Coloured hulls

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Fairline Phantom boats won't be available in coloured hulls from 2002 models on. Is my old suspicion true that coloured hulls are not tough enough in the Med sun ?

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andyball

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What about the UK sun? We're buying new soon( not fairline), and t'wife wants a blue hull.

Will it last?
 
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My boat (a Draco) was built in 93 and the blue hull still looks great.
By the way tell her if she wants blue she'll have to polish it
 
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There is no problem with good quality gelcoat, but it does need to be kept clean and polished to look at it's best. There are plenty of 20 year old Nelsons and Hardys around that look fine.
 
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Re: Fairline, others

I have (oops, had) a blue fairline hull. New it looks fabulous, but there are manufacturering fault, and (like a black car) it needs to be much cleaner than a white hull to look really smart. Thr rear flanks of a fairline face upwards and do get the worst of the sun. Don't spose this happens with nelsons, don't know about the draco.
 
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Got rid of a three year old US boat (Maxum) with a red hull that oxidised horribly, just as soon as you looked at it. Now got a 5 yr old Fairline with a navy hull that looks like it just came off the line. Guess it's just the materials they use. One tip - even a jet wash won't shift the salt and muck you pick up at sea, you need to get out with a sponge and shampoo...
 

martin

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I have a 95 Princess with blue hull. It had spent most of its life in the med and was not looking its best when I bought her. Some sections had gone a cloudy colour. However, after a lot of cut back and polish she has returned to as good as new. The guy who did the work advised me to keep waxing it regularly with the blue car wax you get at Halfords.

As Matts says, the sloping rear quarters tend to get more punishment than the rest but as long as you keep a good layer of wax on it and look after it, it should be ok.
 
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Re: Fairline, others

OK, but then: What is the reason for Fairline to stop offering cloured hulls for 2002 Phantoms ??

Surely not limited interest by buyers...

The passage itself is the ultimate destination
 
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Re: Fairline, others

I'm afraid I'm not privy to their decision-making process, and anyway I am banned from making nasty comments about how daft they are. Oops. Perhaps manufacturing problems, but they've made hundreds.
 
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Re: Fairline, others

Didn't jfm post on this point following his tour round their nissan huts, oops sorry factory, earlier in the year? I'm sure he said they found the quality control too difficult and were giving up on the blue but trying to pass it off as "customers choice".
 
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Re: Fairline, others

I knew I was right. Just checked through jfm's postings from his visit to Fartline back in May (good ain't they, all these gizmos on this new board. How did we manage before the flood). Anyway jfm said...

Quote

Shock horror they just decided they will no longer make blue hulls. They say it's too hard. All phantoms now white, they seemed not quite sure on the smalller targas they thought competitive pressure might cause them still to offer blue. I complained like hell to the sales bod, CEO and Manuf director, I said cannot possibly buy a non-blue fairline but they didn't seem too bother cuz their order book stretches a long way.

UNQUOTE,

So there. A true marketing oriented company giving the customer exactly what they want!!

Why not ask them at Soton next week. Tell em you want to order a new one for delivery next July and see what they say. Course they might just take your deposit....
 

jfm

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Re: Yup, Colin is right

Fairline Manuf director told me over lunch (in May) they are stopping blue hulls becuz too hard to make. They need longer to cure in the mould, and the ripples that occur at bulkheads when hulls post-cure after lift-out from the mould show up worse on blue than white. Also the general imperfections in the moulding show up worse too. Apparantly the prob is worse when they are made in cold Oundle/Corby then get put in the hot med sun 4 weeks later.

I complained and said sunseeker manage it ( a comment that was well received, you can imagine) but they just stuck to their guns. They passed the blame onto GRP manufacturers, they said if the materials technology gets better they might switch back but for now all Phantoms are to be white.

Fairline moulds for the older phantoms were grey (if I recall) so they could use white or blue gelcoat and still see what they're doing but all new tools (including Phantom 50) are black and they're not gonna hand lay up navy gel on a black tool becuase that's asking for much eyestrain and bits missed. With black tools they'll only do white, so the decision's irreversible I reckon


JFM
 
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We're interested in a Phantom 43 to take to the Med after a couple of years in the UK. As mentioned by others, we've been told the blue hulls are finishing because they're too difficult to make.

Spoke to a new P43 owner with white hull recently. He'd previously had a blue hull targa and chose a white hull for his new boat. Why? I asked. Too difficult to keep looking good, he said. Showed every mark. And blue attracts heat in the Med and makes it very hot in the summer.

He was very sure white was best; he spoke strongly enough to convince me that it made sense to accept that white was acceptable.

But blue hulls do look better, don't they?!
 
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Yes, I think blue hull v good stuff. We have (had) blue hull. Actually, it's more painful in the UK, as you walk down the side on finger pontoons and see clse up. In med, easier to maintain - just do the back bits! .

The heat thing must be cobblers on the hull colour - the sun doesn't hit it face on, only at an angle. Spect jfm can still rememebr his heat calculations, or at least know whether its the cosine or sine of sod all.

As for resale etc etc. Seems that the sport-type boat need some hull colour or stripe, whereas flybridges don't. So shock praps fairline are right to discontinue on phantoms, leave it on targas. Princess advise against blue, buit can specify sticky on blue stripes, whacky decals, and then replace them later.

So, blue is good, and if it gets discon, it'll be rare too. Hence sought after. Or perhaps dated. Oh heck. If that happens, sand it down and spray the whole thing silver, superstructure too. God knows how they maintain it but it looks the biz.
 
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