For a fibreglass motor yacht up to 50 ft, the clearest number on the Gold Coast is Gold Coast City Marina’s package: from $89.50 a foot, haul-out to relaunch, about $4,475 for a 50-footer. Above 50 ft, every yard quotes. Build it from the published parts and a 60 ft motor yacht lands around $6,700 for antifoul, Propspeed and anodes, and closer to $9,000 once you add the hull polish most owners want while she is out. Here is what is in the job, what each line costs, and what to check before you sign.
Key facts — Gold Coast, 2026
- Package, to 50 ft — from $89.50/ft at GCCM, including haul, waterblast, levy, four days’ hardstand, paint and application
- Applicator only — Harbourforce from $51/ft standard, $86/ft with hull cut and polish, $240/ft blast and re-antifoul
- Hardstand — The Boat Works has quoted from $2.20 a foot a night; GCCM’s undercover bay is $1 a foot a day extra
- Paint — 20 litres for a 60-footer by roller; $1,700 for two 10 L tins of Micron Extra 2
- How often — 12 months locally, 12 to 18 months per the insurers
- Lead time — book four to six weeks ahead; longer before summer and the May boat show
The short answer
The per-foot number is real, but it describes the paint job. On a 60 ft motor yacht the running gear, the anodes, the seacocks and the polish are where the rest of the bill and most of the value sit.
What is actually in the job
- Haul-out. Travelift from the water to the hardstand. The Coomera yards run 300-tonne lifts; Runaway Bay's stops at 16 m.
- Waterblast and environmental levy. High-pressure wash on a wash-down pad that captures the run-off. The levy is the yard's cost of doing that legally.
- Inspection. Hull, existing paint, anodes, skin fittings, props, shafts, rudders and seals. This is the moment to find the problem, not after relaunch.
- Preparation. Wet sand, never dry sand or burn off; mask the waterline; prime any bare patches.
- Paint. Two full coats, a third on the waterline, chines, rudders and leading edges.
- Running gear. Propspeed on props, shafts and rudders; new anodes; prop polish if wanted.
- Extras while she is out. Hull cut and polish, seacock service, skeg bearings, moisture checks.
- Relaunch. Micron One has to be back in the water within one to three months; Micron Extra 2 will wait up to 12.
What the Gold Coast yards publish
Very little, which is why the same haul-out gets quoted three different ways.
| Provider | What is published | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gold Coast City Marina & Shipyard | Package from $89.50/ft | Fibreglass monohulls to 50 ft only, antifouled within two years, subject to inspection. Includes haul and relaunch, waterblast, levy, four days’ hardstand, International Micron One or similar, running-gear check, project management. Over 50 ft: personalised quote. |
| GCCM undercover bay | $1/ft/day on top of hardstand | Covered bays to 100 ft with 18 m air draught. |
| Harbourforce Marine (GCCM and The Boat Works) | Standard antifoul from $51/ft; antifoul and detailing from $86/ft; sandblast and antifoul from $240/ft | Two coats, three on leading edges, washdown. Excludes lift, hardstand, Propspeed and additional work. |
| The Boat Works | No prices; hardstand quoted from $2.20/ft/night up to 20 ft beam, $2.30 wider | Six to fifteen months between antifouls “a good rule of thumb”. Book four to six weeks ahead. |
| Short Marine, Gold Coast Antifouling, ADG Marine, Pronto, Antifoul Solutions | Quote only | Short Marine says it does the job over 1,000 times a year; Runaway Bay lifts to 16 m. |
GCCM’s package tells the story of the market: $69 a foot when it launched around 2020, $85 a foot on older pages still live today, $89.50 now. Roughly 30% in five or six years.
The extras, line by line
Propspeed. A silicone foul-release coating on the props, shafts and rudders. Reported Australian shipwright quotes sit around $850 for a twin-prop set once the labour is honest, with cheaper quotes of $450 that the trade says undercharge; the New Zealand benchmark for a twin-prop 13 m boat is NZ$1,200. Two 500 ml kits are about $478 in materials alone. Lasts a year at minimum and up to three. Watson Marine at Coomera is the approved applicator and also scans, repitches and polishes props.
Anodes. Shaft collars are $25 to $65 each, hull blocks about $38, so $250 to $400 in parts for a twin-shaft boat with a few hull anodes. Fitting labour is not published anywhere and is usually bundled.
Hull cut and polish. Harbourforce’s two package prices imply $35 a foot for a waterline-to-gunwale cut and polish, so $2,100 on a 60-footer. Doing it on the hardstand is cheaper and better than doing it in the water.
Seacocks, skin fittings, skeg bearings. Offered as quote items by the shipwrights. Not published. Have them exercised and inspected every haul-out regardless.
Moisture and blister checks. No Australian pricing published. Ask; on an older hull it is worth more than the paint.
Before you sign
A “from $X a foot” quote is a paint quote. Ask in writing whether it includes the lift both ways, the waterblast and levy, the number of hardstand days, the paint grade and litres, Propspeed, anodes and the polish. If it does not say, it is not included.
