External paint colour schemes

[captain flint]

Ok so this is just a time-wasting thread to comment on if you are bored or just feel like it. Feel free to stop reading now!

Plus, I'm not feeling in need of help exactly (partly as I don't honestly give a flying one about the external colour scheme  - within reason). But if you feel like chipping in, then go ahead. And of course maybe something more important to consider than aesthetics will be brought to my attention. I am attaching some files of colours I'm considering. Well, I'm considering some of them, anyway. I was just trying all kinds of things out, really. Some are kind of out there, but it's fun playing around (if you're easily entertained).

 

I think the last paint job was sprayed on and it really does rather need a whole new paint job now. I have identified and am in touch with a good boat painter and we're discussing slots. And costs. Oh, the costs. Anyway we'll leave that aside.
 

I want a pale/white roof, to keep the boat cool. I want the cabin ends to match the roof so it doesn't look so isolated. I will probably go with one colour for the deck and top of the hull down to the first strake (although I sometimes think about painting the top strip of the hull to match the rest of the hull. I swear when I was a youngster, canal boats had a black hull and deck with maybe a little decoration fore and aft, and colours on the cabin only, and I sometimes think the whole thing of painting the top strip of the hull is newfangled and maybe even a bit naff. But my boat is not an old working boat or anything, it's a modern 50x10 wideish beam). I don't yet know how much extra things like coach lines would cost. And I'm undecided if I even want them (I currently have them). 
Then there are other oh-so-unimportant decisions like, do I want to pick out the rails on the stern in a colour to match the deck, or contrast with it.

 

One option would be just to paint it a nice (but boring) midnight blue on the deck and cabin sides, with a white roof. I guess it would show up the dirt a LOT less than anything with paler colours.

Anyway, enough waffle. Feast your eyes on this load of rubbish! (The not-very-nice shade of green with the white oblong along the cabin sides is an approximation of the current scheme. Oh and ignore the red boxes, I meant to delete them)

 

 

 

[Tonka]

Will it be epoxy 2 pack paint.

If not don't do Red it will become pink

[Crewcut]

I'd forget the purple and that shade of blue is horrible. Out of those I'd go with the darker green on top, orange under. The turquoise with the darker shade on top are quite good as well. Good shout going for white roof...

[captain flint]

12 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Will it be epoxy 2 pack paint.

If not don't do Red it will become pink

No it won't. I'd love that but it's going to eat a hole in my wallet as it is without shot blasting etc! But yes, although I tried out a red just to see what I thought it looked like, I have heard about red fading badly, so I won't go for that. But thanks for reminding me

[Alan de Enfield]

The worst colour for showing 'dirt' is Black. Add in that Black is a very soft (and easily marked paint) so I'd recommend giving Black a miss.

 

We had friends visiting in their very, very nice and extremely shiny Black car - the Peacocks saw their refelections and attacked the car, it was a mass of scratches from both beaks and claws / talons. Wot a mess !!!

[rusty69]

When we were choosing colours for our boat, we got lots of those little paint sample pots and painted the whole boat until we found one we liked. I say we liked, but really Mrs R chose the disgusting colour we finally ended up with. It just so happened it was the same colour as one of her handbags. When asked in the paint mixing shop what colour we would like, she thrust her handbag at the poor sod in the shop and said mix us 10 litres of this please. Unfortunately, 15 years later we still have some left. Turns out 10 litres was far too much. I'm reluctant to repaint until its all gone, or she's gone. I suppose we should count ourselves lucky he didn't mix the paint in her handbag.

Edited February 6 by rusty69

[Lady M]

Yes, definitely avoid black.  In my opinion, mid-tone colours show the dirt least.  I would say to have a coachline if you can.  Perhaps match it to the handrails.  I also agree with having a pale roof colour for coolness.

[captain flint]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

The worst colour for showing 'dirt' is Black. Add in that Black is a very soft (and easily marked paint) so I'd recommend giving Black a miss.

 

We had friends visiting in their very, very nice and extremely shiny Black car - the Peacocks saw their refelections and attacked the car, it was a mass of scratches from both beaks and claws / talons. Wot a mess !!!

Well, that is a glorious way for a paint job to be ruined at least - pecked to death by a

peacocks! 

 

But I certainly wasn't thinking of black, anyway. There's a boat that's all black on the River Lee, with the name picked out in gloss black across the stern: Obsidian. 

 

I think it looks quite silly. Apologies to the owners if reading (each to their own!) 

1 minute ago, rusty69 said:

When we were choosing colours for our boats, we got lots of those little paint sample pots and painted the boat until we found one we liked. I say we liked, but really Mrs R choose the disgusting colour we finally ended up with. It just so happened it was the same colour as one of her handbags. When asked in the paint mixing shop what colour we would like, she thrust her handbag at the poor sod in the shop and said mix us 10 litres of this please. Unfortunately, 15 years later we still have some left. Turns out 10 litres was far too much. I'm reluctant to repaint until its all gone.

Oddly enough I quite like the look of knackered old paint jobs, sanded to show the various layers! But I won't be aiming for that look 😂

[Tracy D'arth]

Doing the whole cabin one colour without any lining or decoration on a fat boat will make it look like a shipping container.

[LadyG]

Ive painted roof white grey, sides are Telegraph grey.

Im DIY, I have outlined sides with about six inches black, top, bottom and both ends, I found fancy coach lining was not easy, so that idea was abandoned.

Easier to pick out from a distance than red green or blue as favoured by most others.

[rusty69]

Just now, LadyG said:

Ive painted roof white grey, sides are Telegraph grey.

Im DIY, I have outlined sides with about six inches black, top, bottom and both ends, I found fancy coach lining was not easy, so that idea was abandoned.

Easier to pick out from a distance than red green or blue as favoured by most others.

