Hull Colour

[Signed Out]

Mine's bright lifeboat orange and I love it. The colour that is... Stands out wonderfully! But then mine's steel and I think that steel in white'll show rust streaks badly- hence very few ships being white.
Blues is certainly "classy", but how well will it stand out in the distance?
Jem.

 

[yogi]

Simon
Not to flog a dead horse, I would guess other factors come into play. British gelcoat may be better than Canadian. Another factor could be the amount of sun or rain. I don't know where you keep your boat but it may be somewhere that is famous for the amount of rain it gets. I don't know where that could be but I understand the sun came out over England this year more than the norm.

 

[Guest]

Could well be all that rain makes her self-polishing! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[ccscott49]

I didnt know that more of builders of production boats were using epoxy resins? I've never heard that before, good idea, but costly.

 

[boatmike]

That's how it should be Simon. If you have a blue boat then below WL should be clear for preference and I do agree that if looked after well blue looks super.

 

[boatmike]

No the gel coat is the same but the amount of UV the boat is exposed to is the difference. Take a blue plastic boat to the Med for a couple of seasons and it will certainly fade....

 

[jwilson]

I think all new Beneteaus are now moulded in white: if the customer wants a blue one they spray it. Must keep the yards busy doing touchups, as scratches are going to be horribly obvious.

On older boats, coloured gelcoats do have a fractionally worese reputation for osmosis, and some colours (most colours actually) fade after a few years.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

[ QUOTE ]
I didnt know that more of builders of production boats were using epoxy resins? I've never heard that before, good idea, but costly.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not necessarily though, strange as might seem at first.
The logic behind this new approach - for larger boats, anyway - is that for the same strength of hull you need less material when using epoxy. Less laminations mean less labour and that more than makes up for the cost of the materials. Plus, there's the marketing 'carrot' that the boat would be inherently less prone to osmosis!
There was a lengthy article some time ago in Professional Boat Builder. I could look up the issue number if you are interested.

 

[halcyon]

Back in 1991 we bought a Hurley 27 of the boats first owner. He had wanted a blue hull, but George told him to have white as blue faded and bloomed, but he insisted on a blue hull. He went to watch the hull come out of the mould, and there appeared a white hull with a blue 4 inch stripe just below the water line, that was his blue hull.
After i spent two weeks removing 20 years antifouling, I had a white hull with a blue stripe.

Brian

 

[Chrissie]

I have a red Contessa 26 (Red base Gel coat) and have stripped off 5 layers of paint, I am hoping to repaint it Black (childrens choice more than mine)
My question is, will black paint absorbing more heat than white afect my boat bearing in mind it was red when made, and how hard will it be to keep her looking good.
My other boat has a white hull and is hard to keep clean, cleaning her above the waterline every few months as a minimum.