sanding

[Landlubber]

Well said jbowers417, and enjoy!

[Jimbo1490]

Black surfaces perpendicular to the sun at mid day during summer will reach almost 170 F, with the dark blues, greens and browns only about 10 * cooler. White and the light pastels will reach no more than 120-130F, which is a BIG difference. Wood cares not a wit about 170F, although it will grow a lot which creates its own problems in a boat. But wood won't turn to mush they way most composite resins will at these temps.

Are there epoxy resins that can cope with 170F ? Sure, but they cost MUCH more, and/or are generally harder to handle, with only a couple of exceptions like EMI-24 epoxy catalyst which consistently gives you cured state Tg about 50C higher than the cure temp. But it cures dreadfully slow without heating, so again, hard to handle.

The epoxy curing agents which give good high temp performance at room temp cure are consistenly more expensive, MUCH more toxic and sensitizing, and have notoriously short pot life.

The marine intended epoxy systems give good temp performance for room temp curing systems, really. But I would paint it white or light!

Wood OTOH is already dark in color. Look how many bare wood docks there are that have weathered to a dark gray/brown. You can't even walk on them with bare feet in summer! Or how about all those creosoted pilings, almost black in color. You can bet they get pretty hot during summer and they don't turn to mush!

Jimbo

[alan white]

No, wood will take a lot of heat. And something PAR said was what I almost said at the time. That is, problems arising from painting a carvel hull black are often already existing problems coming to light.
In practical terms, the paint itself will not last as long, and it is the paint that seals the wood's outer surface against moisture transfer. The slower the transfer, the less likely the planks will distort under the onslaught of direct sunlight.
Quarter-sawn wood should always be used for planking stock, but some boats have been built on the cheap(er) and they have a lot of plain-sawn or transition (not quite either) wood in their topsides. Under white paint, such construction may not ever become a problem (and species vary as well), but once blackened enough to raise the temperature, and perhaps later coupled with neglect in keeping the surface properly sealed, and troubles may arise for the first time.
Of course, there are many, many black carvel hulls, some very old and still kicking. If built with quality timber and workmanship, and a bit more care is taken with painting maintainence, they will certainly last and stay almost as fair as a white hull. I say almost because there is sure to be at least a small difference, on average.

[jbowers417]

Just an FYI. Information I was given in regard to hull material is this. The wood was purchased from a Navy shipyard at the end of WWII where they built mine sweepers. I've seen these first hand. The hull is yellow pine three quarter inch thick and the ribs are oak. The mine sweepers, as all Navy ships, was painted Haze Gray. So that's what my lobster boat is made of. Built by the Hodgdon Bros. in East Booth Bay Maine 1946. They built only two twenty seven footers. As time went on, they merged with someone else and built larger more luxurious composite sailing vessels.

[jbowers417]

To the best of my understanding, there are no resins to take issue with. Just hull material ( three quarter inch yellow pine ), caulking, and packing. Navy paints all their vessels ( including mine sweepers which are wooden hulled ) Haze Gray which is a medium shade of gray. Saw a mine sweeper up close once. Served on a Frigate once also and while in port had to help paint her. Haze Gray, made by Sherwin William.

[alan white]

Hodgdon built quality boats. No worries there. Medium gray is a nice color for your boat. Very common color for lobster boats here in Maine.

[jbowers417]

Haze gray is what I'm doing the inside with. Leaving the overhead white. Thinking of leaving outside of pilot house white as well. If I do the outside of the hull in medium gray, or even a light gray, what color would you suggest I do the gunwhale, top of bow area, top of pilot house in?