Boat color

[Nordic Star]

I'm thinking of changing the color of my hull to dark blue so as to make her look more Trawler-esque. I would love your inputs.

 

[markpierce]

Good! Your boat will follow the tradition of Holland America cruise ships as well as most all commercial ships. Have a dark hull (green) myself, and love it. Easier to be seen in foggy weather, and not looking like 90 percent of all other recreational boats.

 

[psneeld]

Color makes no difference in character.....only in personal likes.

Some vessels prefer darker colors to hide the rust and dirt.

 

[markpierce]

...
Some vessels prefer darker colors to hide the rust and dirt.

See nothing wrong in that.

 

[markpierce]

A serious ship:



Unlike most cruise ships and toy boats.

 

[Portuguese]

Rainha Jannota

Red wine & Light Beige

 

[psneeld]

Mark....less serious than this one.....

 

[Moonfish]

We're thinking of going to the darker side, too.

Our issue is that the main cabin on our Cheoy Lee 46 looks tall. So we want to employ color psychology by painting the hull a more deeply saturated color. Darker looks bigger when placed adjacent to lighter colors. And by keeping the cabin Grand Banks Beige the effect would be the boat appears less top heavy.

Right now the hull color is Hatteras Off-White, which actually lighter in color than the main cabin, resulting in the opposite effect we want. I prefer dark green or blue, but my wife (who originally wanted a red/burgundy hull) and I have compromised on a blue we both like:

 

[markpierce]

Mark....less serious than this one.....

I'm not a fan of that scheme.

 

[markpierce]

Rainha Jannota

Red wine & Light Beige

Red is better than white!

 

[psneeld]

Better?

 

[markpierce]

I can see why most boaters choose a white hull, because that's what is mostly available. Wonder if many boaters would have dark hulls if they had a no-cost choice.

 

[markpierce]

Better?

Definitely.

 

[Ex Sailor]

Biggest mistake I ever made ... !

I painted my former sailboat blue for the very reasons being mentioned here. The hull was always hot in the summertime and every scratch, bruise, scuff and ding showed right through the paint.

I would advise against it ... FB

 

[MichaelB1969]

I almost bought a boat with a blue hull, and have a friend who has one. That friend, and my broker both conveyed what a pain in the arse a blue hull is. It shows everything, and when it oxidizes it looks like crap as opposed to a lighter color that doesn't show it nearly as much. I ended up with a light gray hull, which I love.

That all said, I really love the way the blue looks. Just don't know if I'd feel like trying to keep it looking perfect all the time.

Goo luck!

 

[john61ct]

Biggest mistake I ever made ... !

You're either very young, or have had a charmed life

 

[Capt Jack]

In my experience, salt spray will always show on a dark color hull. On lighter color it will blend in and disappear. Also lighter is much cooler - but I am in Florida and cooler is what we all strive for...

John

 

[Gordon J]

We cruised the Caribbean for more than a year with a dark green hull. It was definitely hotter then white hulled boats. It took a couple of hours to cool down in the evening.

 

[Acheron2010]

Colored hulls are very hot, and show every little spray of salt and wax swirl. Even your canvas should be as light-colored as possible.

 

[hmason]

Most friends with dark hulled boats are sorry. Some sooner than later. They are hot and they fade. They look great--for awhile. White is cool and resist looking faded. YMMV.

 

[BruceK]

It will be like a black car, the only time it looks good is just after a wash.
There is a reason most boats are white, it works. I have seen silver grey hulls, like auto metallic silver, it looks good and won`t show the dirt, salt, etc,like dark blue or black. I`d hazard a guess dark hulls get repainted more often than white ones.
A TF member "wrapped" his boat. Might cost less and be more easily changed.

 

[klee wyck]

I hear the comments on white being easier to keep clean and I would certainly agree in terms of cars.
Also keep in mind that I am in the PNW where warm is good, not bad. Also that my boat is steel with 12 coats of Awlgrip and not gelcoat.
Now having said that, Klee Wyck gets washed about once or twice a year and gets Finessit once very two years when in the yard. For some reason it always looks very clean and shiny, never shows a salt residue on the dark blue hull, and never looks dirty. Could be the constant Seattle rain I suppose....
Libra has an off white hull and generally looks a little dirtier. I always feel like it needs a wash. also steel but not as great a coating as Awlgrip I think. First trip to a US yard coming up here shortly and I will try Finessit on that hull.
I really like the blue hull.

 

[Benthic2]

I've always been partial to red......

 

[Nordic Star]

60 years old and graduated from the school of hard knocks.

 

[BruceK]

I've always been partial to red......

Me too, but the thread is about boats, not wine.

 

[North Baltic sea]

Colored hulls are very hot, and show every little spray of salt and wax swirl. Even your canvas should be as light-colored as possible.

it is true that the dark color warmer, and that's why I dark blue, here more than half of the period of cold. wax eddies are history, my armor does not leave swirls see the picture, the best investment to keep the boat like new!

here salinity of only about 1%. the other loss is another victory, but I guarantee that Rupes big foot on a white boat makes great!

Rupes big foot 21 mark 2 random orbit polisher 21mm stroke

 

[Hotrod]

Everytime my wife and I would head south on the ditch, we would see a beautiful Hinckley, sitting on a lift. Beautiful blue on the north facing side, and whitish pale blue on the south side. It was also under a shed.The major complaints we always heard, were fading, and hot, also the same with dark canvas. We found this to be true even on the Chesapeake Bay, but to a lesser degree. We have also seen, a literal stripe from the sun on some boats, from being in the same spot for periods of time.

 

[Lou_tribal]

Like mentioned previously, I guess color is a matter of personal taste. So speaking of my taste, I find white hull with a navy blue accent strip at the top very elegant. I saw one trawler like this and I liked it very much.

L.

 

[TDunn]

Dark colored boats are a dime a dozen here. Everywhere you look you see flag blue Hinckleys, claret red Morris's and dark green Sabres. I prefer my oats to stand out from the hohum dark colored crowd so I keep mine white.

 

[Ski in NC]

Dark paint over white gelcoat is a nightmare. Fades and scratches are bright white. And hot. If already dark gelcoat, dark paint at least won't show the scratches.

I painted mine light yellow, closest I could get to scum stain color.