Category Archives: General

ADDED VALUE

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With the Miami International boat show just around the corner many boat owners selling they’re yachts in South Florida are making smart decisions to have onboard cosmetics optimized. One of the lowest hanging fruits for resale is having your boat polished to renew the gelcoat and painted surfaces. The added value behind having this detailing service done is tremendous. Freedom Yacht specializes in this service and can help you get the most for your vessel by delivering expert professional detail cleaning service to your vessel. We use only the best detailing products on the market for compound, micro finish and waxing services. The finishing is brilliant and will have your boat ready for the show. Call today 954-732-8916

M/Y Majestic Paint Rejuvenation

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When questioning a new paint job or having a professional yacht detailing company restore the existing painted surfaces of his 200 Foot Fedship, Captain Rafe Paladino called Freedom Yacht Services. In doing so he saved his owner 100’s of thousands of dollars and saved hours of paint maintenance time for his crew. Freedom Yacht Services, highly regarded as the best yacht detailing group in South Florida, showed up with 2 service vans and 6 professional yacht detailers ready to rock. Working with a tight turnaround window the team finished the work in nearly 1 week. The results extraordinary. Freedom Yacht Service’s yacht detailing team used a highly refined German nano finishing system called Nanocane. This incredibly fine multi step procedure drastically restored the old painted surfaces back to new with the highest luster and clarity of shine. The service team finished the job off applying 2 coats of Nanocane Clear Coat to protect the paint for up to 8 months.

Right Side is Before–Left Side After



On Completion

Ceramic Yacht Coatings and Expert Applications

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Ceramic Pro

Above is  picture of a 100 ft Hargrave with gelcoat which is 12 years old being refinished and layered with 3 coats of high shine, high durability ceramic coating. After a 4-step restoration polish Freedom Yacht Service detailers applied the Ceramic coatings undercover at Lauderdale Marine Center in Ft lauderdale, Florida. Ceramic coatings can give a yacht’s paint and gelcoat life many added years and higher gloss and clarity.  Learn more today by calling Freedom Yacht Services for all your yacht refinishing needs. Learn more at http://ceramicpro.comContact us today for a Free Quote.

Yot Stik Revolutionizes Wash Down Game

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Yot Stik’s Ultra Light Wash Poles

It’s rare new yacht detailing products come along that make me pull all remaining products of it’s kind from the work trucks and throw them away. Yesterday was one of those days. We received our first order from Yot Stik, a California based company dedicated to making detail wash downs aboard a luxury yacht much easier and stylish.  http://yotstik.com

What arrived was amazing. Six sleek, beautiful, black carbon fiber extension poles scoping from 42”-72” inches and Two from 63”-113”.  Insanely light weight for our yacht detailing in south Florida, Non marking on yacht paint or gelcoat and made in the good ole USA. We added TD Mop’s big bird brush heads to complete the fire power against our next wash down. The difference in weight is insane and the look very impressive. Check em out. Or get your own @ Yotstik.com

 

 

Ceramic Coating for Fabrics

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Ceramic Coating for Yacht Fabric / Cushions

A new nano ceramic pro coating product is helping to preserve the life of yacht canvas cushions and many other soft goods aboard a yacht. Ceramic Pro Rain was applied by Freedom Yacht Service to a 32 Chaparal at Harbor Town last week. This ceramic coating will keep all sun tanning products and sun block from staining the canvas of your yacht here in Ft lauderdale. Call Freedom Yacht Services, the best ceramic coating company in South Florida Today! 954-732-8916

 

 

ceramic pro

Ceramic Pro Interior Applicators

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Calling all Yacht Stewardess!! Are you tired of lime spots and hard water stains on all your bathroom metals aboard your super yacht? Freedom Yacht Services is applying Ceramic Pro to these areas to save the metal and make cleaning easy. Talk about boat cleaning made easy. Last week our team of certified Ceramic Pro applicators coated the interior showers and faucets aboard M/Y War Bird 92 Nordhaven. This was an industry first and a great example of how yachts can eliminate hard water spots and stains while making life easy for the stewardess. 2 Coats of Ceramic Pro Bravo was applied and came out great.  Call today for an estimate!

