What this costs
p. 75The journal subscription is the most explicit way to support the publication; the shop's refit work pays the rest. Both are published rates, both are the rates we charge, and both are revised once a year — this issue revises the 2026 rates effective 1 May.
| Plan | Format | Rate (2026) | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Print, mailed | $68 / year | 6 issues, US postage paid; addenda mailed separately |
| Trade rate | Print, mailed | $42 / year | For marine-trades practitioners with a verifiable yard or shop affiliation |
| Apprentice | Print, mailed | $24 / year | For current 1st–4th period apprentices in any state |
| Digital | PDF, emailed | $32 / year | Same 6 issues, delivered as PDF on print date |
| Institutional | Print + digital | $240 / year | Libraries, schools, regulatory bodies; includes 2 print copies + site-license PDF |
| Lifetime | Print + digital | $840 | One per subscriber; print until death; digital perpetual |
To subscribe, email subscribe@btquarterly.example with your plan choice and mailing address. We bill by check, ACH, or credit card via Stripe. The first issue ships within ten working days of payment. Back issues (Vols. I–IV) are available at $14 per issue while supplies last; please specify when subscribing.
These are the shop's published rates as of 1 May 2026. They are the rates we quote, the rates we invoice, and the rates we will reference six months from now when an owner asks why a job ran what it ran. Custom fabrication rates depend on the fabricator (Bay Welding, BGS, Ronco) and pass through to the customer at the fabricator's invoiced cost plus our standard 10% handling.
| Trade | Lead | Hourly rate | Minimum charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master plumber (Marcus Greve) | Editor / system design / commissioning | $165 / hr | 2 hr |
| Journeyman (Salla Andresen, Bram Halvorsen) | Tankage / MSDs / Watermakers | $135 / hr | 1 hr |
| Apprentice (Lucia Brae) | Routing / install support / preservation cycles | $70 / hr | 1 hr |
| Drydock Foreman (Jens Holmqvist) | Lift coordination, safety brief, confined-space entry | $155 / hr | 2 hr |
| After-hours / emergency surcharge | Outside 0730–1630 Pacific or weekends | +50% | 4 hr |
| Scope | Vessel size | Indicative total (parts + labor) | Lead time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type III holding tank install | 25–35 ft sailboat | $4,800–6,200 | 4–6 wk |
| Watermaker install (energy-recovery, 7–15 GPH) | 30–50 ft sailboat | $8,500–14,500 | 6–8 wk |
| Custom aluminum tankage (60–120 gal) | any | $5,500–7,800 | 8–12 wk |
| Electric pumpout retrofit on existing tank | any | $2,800–3,800 | 3–5 wk |
| Freshwater re-pipe in PEX-A | 30–45 ft | $3,200–5,800 | 3–5 wk |
| Two-stage bilge system (Rule + Whale Gulper) | any | $1,400–2,200 | 2–3 wk |
| Annual watermaker preservation flush | any | $280 (in-clinic) / $480 (at slip) | October clinic |
These are indicative totals from our 2026 work as of this issue. Your boat's total will vary. The variance is normally in the install labor, which depends on the boat's accessibility and on what is discovered during the work. We provide a written estimate after the on-site survey; the estimate is good for 60 days. We invoice on completion; partial-job invoicing is by arrangement.
Most marine refit shops do not publish their rates. We do, on the principle that the rate-shopping conversation is more useful for everyone when the published rates are the starting point. We have not lost work to a competing shop because of the published rates; we have lost work, and gained work, on quality and on schedule. Those are the right axes to compete on.
The journal subscription rate has not changed since 2024. The shop's labor rate is up about 8% from the 2025 schedule, which tracks our materials and insurance cost increases. The custom fabrication rates from Bay Welding and BGS Industries are passed through at the fabricator's invoiced cost plus our 10% handling; both fabricators have raised their per-pound rates 6–9% over the past twelve months.
If a published rate has gone out of date by the time you read this — meaning, if you are reading this in 2027 or later — the working rates are published on the website at this URL, revised on 1 May of each year.