charged. Abe, the owner, just looked at me. "Thanks," he said. Courtesy, not Yelp-hungry.

The yard manager suggested I only put one coat of paint on. "Thelonious" has never been scraped down, there's a pretty thick build up, and he pointed out a few cracks that suggest all the paint will have to be removed eventually--so why put on more than necessary? Bottom paint, according to him loses it oomph after 18 months anyhow. Made sense to me, and I'd never heard the argument before.

So: Pressure wash, careful prep and fill, primer where needed, one complete coat plus two on the heading edges and rudder: $1150.

I really needed a new boot top, and that's something you can't do in the water. I chose Awlgrip Aristo Blue, which, if you can believe it, is an almost perfect match with my blue cove stripe. I watch Manuel prep, tape and prime but missed the actual application. He did a superb job, even after my compulsive directions about correcting some ancient unevenness in the waterline.

Boot top stripe: about $1000. I think their painting rate is $95 an hour.

King Harbor quoted me $560 to compound and wax just the topsides. I expressed astonishment, since the going rate here for waxing the deck and topsides in a slip is $350. But we were on blocks, and the manager said it was hard for the guys to deal with the scaffolding. So I declined. I thought the quote was weird, and it contributed to a sense of unease about King Harbor.

When I finally called to confirm the boat was ready to be relaunched, Scott said that it was, and they had just finished the wax job.

That registered after I hung up, so I called him back. Wait, I didn't approve a wax job--

"Oh, the Owner threw that in," Scott said.

"Yer kiddin' me, at the price?"

"I thought you'd be pleased," he said.

The whole job came out very well, and met my standards for bottom paint prep, which are pretty basic but at least I paid attention.

King Harbor Marine Services. Yeah, I know, kind of an odd review. But check it out. And when the time comes, it is one of the few DIY yards around.

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windjunkee

Member III
The manager is Scott. I've had Voice of Reason in the yard there 4 times in the last 10 years. They are friendly, reasonable and reliable. I would recommend them to anybody.

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 (Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
The manager is Scott. I've had Voice of Reason in the yard there 4 times in the last 10 years. They are friendly, reasonable and reliable. I would recommend them to anybody.

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 (Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA

Totally agreed! I hauled my E26-2 there this summer and had a great experience. Highly recommended.
 

Clarice

Member I
King Harbor Marine

I really hate to be a downer but this was not but our experience at the King Harbor yard. So reluctantly, but in the interest of true opinion here it is! We had the haul-out done there for the survey of our boat. The staff were sort of friendly but the yard is a mess and dangerous with broken pieces of metal sticking up from the rails and the Travel lift. There's a lot of heaps of rotting useless stuff lying around all over the place. My experience is in construction and automobile yards where the state of trucks and yard often dictate the quality of the work performed. So I wasn't initially impressed.

Although we had made a reservation another boat was in the haul-out area and the yard was apparently on lunch and so we had to wait for lunch to finish and then for the other boat to be moved. Our boat was hauled inspected and then we had to wait for the cashier to return to pay for the haul-out before they would put the boat back in the water. OK, no big deal! Boat time is relative to real time. Our surveyor was not so kind. He told us of a person who had been injured there on the rusty Travel lift and was having problems getting medical bills re-imbursed. He commented on the poor state of the equipment and lack of professionalism too. He suggested we try a different more updated yard for our work even if we had to go up to MDR or down to Long Beach. Interestingly, at a latter date, our rigger also suggested using a different yard with-out our prompting. He said he did not trust the King Harbor yard to assist with resetting the mast correctly. Neither the surveyor nor the rigger mentioned a particular yard so we shopped around to get an estimate for mast replacement and our bottom paint. The scope of work was about the same as Thelonius and the difference was about $200 included haul-out. So for piece of mind we went to the Boat Yard in MDR and couldn't be happier. We even got to see and talk to the Transpac sailors and support staff! Those boats look awesome. Several of the crew members told us they would rather be sailing our Ericson than their boat in any weather. They said sailing the Transpac boats was like being in an MRI for the entire time! The staff at the Boat Yard treated us as well as the Transpac boats and the workers came over to help us with a couple of things with-out us asking. We had an awesome experience!

Now, I don't need a yard where I can haul and work so I can't compare in that regard. One comment though, if King Harbor initially asked for $560 for a topside wash and wax and then did it for free it sounds like they are trying out taking advantage. Glad you all had a positive experience but even though our slip is close I wouldn't use them again for anything but a simple issue or an emergency.
 
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