Ceramic Pro Certified

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Freedom Yacht Services is proud to be a certified Ceramic Pro Application group. This clear coat technology has flourished over the years and now has made it to Freedom’s list of #1 coatings. Specializing in Yacht Care and Yacht Detailing / Boat Cleaning. FYS is Based out of Bahia Mar Yachting Center and has been servicing the yacht detailing needs of some of the finest yachting manufacturers in the game such as Ferretti Group, Riva, Pershing, Cheoy Lee and San Lorenzo. We’re excited to bring this new nano technology application method to South Florida Yacht owner and Captains wishing to get ahead of they’re yacht’s P.M Schedule. Ceramic Pro yacht coating gives depth and shine all while creating a frictionless substrate that allows water to run off easily. Recently Freedom Yacht Service coated a 68 Lazzara. The result was incredible. See for yourself today applied by south Florida’s best ceramic coating group. http://ceramicpro.com

 

 

Ceramic Coatings Fact or Fiction?

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The jury has deliberated and a decision has been made. After years of testing marine ceramic coatings made for yachts and the harsh marine environment the science has finally been proven FACT. Freedom Yacht Services is a leader in the yacht refinishing and surface protection business and is at the forefront of this application revolution. A few companies exist in the production of marine ceramic coatings- one to speak of is ceramic pro- a maker of different ceramic coating products for paint, gelcoat, glass, leather and metal. We’ve found these products work very well and have been applying them on boats here in Ft lauderdale and Miami to much praise. These marine ceramic coatings add depth and extra strong protection against scratches, UV damage and harsh chemicals. Although more expensive to apply the payoff is huge as the ceramic coating seals in the look of our yachts surface permanently with only the need of a reapplication every 14-20 months. No more harsh compounds that remove the depth of your paint and gelcoat which drastically increases the shelf life of your yachts surface.

Freedom’s dual layer Ceramic Coating is specially designed for the Marine Environment and seals surfaces for years without the need for waxing.  Applied by licensed applicators to guarantee the perfect surface prep and coating application- this highly durable, marine ceramic coating locks in your vessel’s high gloss finish-is scratch resistant and impervious to oxidization and corrosion.

  • Maximize surface durability, gloss and surface depth
  • Excellent solution for Exhaust staining
  • Forms incredibly strong three dimensional network of nano sized ceramic particles that fill surface pores protecting it for years
  • Renders a slick anti static, self cleaning surface that is impervious to harsh UV Rays, extreme weather conditions, acids, salts, bugs, static adhesion and typical wash marring
  • Special layered design that can be re-coated over time and or coated to maximum thickness desired
  • Complete the Contact Form Below for a  FREE ESTIMATE

The Cost of Owning a Yacht

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Before buying our first boat my wife asked one night over dinner “What is the Cost of owning a yacht?” I was taken back as I had not researched this very important question.

“What is the true cost of yacht ownership?”

The next morning I awoke early and started pouring over the vast amount of information I could find on the internet that lent itself to the true cost of owning a yacht. Wow!  This was the one topic hardly ever discussed by brokers yet a very important one. Owning a yacht service company is incredibly helpful when it comes to sourcing these true costs as we bill for them daily but to get an introspective look into the true cost of owning a yacht I reached out to my favorite yacht brokers and yacht owners. Over the course of 1 week I must have spent 5 hours hearing stories-good and bad-about the selection process of buying a yacht and how it can effect the cost of owner ship.

I found that the 3 most costly factors in yacht ownership are..