Paint: what it costs and how much you need
| Paint | Type | Coverage by roller | 10 L tin, inc GST |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Micron One | Ablative copper; GCCM’s standard | 5.4 m²/L, 2 coats | $582 |
| International Micron Extra 2 | Polishing copolymer, two seasons from one application | 9 m²/L, 3 coats by brush or 2 by spray plus stripe coat | $848 |
| International Micron AP | Boosted biocide for high-fouling tropical water | 4 m²/L | $469 per 4 L |
| Jotun SeaVictor 40 | Entry-level single-pack, black only | $407 ex GST | |
| Jotun SeaForce Active | Self-polishing, commercial grade | $320 to $360 per 5 L | |
| International Trilux 33 | Copper-free for aluminium hulls, up to 18 months | 9 m²/L, 3 coats | from $154 per 750 mL |
How much: wetted area is roughly length times beam times 0.85. A Maritimo M60 at 18.53 m by 5.23 m is about 82 m². With Micron Extra 2 by roller at 9 m² a litre, two coats and a stripe coat is about 20 litres, two 10 L tins, $1,696. By spray the coverage halves and the litres double. With Micron One at 5.4 m² a litre it is about 30 litres, three tins, $1,745. Spraying costs more paint, not less; it buys a better finish.
Hard or soft?
Ablative or self-polishing paints wear away as the boat moves and suit boats that are used. Hard antifouls need scrubbing and suit boats that sit. For a motor yacht that goes out, ablative. For an aluminium hull, copper-free, always.
How often, and what fouling costs you
The local applicators say once a year in Gold Coast water. Nautilus, the insurer, says every 12 to 18 months regardless of size. The Boat Works says six to fifteen months. Brisbane yards put frequently used powerboats at six to twelve months and only dry-stored boats at 18 to 24. The national biofouling guidelines add that coatings should be renewed towards the shorter end of their rated life, and that you should keep the paint invoices and slipway receipts.
The reason to keep to it is fuel. An IMO study found slime as thin as half a millimetre over half the hull adds 20% to 25% to fuel burn, and a light layer of barnacles up to 55%. A 2025 KTH study measured slime alone raising the power needed by up to 18%. Those are ship figures, but the physics is the same on a 60-footer burning 180 litres an hour. A season on a fouled hull can cost more in diesel than the antifoul did.
The rules
In-water hull scraping is generally not allowed in Australia without permission, and Queensland’s guidance is to do the work in a yard or slipway with a compliant wash-down system. If you want an in-water clean you ask Biosecurity Queensland, the environment department or Maritime Safety Queensland first, depending on where the boat is. Tributyltin paints have been banned on vessels under 25 m since 1989. None of this is new, but it is why the yard charges an environmental levy and why the diver with a scraper is not a shortcut.
Timing
- Days out. Modern coatings overcoat in six hours and can be launched eight hours after the final coat at 23 °C, so the paint is a two-day job. Propspeed, anodes and drying make it three to five. Bundle an engine service or the annual list and GCCM’s guide says one to two weeks.
- Lead time. The Boat Works asks for four to six weeks’ notice. Demand jumps as the warm months approach, and the yards run hardstand specials through winter for exactly that reason.
- The boat show. Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show runs 20 to 23 May 2027. Yards and trades are flat out in the weeks before it.
- Launch window. Micron One must be immersed within one to three months of painting. If other work will keep her on the hard, paint last, or use Micron Extra 2, which tolerates 12 months out.
Worked example: 60 ft twin-shaft motor yacht
Every line is from a published rate above or marked as a quote item.
| Line | Route A: GCCM package extrapolated | Route B: The Boat Works plus applicator |
|---|---|---|
| Antifoul incl. lift, waterblast, levy, 4 days’ hardstand, standard paint | $5,370 (60 ft at $89.50/ft; package caps at 50 ft, so treat as a floor) | Applicator $3,060 (60 ft at $51/ft) plus hardstand $528 (4 nights at $2.20/ft) plus lift, wash and levy: quote |
| Propspeed, props, shafts, rudders | $850 to $1,200 | $850 to $1,200 |
| Anodes, parts | $250 to $400 | $250 to $400 |
| Antifoul, Propspeed, anodes | about $6,700 | about $5,000 plus lift fees |
| Hull cut and polish | $2,100 (60 ft at $35/ft) | $2,100 |
| With polish | about $8,800 | about $7,100 plus lift fees |
Upgrading from Micron One to Micron Extra 2 changes the tin cost by almost nothing at roller rates and buys a two-season claim. Seacocks, bearings, moisture work and any gelcoat repairs are on top. That is why the $10,000 allowance in our cost-of-ownership guide is a fair working number for a 60-footer, and why a neglected boat can double it.
What to check before you sign
- The lift is included both ways, and the number of hardstand days is written down.
- The paint brand, grade and litres are named. “Or similar” is not a grade.
- Propspeed, anodes and the polish are separate lines with prices, not “as required”.
- Someone is inspecting seacocks, shaft seals and skin fittings, and photographing what they find.
- The relaunch date is booked, not “when it’s done”.
What we do
Marine HQ scopes the yard visit before the boat comes out, gets the lift, paint, running gear and extras quoted as separate lines, books the slot early enough to avoid the summer queue, and has someone on the hardstand while the work is done. Every stage is photographed into the owner’s MyYacht app, and the antifoul date, paint and litres go into her maintenance record so the next one is booked before it is overdue. If she is due, call 0439 748 387 or email yachtsupport@marinehq.com.au and we will put a number on it.