Navy blue hull or white?

[King Penguin]

I love navy blue hulled yachts, for me they just look prettier......

My last yacht was blue hulled......but boy, it was a labour of love to keep her looking smart. My current boat is white hulled and I have been amazed how much easier it is to keep looking good.

Maybe a vinyl wrap is the way forward (PBO June), I like the idea but I wonder how durable they'll be. Time will tell.

 

[maby]

Definitely white. Navy blue looks great at the boat show, but you'll spend more time keeping it looking good than you will sailing it.

 

[sailorman]

I love navy blue hulled yachts, for me they just look prettier......

My last yacht was blue hulled......but boy, it was a labour of love to keep her looking smart. My current boat is white hulled and I have been amazed how much easier it is to keep looking good.

Maybe a vinyl wrap is the was forward (PBO June), I like the idea but I wonder how durable they'll be. Time will tell.

Awlgrip G-Line in Aristo Blue is stunning with red cove lines

 

[PCUK]

Blue. The extra work is a bonus!

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Definitely white. Navy blue looks great at the boat show, but you'll spend more time keeping it looking good than you will sailing it.

Depends on the age of the boat.

We bought new (twice). The first was polished by hand only, once a year, and looked great when we sold 8 years later.

The second was moulded 4 years ago. Same treatment and still looks new.

I would always go blue in our cold climate. Different in the Med or Carib. though.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Blue requires hosing off after every trip, else you see the dried salt. Think hosepipe bans!

Also I suspect patching and matching white after damage is easier than patching and matching blue. Could be wrong, though.

 

[doug748]

I have a blue hull and it looks very, very smart. It also seems to add a distinguished air to even quite short and stout hull forms.

However when the next respray comes up (4 grand a pop) I am seriously considering regelcoating in white.

 

[Koeketiene]

I love navy blue hulled yachts, for me they just look prettier......

My last yacht was blue hulled......but boy, it was a labour of love to keep her looking smart. My current boat is white hulled and I have been amazed how much easier it is to keep looking good.

Apart from the work involved in keeping a blue hulled boat looking smart, cruising ground is another consideration.

If you intend to sail warmer climes, it would be considerably warmer down below in a blue hulled boat.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Blue requires hosing off after every trip, else you see the dried salt. Think hosepipe bans!

Also I suspect patching and matching white after damage is easier than patching and matching blue. Could be wrong, though.

Hosing is a complete waste of time. With proper polish you hardly notice it IMHO. We never hose off.

 

[prv]

A dark coloured hull (mine is black) definitely looks much nicer than yet more white plastic. Obviously not one for Med / Caribbean cruising though.

On my boat, shiny and polished would look wrong anyway, so I don't need to do any cosmetic hull maintenance. Although there's a minor scrape on one side that I should really repaint; trouble is I don't know what the existing paint is.

Pete

 

[nevis]

Blue +

 

[Kukri]

It's a question of black:

or white:

 

[[10753]]

When I bought my boat she was white which was starting to look weathered. I initially painted her blue then black then blue. 10 years ago I stripped her back and painted her Blue with Awlgrip. Today, yes there are wear and tear scratches and the odd ding but the colour has not faded at all. She is on a swinging mooring open to bashing and mooring buoy wear, overall happy with the result. If and when the time comes to do again I'll definitely be going blue.

 

[sailorman]

It's a question of black:

or white:

that not Clytie is it

 

[Kukri]

that not Clytie is it

Here's Clytie (the one to starboard):

(had to sort through a few pictures to find one that did not include children in swimming things!)

 

[sailorman]

Here's Clytie (the one to starboard):

(had to sort through a few pictures to find one that did not include children in swimming things!)

She looks similar to a boat owned by a former forumite from the Woodbridge area

 

[Kukri]

The black paint looked wonderful, but her seams opened up something awful - according to George Whisstock, who supplied the first picture, this used to happen in a matter of hours!

 

[Seajet]

I've had a dark blue boat, my pride & joy Anderson which was dark blue as standard, and a white boat, a Carter 30.

The Carter was a complete sod to keep clean, showed up things like every oil spillage kindly provided by fishing boats, fender scuffs etc...

 

[markdj]

A vinyl wrap has got to be the worse piece of advice the PBO has given in their magazine. Worse than painting a gelcoat boat, IMHO.

Gelcoat is such a superior surface finish, scratches can be repaired fairly easily and it is smooth and easy to keep clean/polish.

 

[prv]

I can see the point of a wrapper if you want an image or pattern (leopard-print hull, anyone?) - I can imagine decoration like that appealing to Cowes racers (ok, maybe not the leopard-print) and a printed wrap is the only practical option. For solid colour it just seems too fragile compared to gelcoat or paint.

Pete