Fiberglass boat repair in Mobile, AL
Gelcoat, hulls, transoms, stringers, and custom parts for boats from the Delta to Dauphin Island. You see the price range before you commit, and every estimate is written.
Fiberglass boat repair around Mobile, AL typically costs $150 to $500 for gelcoat chips and scratches, $500 to $1,500 for hull section repairs, $2,000 to $5,000 and up for structural work, and $2,500 to $8,000 for a transom replacement. The price moves with how far damage has traveled past what you can see, the size of the hull, and whether wet core is involved. Salt water and Gulf sun are hard on laminate, so a chip that has been open through a summer usually needs more than a cosmetic fill. A shop should map the damage first, then give you a written range before any grinding starts. That is how we quote every job on Mobile Bay, and the full breakdown is on our pricing page.
Mobile Bay Fiberglass is a fiberglass boat repair and fabrication shop serving Mobile, AL and both shores of Mobile Bay. One crew handles recreational hulls and working boats alike, and nothing leaves the shop without the owner looking over the laminate.
Fiberglass and gelcoat work, hull to hardtop
Gelcoat repair
Chips, scratches, spider cracks and chalky oxidation, filled and color matched so the repair disappears into the surrounding finish.
Details and pricing →Hull repair
Impact damage from oyster bars, stumps and collisions, plus cracked sections, holes and osmotic blisters, repaired back to full strength.
Details and pricing →Transom replacement
Soft, wet or rotten transom cores cut out and rebuilt with composite or marine plywood, so your outboard hangs on solid structure again.
Details and pricing →Stringer and floor replacement
Soft spots in the deck usually mean wet wood underneath. We open the floor, replace rotten stringers and foam, and glass it back stronger.
Details and pricing →Custom fabrication
Consoles, hatches, live wells, hardtop and T-top fairings, brackets and one-off parts, built from your drawings or ours.
Details and pricing →Commercial marine
Fiberglass repair for working boats, from the Bayou La Batre shrimp fleet to Orange Beach charter hulls, with scheduling built around your season.
Details and pricing →What fiberglass repair costs on Mobile Bay
Marine shops around here quote job by job and keep the numbers to themselves. We publish ours. These are the ranges we actually quote against, and the full cost guide explains what moves each one.
| Job type | Typical range | What moves the price |
|---|---|---|
| Gelcoat chip, scratch, spider cracks | $150 to $500 | Color match difficulty, number of spots |
| Hull section repair | $500 to $1,500 | How far delamination travels past the crack |
| Structural repair | $2,000 to $5,000+ | Laminate schedule, access, engine or tank removal |
| Stringer and floor replacement | $1,500 to $6,000 | How far wet core has spread |
| Transom replacement | $2,500 to $8,000 | Hull size, core choice, outboard rigging |
See your repair range right now
Two questions, priced from the same table we quote against. No email wall, and the range updates as you answer.
The catch with gelcoat damage is what sits under it. A scratch that crosses into the laminate is a hull repair, not a cosmetic one, and that is the first thing we check before quoting.
Gelcoat scratch or structural damage? How to tell
Gelcoat is the thin colored skin over the hull. Scratches that stay in it are cosmetic: they look bad, they let water start working on the surface, but the laminate underneath is intact. Run a fingernail across the mark. If it catches hard, or you can see fibers or a different color at the bottom of the scratch, the damage has crossed into the structural laminate and a gelcoat fill alone won’t hold.
Cracks tell you more by their pattern. Spider cracks radiating from a point usually mean an impact or a stress flex at that spot. Parallel cracks along a chine or the transom corners often mean the structure behind them is moving, and the crack is the symptom, not the problem. On cored hulls and decks, water that gets past the skin soaks the core and travels, which is why a soft spot underfoot matters more than its size suggests. The Alabama Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant marinas program publishes good material on hull maintenance in Gulf conditions; the short version is that salt, heat, and UV make small damage grow faster here than it does up north.
If you’re not sure which side of the line your damage falls on, text photos to (251) 220-4157 and we’ll tell you straight, including when the honest answer is that it’s cosmetic and can wait.
Commercial and charter fleet fiberglass
Mobile County works its boats. Shrimpers and oyster boats out of Bayou La Batre, charter hulls running out of Orange Beach and Dauphin Island, crew and passenger vessels on the river. A recreational shop schedule doesn’t fit a boat that earns its keep, so we run fleet work differently: survey-based quotes at published shop rates, priority slots for working boats, and repairs documented for insurance and Coast Guard paperwork.
