White Or Blue - Opinions?

[Dale Genther]

I'm looking for opinions on painting my 1952 41 ft. German Frers Sr. sloop, Boreal. For the past nine years, every spring, I've painted the hull of Boreal white (Kirby's) with a 3/4 in. cove stripe. The bottom has been painted black. I'm starting to get bored of the white and I'm staring to consider painting it Kirby's dark blue with the same gold cove stripe and red bottom paint Other then the issues of it being hotter on the inside and any imperfections in the hull fairing becomming more obvious are there any disenting opinions out there? This winter I should have the time to do a better than usual job of fairing the hull. At one time while the was in Argentina during her first 20 years she was painted black, which from the pictures I've seen, looked outstanding. I'm not quite ready to go the black route, but dark blue is interesting. Construction is mahogany on oak with copper rivets. So should I do it or do I just have to much time on my hands causing me to consider such a thing?

[ 10-08-2002, 09:39 PM: Message edited by: Dale Genther ]

[wolfietuk]

That is like asking which sexy panties should my wife wear.LOL Seriously though, it is a matter of opinion. Personally I like colors. Just remember the bigger the boat the more color. A sample that looks good and may look good on a 16' sloop may look gaudy on a larger craft. You will have to use your imagination. Just remember darker colors absorb more heat, some will argue this causes problems.

Rick

[jason stumpf]

dale,
remember that beautiful schooner "AmericA"? black hull, wood boat. it's one of those things that some folks hate, but like wolfie says, its up to you. i can just imagine that gold stripe set against the dark blue......
jason

[Wild Wassa]

Dale, What is the pigment type of Boreal white do you know. Titanium, Zinc or other? I'm assuming Boreal is Titanium.

Kirby's Dark Blue #33, looks like the (traditional) Paynes grey. A pigment colour rather than a proprietry name. Is this paint transparent, semi or opaque? This will effect the final colour greatly. Kirby's colour range is a touch limited, is that because they use only their traditional colours? One option could be to get Kirby's to tint a blue for you, I presume they would do this.

I was originally going to suggest an Indigo pigment, which would be half way between blue and black, since you have gone for Paynes Grey (almost there already) a somewhat neutral dark blue, could I suggest a somewhat richer pigment such as a Prussian Blue.

The colours will display a greater lateral colour contrast. As mentioned by Jason. The gold will look golden the blue, richer but not brighter.

You can link the blue and gold with a rich Off White (tint, XC-2). Closer to an ivory than white, but still a white.

Warren.

ps, I can relate to these colours, they are the colours of my sailboat.

[ 10-09-2002, 07:45 AM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]

[Thaddeus J. Van Gilder]

I think all cruising sailboats should be different collors, so that when you are drunk, it is easier to find your boat when rowwing back out in your dinghy.

[Dale Genther]

Wild Wassa - Thanks for the input, but I'm afraid all of this pigment talk is a bit beyond me. I'm going to discuss your comments with Kirby's. They should be able to understand better than I can.

Thaddeus -What you describe never happen to me, but a friend of mine did get on the wrong boat at 2:00 AM at the moorings in Annapolis Harbor, after a long night on the town. He ended up getting thrown back into his dingy. He then found his own boat and got throw back into his dingy by his wife who was still awake and had noted his condition. Ended up sleeping in the dingy. It was understandable as both boats were Hunters, which all look alike anyway

[Meerkat]

A dark hull will heat up more. I noticed that all the darker painted boats at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival had cracks in the paint following every plank seam, whether on house or hull, even ones that looked like they had been reasonably recently painted.

[Ariel]

white with blue trim along the rubrail or accenting the gold stripe-yum! If you can--post a picture....

[Dale Genther]

Ariel - Sorry but I've never tried to figure out how to post a picture. Someday when I have time I'll figure it out. Right now I'm too immersed in boat painting thoughts. But, Boreal's photo is in "My Wooden Boat" although a rather poor photo

[Bayboat]

In New England blue topsides are (were?) considered bad luck. But some mighty fine boats have blue topsides, e.g., Endeavour and Royono, and they could hardly be called bad-luck boats.

[Ian McColgin]

An Mya is blue.

Goblin was an exceptionally dark green and we had no checking problems.

Howabout you paint the starboard side (perhaps slightly shadier side) blue and port white and see which one you like better at the end of the year?

G'luck

[MuddyFeet]

All the plastic boats in the harbor are white, which is another argument for getting away from white...

[True Love]

I vote dark blue if you don't have to worry about the extra heat it will bring to the planks. I thought I read somewhere that you shouldn't change the paint of a white boat to a dark color because the extra heat will pull the planks from the frames - or at least cause them to move more and therefore develop leaks. Don't know if that's true.

[Meerkat]

Originally posted by MuddyFeet:
All the plastic boats in the harbor are white, which is another argument for getting away from white...As where many/most of the fine old wood yachts.

