Black?

pyrojames

pyrojames

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Griff's little TV escapade has a lot to answer for. My wife watched it, enjoyed it, liked the boat and then asked if I would consider painting ours black as well. So...

Opinions please? Is black a good colour for a classic yacht? Is it a bad thing to do? I always fancied a black boat, but living in Oz, it definitely wasn't a good idea, but in the UK?
 
Still don't think a good idea. My other half asked which boat I liked.....I told her the black to look at - the white to own! Mind you if I had Griff's bank balance I could get the yard to paint her every year. Then again I guess she may have splined seams?
 
My hull is dark blue. Sunny side gets incredibly hot even inside. (Hot moulded ply construction) but I dread to think of potential consequences on caulked carvel topsides when moisture content changes as a result.
 
I've heard it said that black or very dark blue is the best colour for visibility at sea and that seems quite plausible. I think it can look really good especially on a carvel hull. I'm sticking to white.
 
All my wooden boats were painted white. I once tried painting a wide strake dark blue on one of them and it absorbed so much heat that the plank split! Over the years I've noticed how much more the (above water) seams open up on a darker painted boat and tend to look unsightly.
L.Francis Herreshoff said: "There are only two colors to paint a boat, black or white, and only a fool would paint a boat black."
(My present boat is in GRP to one of the above mentioned gentleman's designs and of course the first thing I did was paint it dark blue because I could! I've just remembered that L.F.H. also said that GRP "Looks like frozen snot"...)
 
My boat is black and she does get a bit warm in the sun. Not we've had that much. I wouldn't say that she's opened up any planks, (she'steak). She's been black for at least fifteen years. Working boats were often black. Having said that, I intend to change her to dark green soon. Any opinions on that?
 
Very dark green, varnished trail boards with gold leaf stripe and cream coach roof, inside bulwarks and cover board. Quietly stated quality or a bit over the top?
 
Hi

I used to own a carvel black 6 tonner and she opened up bad on the tight turn aft astern. If your boat is well built and has tight glued and splined seams you could consider, but if not I would say steer clear. If you are moving around a lot then you could but as soon as the boat is on a mooring for a few weeks without moving you will see some opening up. On the coldmoulded S&S I race on the hull is dark blue and there is allways some sign of the diagonal seams amidships on the south westerly moored side of the boat. Your boat looks good quality! What is it by the way? My advice would be dont do it!
 
My Adriana was dark green and we didn't experience any problems; in fact we noticed no difference compared to when she was white. Of course, she's plastic. Wood may react differently, but I doubt it.
I think dark hulls look great.
Boats.jpg
 
I think I've put paid to the idea. Thanks for all the comments. The boat is a one off by Henri Dervin and built in Arcachon in '47. I am still trying to find details on its early history. The French National Maritime Mueseum has copies of the original drawings but I have yet to try and get a copy.
 
Go from Dark to light by all means but dont go the other way round or you could be passing pound coins between the planks due the shrinkage caused by the additional heat build up
plus every blemish in the hull will stand out a mile in comparison to a light or pastel shade
 
That's the first mention of that. The hull needs to be very fair to stand a dark colour. I used to work for a Ford dealer and at the time the Mark 11 Capri was being made the John Player Special bodies were chosen from the production line for their panel straightness. I think at that time most black bodies were chosen on that basis. Our chairman's wife had a special Fiesta Ghia built which was hand-picked from the production line.
 
Gentleman's yachts traditionally are black, white or varnished. Wouldn't have anything green on my boat - but then I'm superstitious. Strangely, I'm told that green cars don't sell at all well second hand. OF

PS. I always enjoyed the German for GRP.
 
Have a look at the thread about the Zulu 'Violet'.
She probably always had a black hull during her working life, and when Gary first re-launched her her hull was painted black, as can be seen in one of the photos (and it looks wonderful) - but he repainted the hull white before they went off voyaging for all the reasons mentioned above.
And she still looks equally gorgeous now with a white hull IMO.
 
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