Commercial marine workWhere we work around Mobile Bay
Mobile County and Baldwin County both, from the Delta launches down to the beach. Each area page covers the local water and what it does to hulls.
The densest cluster of marinas on the western shore. Dog River Marina and Boat Works, Turner Marine and Grand Mariner Marina sit within a few miles of each other, and the Fowl River fleet adds hundreds more slips, which keeps thousands of recreational hulls sitting in salt water twelve months a year.
Bayou La BatreAlabama's seafood capital. The working shrimp and oyster fleet plus the shipyards along the bayou generate commercial fiberglass work, whaleback bows, deck repairs, hull patches, on a recurring schedule because these boats earn their living and cannot sit broken.
Dauphin IslandBarrier island fleet with the harshest salt and UV exposure in the metro. Offshore boats at Dauphin Island Marina and the Aloe Bay working waterfront live in open Gulf conditions, and gelcoat, cores and transoms age faster here than anywhere else we cover.
Orange BeachThe largest charter fishing fleet on the Alabama coast, based at Orange Beach Marina, SanRoc Cay and The Wharf. Charter hulls run near daily in season and take constant dock rash, deck wear and transom stress, and they cannot afford to sit idle for repairs.
Gulf ShoresThe Intracoastal Waterway corridor and Bon Secour fishing village put a big mixed fleet here, heavy center-console ownership plus rental and charter wear, with boats split between wakes and traffic on the ICW and salt exposure toward the Gulf.
FairhopeThe Eastern Shore's sailing community, centered on Fly Creek Marina and the Fairhope Municipal Pier. An older sailboat fleet that lives in the water year-round means steady blister repair, gelcoat restoration and deck core work.
DaphneEastern Shore bay access at May Day Park and D'Olive Bay with dense boat-owning suburbs minutes from the water. A big trailer and lift fleet generates steady gelcoat, ramp damage and core repair work.
Spanish FortThe head of the bay at the Causeway. Mobile-Tensaw Delta bass and duck boats launch at Meaher State Park and 5 Rivers, and delta running means frequent stump and oyster-bar strikes, the most impact-driven repair mix of any town we cover.
SaralandChickasaw Creek and upper delta access on the north side of the metro. A freshwater fleet of bass boats and jon boats picks up hull and stringer wear from the stump fields, plus trailer-life damage from boats stored outdoors year-round.
FoleyThe AL-59 boat corridor. Dealers, storage yards and service shops funnel most of south Baldwin County's boats through town, and the surrounding water, Bon Secour River, Wolf Bay and Graham Creek, keeps a large local fleet in use year-round.
From photos to splash, in five steps
- Send photos or call. Text damage photos to (251) 220-4157 or use the form. Most jobs can be ranged from good photos the same day.
- Get a written range. You get a price range from the published table, in writing, with what could move it up or down.
- We map the damage. On the boat, we sound the laminate and probe cores, so the scope is set before grinding starts, not discovered mid-job.
- Repair and finish. Laminate repairs matched to the hull schedule, gelcoat color matched and blended, cure times respected even when the calendar is tight.
- Walkthrough before payment. You see the finished laminate and finish in person or in photos before we settle up.
Questions boat owners ask us
How much does fiberglass boat repair cost in Mobile?
Minor gelcoat chips and scratches run $150 to $500, hull section repairs $500 to $1,500, structural repairs $2,000 to $5,000 and up, and transom replacement $2,500 to $8,000. Our cost guide breaks down what moves each number, and every estimate we give is written against those same ranges.
Can you fix a soft transom, or does it have to be replaced?
If the core is wet, replacement is the honest answer. Injecting sealer into wet coring hides the problem for a season and makes the eventual rebuild cost more. We drill a couple of small test holes, show you what comes out, and quote from there.
Do you work on boats at the marina, or do I bring it to you?
Both. Gelcoat and smaller laminate repairs can often be done in the slip or on the lift at Dog River, Fowl River, or the Eastern Shore marinas. Transom, stringer, and structural work needs the boat on a trailer or hauled out.
Do you handle insurance claim repairs?
Yes. We document the damage with photos and a written scope your adjuster can work from, and we repair to match the surrounding laminate and gelcoat rather than patching over it. Storm season claims get scheduled first.
How long does a typical repair take?
Gelcoat work is usually days, not weeks. Hull section repairs run one to two weeks depending on lamination and cure schedules, and transom or stringer jobs typically run two to four weeks. We give a schedule in the written estimate and tell you if resin cure weather pushes it.
Get a written repair estimate
Tell us about the boat and we’ll call back, usually the same day, with a range from the published table and an honest read on whether the repair is worth doing.