Bottom paint cost in San Francisco Bay Area: published rates

Published bottom painting rates in San Francisco Bay Area

These are prices that businesses publish on their own websites and rate sheets. We read 6 pages from 2 Bay Area yards. They are not DockDash prices, and your quote may differ.

See bottom painting prices across California.

How bottom painting is priced

A bottom job means hauling the boat, preparing the hull and applying new antifouling paint. Boatyards publish labor per foot, with paint and haul-out often billed separately.

Per foot of length for labor, plus paint (often at the yard's price), plus the haul-out and lay days. Some yards publish a package price per foot.

What drives the cost

• Boat length and hull shape (keel, running gear).
• Paint type and how many coats.
• Prep: a light sanding costs far less than stripping old paint to switch systems.
• Lay days in the yard and whether you do any of the work yourself, where the yard allows it.

Length overall vs waterline

Most per-foot prices are multiplied by the boat’s length overall (LOA): bow to stern, often including pulpits, swim platforms and davits. A few businesses use waterline length, which is shorter, so the same rate gives a smaller bill. Before comparing two quotes, ask each business which length it bills on and convert both to the same basis.

Many price lists also change the rate with size: a higher per-foot rate for bigger boats, or a flat minimum for small ones. Where a business published tiers, the tables below show each tier separately.

What’s usually included, and what’s extra

California rules that affect the price

• Copper bottom paints with a leach rate over 9.5 µg/cm²/day can't be sold for recreational boats in California after June 30, 2020. (Port of San Diego, LA County, DBW and California Coastal Commission, 2019)
• Paint choice sets how often you pay for this job: manufacturers claim about 2 to 3 years of useful life for copper paint, up to 2 years for non-copper biocide paint, and 5 to 10 years for non-biocide coatings, which cost more up front. (Port of San Diego, LA County, DBW and California Coastal Commission, 2019)

Rules change. Check with the harbor or agency before relying on them.

How to read a quote

• Ask for paint, labor, haul-out and lay days as separate lines.
• Ask how the yard measures length and what minimum applies.
• Ask what happens to the price if the old paint needs more prep than expected.
• Get the price in writing, with what is included, before work starts.

To check a price for your boat, try the service cost estimator; to line up two or three quotes on the same basis, use the quote comparison tool. What the job involves: Bottom paint explained.

Every published price we found

• Berkeley Marine Center Berkeley · San Francisco Bay

  • $20/ft — Add-on: additional coat of paint or coat of primer, per ft (base package prices not shown in page text; customer-supplied paint corkage $50/gal)

  Bottom Packages - Berkeley Marine Center, © 2026 on the page (no other date), read 2026-11-11

• The Boat Yard at Grand Marina Alameda · San Francisco Bay

  • $80/ft — Spray bottom paint, one coat, per ft
  • $1,135.35–$3,955.30 flat price — Bottom package, 2 coats, 15–30 ft LOA: the 15 ft and 30 ft totals across four paint brands (Micron, Ultrakote, Pettit, West Marine) Includes: Haul, set, launch, wash, EPA compliance, prep, paint, and materials (sales tax on materials and extra cleaning/prep not included).
  • $2,770.05–$5,726.82 flat price — Bottom package, 2 coats, 30–40 ft LOA: the 30 ft and 40 ft totals across four paint brands (Micron, Ultrakote, Pettit, West Marine) Includes: Haul, set, launch, wash, EPA compliance, prep, paint, and materials (sales tax on materials and extra cleaning/prep not included).
  • $4,248.97–$12,776.12 flat price — Bottom package, 2 coats, 40–60 ft LOA: the 40 ft and 60 ft totals across four paint brands (Micron, Ultrakote, Pettit, West Marine) Includes: Haul, set, launch, wash, EPA compliance, prep, paint, and materials (sales tax on materials and extra cleaning/prep not included).

  Services and Rates - The Boat Yard at Grand Marina, © 2026 on the page (no other date), read 2026-11-11 · The Boat Yard at Grand Marina: 2025 Micron bottom prices, dated 2025, read 2026-11-11 · The Boat Yard at Grand Marina: 2025 Ultrakote bottom prices, dated 2025, read 2026-11-11 · The Boat Yard at Grand Marina: 2025 Pettit bottom prices, dated 2025, read 2026-11-11 · The Boat Yard at Grand Marina: 2025 WMP bottom prices, dated 2025, read 2026-11-11

Methodology and limitations

• Sources: only the business’s own website or rate sheet. No reviews, directories, forums or quotes we requested. We did not contact any business.
• Sample: 5 published prices from 2 businesses on 6 pages. This is the set we could find, not a survey or a random sample, and many businesses don’t publish prices at all.
• Dates: we read every page on 2026-11-11. 4 of the pages carry a date or fiscal year, 2 show only a copyright year, and 0 have no date. Each price below shows what its page said.
• How we summarize: prices are grouped by unit (per foot, per hour, flat, per visit, per gallon) and by kind of job, and never mixed. The range runs from the lowest published price to the highest. The median gives each business one vote (the middle of its own range), so a yard with many size tiers doesn’t outweigh a diver with one price. Where a business wrote “starting at”, we used that figure, so real bills are often higher.
• Region pages exist only where at least 3 published prices from 2 or more businesses are available.
• Your quote may differ. Condition, access, season, and what’s included all change the price. Use these figures to ask better questions, not as a price promise.