Black hull in Med

[westernman]

Any one with experience of changing hull colours from white to black (or some other dark colour) in the Med?

Does it make a noticeable difference to temperature, aging of paint etc etc?

 

[Chris_Robb]

Any one with experience of changing hull colours from white to black (or some other dark colour) in the Med?

Does it make a noticeable difference to temperature, aging of paint etc etc?

Have you ever felt the temperature on a BLACK surface such as a car in the sun? Do you think that a laminate would be happy under that kind if temperature?

 

[peter radclyffe]

it can be close to an oven

 

[DownWest]

Not applicable to your boat, but a classic '39 boat I knew, in the forepeak one could see daylight all over through the planks after one season.Related probs cost him the boat when it ran aground on a falling tide and filled.
Various books suggest it is not a good idea on sheathed hulls like yours, as the cloth pattern 'prints' through when it gets hot, which it will. Devlin's boatbook is one and I think Pardey has some thoughts on it too.
A

 

[MYStargazer]

I'm Spain-based, and am thinking of painting my grp mobo navy blue as a change from white. The superstructure is white, and the freeboard is quite low - it's a Nelson-style Weymouth 32. I can't believe it'd make that much difference...

 

[Nautorius]

The key problem is maintenance. Darker colours get easily scratched and will fade in the Sun. This means putting on UV inhibitors and regular polishing. It is a lot of hassle for the owner in the Med. I had two dark blue hulls in the UK and that was bad enough with the re-buffing. Every Blue/Black hull doen here looks terrible after a few years.

Not sure if it will increase the temperature...maybe.

Paul

 

[multihullsailor6]

I didn't like the way the portlights were showing on the side of my strip-planked wooden catamaran, so I "hid" them with black stripes - my "go-faster" stripes did the job - a much better looking catamaran!
However, even with just the UK sun one could feel a very noticable difference in the heat on the inside of the hulls when comparing black and white outside areas.
I would hazard to say a black / dark hull in the Med is very quickly going to turn into a furnace!

 

[Ariadne]

How about leaving the hull white and painting the decks a sand colour (to reduce the glare and break up the whiteness) or similar?

Dark colours in the sun and heat, they just don't work. Far to hot inside and out.

 

[billmacfarlane]

My hull is navy blue and one year when polishing the hull in the boatyard, the side facing south was almost too hot to touch. Magnify that and that's what'll happen to the hull in the hotter Med climate. If I get round to going to the Med which is a distinct possibility, the hull is being awlgripped white.

 

[tcm]

Yeah, a mate has just bought a black-huled predator 74, black hull black awning, boiling hot. Don't do it! The difference in temperature is huge, very notideable to the touch with adjacent bits of same material eg grp being ok in white, and ow! in black. Looks the biz tho, but it's the first season...

 

[Nautorius]

Yeah, a mate has just bought a black-huled predator 74, black hull black awning, boiling hot. Don't do it! The difference in temperature is huge, very notideable to the touch with adjacent bits of same material eg grp being ok in white, and ow! in black. Looks the biz tho, but it's the first season...

I bet it was so hot he needed a Magnum of champagne to cope with the heat!

Only 4 Blue (or Black) hulled boats in our Marina out of 200 which says something! Also the cost of Awlgriping a 47ft Beneteau with a faded blue hull was quoted at €12k a few weeks ago so very expensive to rectify. I just would not go there..and the proposed purchaser of the Bene 47 also walked away because of the blue hull damage.

Paul

 

[Salty John]

I don't know what the fuss is about. Our dark green hull still looked great after three years cruising in the tropics and we didn't notice that it was particularly hot below.

We had cream decks - I imagine dark decks would have a more significant effect. However, I once compared the temperature on a white deck to a fake teak deck over the course of a blazing hot day in Florida and the difference was very slight.

I know dark colours absorb more heat, but it's also true that a shiny surface reflects it. In China the peasants work the fields in clothing made from a black but shiny material and I'm told it's to keep cool in the blazing sun.

 

[tcm]

haha but different boat -mags is a p72

 

[aquatom]

There have been a lot of black sunseekers apearing around Mallorca recently and all of them fading badly. They have to wax them with a good UV protective wax every two weeks. The black looks good but when washing the boat the water dries streight away and is a nightmare to get the water marks off.

 

[saltwater_gypsy]

There is lot of confusion about colour and heat absorbtion. With GRP. the resin in the gelcoat absorbs the infrared radiation regardless of the colour.
The main disadvantage of dark colours is that they show up every mark and stain.
Its OK for Sunseekers , they are washed and polished every ten minutes!

 

[rascacio]

Just a comment

There is lot of confusion about colour and heat absorbtion. With GRP. the resin in the gelcoat absorbs the infrared radiation regardless of the colour.
The main disadvantage of dark colours is that they show up every mark and stain.
Its OK for Sunseekers , they are washed and polished every ten minutes!

Forget the physics lessons, we painted our decks (GRP boat ) a medium/light grey in the non slip areas with non slip deck paint in the Med and you could not step on them in bare feet they got way too hot. The white non slip areas were easily walked upon even at the hottest part of the day, so I disagree that colour makes no difference to heat absorbtion, I can simply state that in practical use it does !!

 

[vyv_cox]

Forget the physics lessons, we painted our decks (GRP boat ) a medium/light grey in the non slip areas with non slip deck paint in the Med and you could not step on them in bare feet they got way too hot. The white non slip areas were easily walked upon even at the hottest part of the day, so I disagree that colour makes no difference to heat absorbtion, I can simply state that in practical use it does !!

Our experience exactly the same. The non-slip on our GRP cockpit floor had almost worn smooth so we stuck on grey non-slip, thinking that this would be a better colour for a floor. We can't walk on it in bare feet any more.

 

[mikeinkwazi]

Any one with experience of changing hull colours from white to black (or some other dark colour) in the Med?

Does it make a noticeable difference to temperature, aging of paint etc etc?

In my experience when Med cruising in 2005 white is the only colour to have on your decks and cabin top. I changed from blue to white for that trip, forgetting to do under the cockpit mat! In the Med that cockpit was very hot on bare feet! In theory Red would be ok, but I'd stick to white every time.

 

[Woodlouse]

Any one with experience of changing hull colours from white to black (or some other dark colour) in the Med?

Does it make a noticeable difference to temperature, aging of paint etc etc?

Even in England a black hull is undesirable for a wooden boat, put two hulls next to each other, one white and one black and you'd be appalled at how much the black hull will start to open up on the top sides.

Thats not a problem you'll have though (it's a westernman no?). Epoxy however doesn't like high temperatures, it's highly unlikely it'll get hot enough to start melting it but cooking a hull like that is something I really would want to avoid.

If you're just after a change of image have you considered a two tone finish? White or cream on the bottom with a darker grey, green or blue on top? As you probably know it's the popular way of painting that sort of boat now and for most of them, it does look good.

 

[Billjratt]

It WILL be hot! You will feel it in your bed in the morning ( Eastern bunk)!
The fridge compressor will be on and off like a proverbial lady of the night's nether garments trying to cool the matrix, the batteries will rebel. and there is the above-mentioned scuff/weathering/UV susceptibility as well. Been there.
I would not recomend it.