Can you recommend a good paint supplier?😂

[LadyG]

16 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Can you recommend a good paint supplier?😂

None better than SML Paints, though good range at Rawlins, both offer technical advice,     .

 

 

Edited February 6 by LadyG

[Alan de Enfield]

14 minutes ago, LadyG said:

None better than SML Paints, though good range at Rawlins, both offer technical advice,     .

 

 

 

Did you find that the SML would give a good techical help service for 'paint virgins' with no idea ?

[Tony Brooks]

I would add, avoid the fancy named "house" colours beloved of the major paint retailers. Stick with RAL or BS colour numbers and them, although your paint will fade over time, at last you can get more made up in most major towns.

 

27 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Can you recommend a good paint supplier?😂

 

Naughty, but I know why you asked and you were not disappointed.

 

I will add that I got on very well with Johnstone's oil based gloss from their trade centres, and I suspect oil based gloss from any major trade centre will do the job.

 

If i sells like marine paint, goes on like marine paint, and lasts well, then why pay a marine markup.

[pearley]

Our fat boat in Midnight Blue. I think it would look horrible without coach lines.

[captain flint]

Fair enough. I think I'll definitely have them if I go for an overall predominantly dark colour scheme like that. I'm not sure they would be missed quite so much if i went for the pale blue/teal option, though. Maybe...!

 

But I do respect the choice to go black all the way to the top of the hull. I keep dithering over whether or not I think a coloured strip down to the top stake is a modern abberation 😂

 

Edited February 6 by captain flint

[rusty69]

Have you considered a vinyl wrap? No, it's not a raincoat 

 

[Peugeot 106]

For thin coach lines we used marine vinyl tape. We were told to make sure we got the thicker marine type. It went on very easily and I have to say is in better nick than the paint after 6 years. I got it from a company called Vinyl Cut Graphics in Kirkudbright.

Ours were only 4mm wide and  easy to go round large bends with eg the cabin back. I don’t know what wider vinyl would be like but it may be worth investigating.

we used Silver coachlines on dark blue and it made an enormous difference to the looks even though it’s only 4mm wide

NB I’m hopeless at choosing colours which was why we stuck with blue so won’t suggest any.

[Stroudwater1]

I like our Raddle red roof. white reflects light which can give quite a lot of glare in the sun. 
 

I can’t remember what the consensus was on whether a white roof actually made the boat less hot in sun. Did we  stick on the insulation nullifying much theoretical advantage. The traditional garb in Arab nations seem more commonly black for some reason.
 

It might be good to look at the book “Colours of the cut” for some ideas?  
 

 

[blackrose]

10 hours ago, captain flint said:

No it won't. I'd love that but it's going to eat a hole in my wallet as it is without shot blasting etc! 

 

For top sides you don't necessarily have to shot blast back to bare steel to apply and benefit from epoxy - if the painter knows what they're doing. You wouldn't apply epoxy over prepped areas of single part paint below the top rubbing strake that are immersed in water and subject to wear and being knocked around, but with proper prep you can do it for topsides. And the cost of the epoxy paint will pale into insignificance when it comes to the cost of the painting.

[captain flint]

9 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

For top sides you don't necessarily have to shot blast back to bare steel to apply and benefit from epoxy - if the painter knows what they're doing. You wouldn't apply epoxy over prepped areas of single part paint below the top rubbing strake that are immersed in water and subject to wear and being knocked around, but with proper prep you can do it for topsides. And the cost of the epoxy paint will pale into insignificance when it comes to the cost of the painting.

Really? I had no idea. I'm going to enquire about this. Thanks

4 hours ago, rusty69 said:

Have you considered a vinyl wrap? No, it's not a raincoat 

 

No, not really. But I might now. I do know what you mean - I've seen the vinyl decals for names etc, so I get that it's just a, er, full body version. Interesting thought. Durable stuff. Might look into it. Thanks! 

2 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

The traditional garb in Arab nations seem more commonly black for some reason.

Some hot places use white. Some black. I think some use blue, too, down Mali way. But I might be wrong. Black dissipates heat better but absorbs more. White reflects it better, but dissipates less. I think the jury is out when it comes to sunshine clothing.

 

When it comes to boats I'd probably lean (but not very confidently) towards white/pale colours, as the boat is not a hot blooded creature. If you see what I mean. But it's a good point and really it's probably guesswork. There's a great old gent who lives upstairs from my mum who used to be a nasa heat engineer. And had a boat, back in the day. A good excuse to have a chat with him, perhaps. He's always fascinating. 

Edited February 7 by captain flint

[blackrose]

2 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

I like our Raddle red roof. white reflects light which can give quite a lot of glare in the sun. 
 

 

Not to mention how much white shows the dirt - in my experience much worse than black. Textured non-slip deck paints tend to collect dirt anyway so white will need very regular scrubbing. Unless you're using white gloss on the roof which in my opinion is foolish and dangerous, because even if you're one of those people who say they never climb up on the roof, at some point someone will climb up on the roof in the wet and will slip.

[captain flint]

Yes the dirt thing is an issue. Especially round the chimney area. Sometimes I think maybe I should just have done with it and paint the whole bloody thing a kind of dirty orangey-brown 😂

[Alan de Enfield]

With cars there seems to be a growing 'fad' for the rusty look - some are even having a 'Rusty Wrap' (mine doesn't need a wrap)

 

Maybe there is your answer - be modern and have the 'in its natural state' look.

 

Example of Rust-Wrapped car

 

[Peugeot 106]

13 hours ago, pearley said:

Our fat boat in Midnight Blue. I think it would look horrible without coach lines.

There is a small hire fleet based at Garstang in those colours and they look very smart. Duck Island Boat Company if you’re interested for examples