Why White ?

[WorWilly]

Hig guy's, is there any reason all boats are white, I'd plan using bright yellow, with light blue writing and go faster lines !

[sabahcat]

White tends not to fade any more than white.

Colours especially dark colours like red I have seen almost totally wash out in a few years,

[marshmat]

Bright yellow should work well. It'll be distinctive, at least- there aren't many yellow boats- makes it harder to get lost when rowing back out to the anchorage.

Darker colours tend to fade, especially if done in gelcoat or low-quality paint. Perhaps more importantly, at least for warm-weather cruisers, dark colours get bloody HOT in the sun. Indeed, a black or navy blue surface in direct sunlight can get hot enough to give you first-degree burns and soften some core foams to the point where they'll deform without springing back. Even when you do see a dark-hulled boat, the decks are usually white or wood.

Originally Posted by marshmat

Darker colours tend to fade, especially if done in gelcoat or low-quality paint. Perhaps more importantly, at least for warm-weather cruisers, dark colours get bloody HOT in the sun. Indeed, a black or navy blue surface in direct sunlight can get hot enough to give you first-degree burns and soften some core foams to the point where they'll deform without springing back. Even when you do see a dark-hulled boat, the decks are usually white or wood.

Not only do they soften foam cores, you must take care painting a wood epoxy boat in dark colours too! If the resin is not a high temp. high postcured one!

And yellow is by far the safest colour in case of a SAR action has to be started!

[WorWilly]

Many thanks guys great info...

[bntii]

"There are only two colors to paint a boat, black or white, and only a fool would paint a boat black."

N. G. Herreshoff

[Tiny Turnip]

And yellow is by far the safest colour in case of a SAR action has to be started!

Is yellow regarded as a better colour than orange Richard? Not trying to be pedantic, just interested.

British 'Hi Visibility' standards use Hi Vis yellow, except on the railways, where we use the European standard Hi Vis Orange. My local safety equipment store has just started offering pink Hi Vis as well...

According to the British RNLI and German DGzRS yellow is the better choice than orange.
They should know.

[Tiny Turnip]

Thanks. They should indeed.

[Fanie]

White is a very forgiving colour for looking dirty as well. A dirty white boat still looks ok, almost all other colour boats looks dirty (and less acceptable) very quickly.

The HOT is not overestimated. White is the coolest colour, almost all other colours can fry your feet in hot sunlight from the bottom up.

White is probably the poorest colour for any type of material to use in the sun. Sunlight penetrate the white on ie paint or plastics more than it would black, so the material last shorter than the black of the same material would.

I've had boats of various colours, never had yellow or red though, and white is the the most comfortable and easiest to live with colour there is, you don't get tired of it because it is neutral. Some colours are really attractive, like a bright canary yellow and some of the darker reds are unbelievablebly attractive colours. Still, you have to make sure you can look at it for long periods of times without becomming cross eyed I mean getting tired of the colour.

[Submarine Tom]

You could go with 2 foot (60cm) yellow and orange stripes for high visibility SAR!

[Fanie]

That is exactly what I would suggest, use white and add one or two colours for a motive to make it look attractive...

I knew of some yellow ones that worked out fine, tho I agree with Herreshoff.
Red gelcoat fades to pink anyway - in this day and age, light colors other than white or grey will just go better with one's manpurse.

[Boston]

Originally Posted by bntii

"There are only two colors to paint a boat, black or white, and only a fool would paint a boat black."

N. G. Herreshoff

the always stylish concrete submarine
most fashionable in basic black

Thats deep sea marine* Boston! Not black.





*below 3000 meter