  1. Crew
  2. Maintenance
  3. Dockage

Yacht Crew

Yacht Crew are necessary for vessels over 80 feet and on average costs the owner $6,500 per crew member, per month for vessels up to  120 feet in length. How many crew members are necessary depends on the capability of the hired crew and the level of service demand by the yacht owner. While yacht captains and engineers typically make $750-$900 per ft per year mates, deck hands and stewardess typically make %20-50% less depending on the experience they bring to the yacht team and demands of the yachting program. So do the math.. 80 ft boat, 2 crew members $13,000 per month. 130 ft boat 5 crew members $32,500 per month.

Yacht Maintenance

The cost of Yacht Maintenance becomes more costly as the age of your boat approaches 5 years, it’s at this time that boat repairs become more frequent because of misc batteries,pumps and seals throughout the boat expiring, it’s at this time that gelcoat repairs and yacht paint repairs become more frequent as well. It’s safe to say that the following scale is a fair measure for the cost of yacht maintenance on boats 1-10 years old based off the value of the boat. Keep in mind these cost don’t include fuel and food for the adventures ahead.

  1. 2% of boat value-this is relatively low because often time repairs and maintenance are included in the warrantee provided for by the yacht manufacturer
  2. 2.5% of boat value-warrantee usually expires for the yacht at the end of this year
  3. 3 % year 3 is a great year for the boat as many of the shortcomings from build are already sorted out
  4. 4%
  5. 4.5%
  6. 6 % -often times many consumable maintenance items need replacement
  7. 6%
  8. 6 %
  9. 7 %
  10. 7.5 %

Yacht Dockage

Just like Realestate, wherever people want to be.. the prices for yacht dockage are typically higher. The cost of running and operating a marina can be high so the most dependable and desirable marinas usually have higher rates. Sometimes summer time rates help ease this expense but on average price for dockage is between .50 cents- $3.00 per ft per day. So for an 80 ft boat low end dockage is $1,200 per month and high end dockage can be $6,000 per month–of course the higher cost puts you near the designer shop and chic restaurants of your favorite port town;)

Freedom Yacht Services specializes in delivering affordable yacht services and solutions for your yachting lifestyle. Whether it’s helping you purchase a new boat, sell your existing boat, servicing your boat or detailing your boat we are here to help-located at the biggest do it yourself shipyard in the states-Lauderdale Marine Center Call today..954-732-8916

Top 10 Recommended Paint/Gel coat maintenance tips after waxing your boat

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team washing boat

Top 10 Recommended Paint/Gel coat maintenance tips after waxing your boat

WASH DOWN REMINDERS

  • If using water from the dock make sure it goes through a proper wet spot water filter to remove hard minerals.
  • Using onboard water is optimal as it usually goes through a few staging filters to provide the softest cleanest water.
  • For the 1st couple of weeks your initial rinse before wash will remove 80% of salt and dirt.
  • Remember you can never give a boat enough water so soak really good before applying soap and mitt to clean your boat.
  • All though we recommend Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo as an ideal wash down soap after waxing your boat because of it’s near neutral PH, any soft automotive gel-soap will work (Mcquires Gold automotive soap is good)
  • Make sure to use proper concentrate to water ratio -it’s best to fill your bucket with water 1st before adding soap to prevent over concentration that will burn your boats painted surface.
  • We recommend a soft wool pad that wraps around a backing plate and onto the shurhold pole, often used to wash overheads this pad minimizes friction.
  • Use Soft blue Shurhold deck brushes only  should you not like using the wool pad, remember Yellow bristle Brushes are a bit course and only to be used on the decks and or Hull.
  • We highly recommend buying a few bottles of Permanon wash down gel soap-USE 1 time per month while washing your boat-this will clean and add wax to the existing coating to help bolster it.
  • Buy some Permanon maintenance spray, this applies like an instant detail, just spray on (wipe in with a clean micro-fiber and remove with another clean micro-fiber) this spray is excellent for every type of surface-just remember to do small areas at a time when applying in direct sunlight-it’s best to apply in the shade.

Needing your boat detailed?

Needing your boat waxed or put on a regular maintenance plan?

Call Freedom Yacht Services Today for a free estimate! 954-732-8916