[rodcross]

I learned the hard-way that it is not enough to consider the topside color without giving nearly equal consideration to the bottom and boot-stripe combinations. I chose Kirby's grey-green, very dark green boot-stripe and red bottom. It looked so good on the test panels, I figured I couldn't go wrong. Wrong! The grey-green in combination with the dark green looked like olive drab/black in anything but perfect light. Next Spring I'm going to move to a lighter green hull and lighten the boot-stripe so that it looks green in any light.

The dark blue, gold cove and red bottom is a stunning combination that draws my eyes again and again, but it hides nothing. I don't think I could fair my hull well enough to carry those colors and 40 years of scraping and painting has fairly buggered the cove.

Its not that white hulls are boring, some are perfectly beautiful. I'm inclined to more colorful hulls and since I'll need to do some painting nearly every year, there's no loss adjusting the colors until I get it right.

[Dale Genther]

rodcross - What keeps drawing me to the blue/red/gold color combination is an old Hinckley Bermuda 40 in the marina near ours (yeah, plastic but beautiful non the less). which is done in the same colors. The Bermuda's size, shear, overhangs, etc. are somewhat similiar to Boreal's, so I have a real good idea what it will look like.

I to am concerned about my ability to fair the hull well enough so it looks good. But as you said, thats one nice thing about painting every year, if you don't like it, you can change it the next year.

[Ed Nye]

I vote for # 12, Bottle Green. That was on the ballot wasn't?
Ed

[capt jake]

Ed, I am thinking of green for an accent on my boat. People tell me, "It's not traditional. Blue or red!!" what ever that means.?? smile.gif

[Wild Wassa]

Dale, I originally thought Boreal was a colour. Boreal white it even sounds like a manufacturer's paint name.

The reason why I use a pigment's traditional names, is, to painters they are universally known. This is my first trade, I should know my trade. I can picture the pigments in my head. Blue #33 means little unless I have a colour card or patches.

To add extra weight, to the other Member's good advice, I certainly do not advise painting topsides dark. Certainly no darker than (a reflectance of 18%) 'a mid tone'.

Of the wooden boats that are in most need of repair, that I work on, all have dark topsides. My boat, had a dark deck and cockpit. 'twas a standard colour scheme, above a white hull. Or I should say, it was then back in the 60'. I'm fixing her now.

Even older boats are in reasonably good condition if the paint is a lighter tone. Today's modern paints have more UV inhibitors, (less UV absorbance) than in the past. New paints should be able to take heat shock better as well. How much who knows.

All the boats that I attend to, that are lighter, (than 18% reflectance) are in reasonablly good condition. Very little delamination. Very little crazing of the paint. On dark decks the cracks in the paint tend to be 10-100 fold over similar lighter coloured boats. The areas of delamination speak for themseves.

The option does not have to be white. It could be a desaturated colour, more white added, or less tint added to a basic white. Without going to a colour of maximum saturation, the darkest the paint can be.

Not so long ago, the Chemist posted figures (I think) looking at the temperature buildup in colour. The temperature differences between light dark were great. Burn your bum stuff. It gets hot enough on the water as it is.

Warren.

ps, I recently painted a boat with dark topsides, so I could have my own testbed to observe. I only want one.

[ 10-11-2002, 05:41 PM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]

[gaffman]

Someone is credited for the saying, perhaps one of the Herreshoffs, that there are only two colors to paint a boat, white or black, and only a damned fool would paint one black.

[Art Read]

"... Someone is credited for the saying, perhaps one of the Herreshoffs, that there are only two colors to paint a boat, white or black, and only a damned fool would paint one black... "

Yeah. Look at all the "damned fools" who've sailed dark hulls over the years. Admiral Lord Nelson, Steven Decatur and Isaac Hull, the countless Glouchester and Nova Scotian, "Bluenose" schoonermen, and now, trawlermen, Captains Boudreau, Miles, et all of "PRIDE of BALTIMORE", The man who sailed "AMERICA" over to Cowes to steal away a hundred guinieas worth of silver plate from the Brits...

The prejudice for white hulled yachts is a holdover from the rigid fashions of the "gilded age" and a less expensive, practical consideration of this mass produced "gell coated" age. If you will sail your boat in the tropics, by all means, paint her white. But if you live in more temperate climes, paint her whatever color "floats your boat".

('Course... I ain't biased about this... ;) )

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid10/pbaaed6f9366b54a550716612c0d8fdb4/fe09298b.jpg

[Simon Hansen]

Hello
Well, I might be a traditionalist, but I like white boats best. My own boat is white. In Denmark most elder sailingboats are white, often with deck painted cream-white (if the havent put modern teak on the deck).
My own boat is from 1946, a 32 foot sloop, and she is white, red bottom.
You can watch her on my homepage.
So go white again.
Regards Simon