Guide
How Much Does Boat Hull Cleaning Cost in BC? A Diver's Pricing Guide
Updated · By Daniel Garcia
Hull cleaning prices vary with boat size, fouling level, and how often you keep up with it. Here's what actually drives cost in BC waters, in Canadian dollars.
What You're Actually Paying For
Hull cleaning price covers diver time, equipment, travel to your boat, disposal of scraped growth where required, and documentation (video). On most jobs, diver time underwater is the biggest cost driver - which means boat size and fouling level matter more than distance or fancy extras.
Typical Job Cost in Victoria & Vancouver Island (CAD)
We price by the job, usually on an hourly rate - not per foot. Bigger boats cost more because they take longer, not because of a length multiplier. Ranges below are typical all-in totals for a clean at our regular cadence (as of 2026), treat as ballpark, not quotes:
- 25-30 ft sailboat - $140-$220
- 30-40 ft sailboat or small power - $180-$320
- 40-50 ft cruising boat - $280-$450
- 50-60 ft yacht - $400-$600+
- 60+ ft - quoted individually
Why We Often Come In Under Other Divers
Most commercial dive outfits on the South Island aren't built around hull cleaning. Their bread and butter is salvage, inspections, infrastructure work, or commercial waterfront jobs - a one-off clean on a 35-footer is a small, awkward booking for them, and the quote reflects that.
That's the gap we fill. Hull cleaning is the core of what we do - it's what we're scheduled around, equipped for, and fastest at. A lot of owners around Victoria and the Gulf Islands come to us specifically because the quote they got from a general-purpose commercial diver was high, slow to schedule, or both.
The other reason is how we bill. The industry default is per-foot pricing, usually $10-$20/ft, which can quietly inflate a job - you pay for length, not for the work actually needed. A clean 45-footer at $15/ft is $675 before anything else. We bill an honest hourly rate against time under the boat, and because we're set up for this work specifically, that hour goes further. On most jobs that means a lower total than a per-foot quote from a generalist.
What Makes Price Go Up
Base rate is clean, regular-interval work. Things that push cost up:
- Heavy fouling - a hull that hasn't been cleaned in 6+ months can take 2-3x the time
- Hard antifouling paint that grabs growth - more effort per square foot
- Complex running gear - folding props, saildrives, thrusters, dual rudders
- Heavy barnacle load requiring chipping vs soft-growth removal
- Commercial vessels or work boats with irregular hull shapes
- Emergency or same-day service
- Travel to distant locations (typically Gulf Islands with no other jobs in the area the same day)
What Makes Price Go Down
Reasons cost can come in below the range above:
- Regular-schedule customer - boats on our cadence get cleaner faster
- Group discounts - 3+ boats at the same marina booked together
- Combined services - clean + zinc replacement on one dive costs less than two separate dives
- Off-peak scheduling - winter work has more availability and sometimes lower pricing
Value Check - Why Price Alone Is a Bad Filter
A $150 clean that's rushed, undocumented, and leaves growth on the running gear can cost you more in fuel than a $250 clean done thoroughly. Ask about:
- Whether the running gear (prop, shaft, strut, rudder) is cleaned as part of the price
- Whether through-hulls and transducers get checked
- Whether you get video documentation
- Whether zincs are inspected during the clean
- Whether any observations about hull or paint condition get reported back
Getting a Quote
We quote most jobs by phone or email once we know the boat's length, beam, type, and where it's kept. For regular-schedule customers, pricing is set. For one-offs we check current fouling state during the first visit and adjust if necessary - we don't surprise people with bills.
Common questions