Cream Roof or not to Cream Roof

[Shaggy]

Hi

 

Just ordered a new boat and thinking whether to do the roof in cream, I will be living aboard all year. At the moment the plans are to make it dark blue but with houdini hatch in galley. Does a cream roof work well in reducing heat or is there not much in it?

 

Many thanks

 

Shaggy

[charles123]

doubt if it will reduce the heat but it will definately be a pain when cruising because of the brightness when looking ahead, you will need sunglasses

 

Charles

[Machpoint005]

Charles beat me to it by a matter of moments: there's another thread that touched on this one. I'd say a dark colour every time, and definitely not cream. You will get conflicting views in the forum, but when you cruise into the sun, a light coloured roof is (literally) a pain.

 

(edited because I didn't mean views down the cut...isn't English complicated? Stick to engineering...)

Edited June 27, 2007 by Machpoint005

[IAN A]

Glad we went for a cream roof, definitely reduces heat onboard - not a problem with cruising either, certainly no glare from the non slip deck finish used - NBC finished it off nicely with transverse stripes (in line with mushrooms) in the blue the sides are done in. downside is it gets grubby when moored under/near willow trees !, but cleans up easily enough.

[Gary Peacock]

Nearly everything we do is intentionally light coloured on the roof because dark colours do become very hot in comparison.

Edited June 27, 2007 by Gary Peacock

[honey ryder]

well, i plan to make our roof cream when we get around to painting it. seems most sensible.

Thousands of fibreglass boats are done in white and they are in much sunnier climates than ours... so why people whinge about being blinded in the light from the roof of a narrowboat is a bit daft really. especially when most narrowboat roofs are half full of stuff.

 

a major issue is the heat, if we walk on our roof when its sunny it becomes too hot to touch in a matter of minutes of the sun shining on it. if we walk on another piece of metal thats painted white ( the sliding hatch) then its still cool to the touch. Our boat roof (and sides) heats up so much that our bathroom tiles start to move and create hairline gaps around the edges. once the boat is cool again the gaps disappear.

 

all the cupboards near the roof also get quite warm as the heat finds it way past the insulation.

 

cream roof and sunglasses on sunny days. thats got to be the best solution.

Edited June 27, 2007 by honey ryder

[Lesd]

I think I'll be going for Honey Ryders 'cream roof and shades' approach when my boat is painted. There are a few other opinions on this subject on my boat build thread elsewhere (I dont know how to provide a link, sorry). One very practical point was made in that that most roofs are so cluttered with stuff that the shine factor doesn't come into ply very much anyway !

[Jason Wilson and Family]

Out of curiosity, has anyone ever put a light-colored wood decking on their roof? Seems to me it would look a lot better and would serve as insulation.

Edited June 27, 2007 by Jason Wilson and Family

[Machpoint005]

It would be better than cream, but I'd still prefer paint ...

[blackrose]

Never had a problem going into the sun with a cream roof - and my roof is a big 12' curved span. It's nothing in comparison to the glare on the water and there's definately a big difference in the temp of dark and light painted steel so light colours make things cooler inside.

 

Personally I just wear a pair of sunglasses if going into the sun so I can't see what the problem is.

 

Have a look at Les' build blog for the same discussion. http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9271

Edited June 27, 2007 by blackrose

[monty]

Never had a problem going into the sun with a cream roof - and my roof is a big 12' curved span. It's nothing in comparison to the glare on the water and there's definately a big difference in the temp of dark and light painted steel so light colours make things cooler inside.

 

Personally I just wear a pair of sunglasses if going into the sun so I can't see what the problem is.

 

Have a look at Les' build blog for the same discussion. http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9271

Ive just painted mine in a light lime greenish colour,looks great !run it on to the side with a red looks very cheerful and certainly cooler in this heat wave were having

[Ray]

We've got a cream roof and, even in rainy weather, with a bright sky, the reflection can be a problem. However, we'll live with that to avoid the problems associated with dark roofs, which get hot in the sun. I often wonder that Alvechurch boat's oxide roofs don't cause problems as the one I touched was unbearably hot.

[drunkensailor]

There's a bloke who had a narrowboat on the Thames last year that had a turf roof. Bet the insulation was fantastic. Could easily wreck your roof, but that's a minor problem...

 

A man down from me on my mooring says the cream roof on his new boat makes things much more civilised. It doesn't half show up the dirt, though.

[Jason Wilson and Family]

There's a bloke who had a narrowboat on the Thames last year that had a turf roof. Bet the insulation was fantastic. Could easily wreck your roof, but that's a minor problem...

 

A man down from me on my mooring says the cream roof on his new boat makes things much more civilised. It doesn't half show up the dirt, though.

 

I can't imagine moving onto a boat then voluntarily installing a yard that I'd have to mow.

[minerva]

My last boat was all cream and it was cool in the hot summer sun....just put your sun glasses on thats all....no big prob...is it?

 

This boat is all black..... and it horrendus when its hot... its 30 odd degrees inside with lots of fans blaring to keep you cool.... out of the two which would I go for again?

 

err CREAM ......

[Bullfrog]

I can't imagine moving onto a boat then voluntarily installing a yard that I'd have to mow.

 

We know a local pub that puts thatch over the bar for St Patricks Day, and then TURFS the top of the counter and all the floor in the main bar area! One year he got it wrong and it all started growing before the 17th and he had to mow indoors!

 

PS He's not Irish either!

[wrigglefingers]

Ive just painted mine in a light lime greenish colour,looks great !run it on to the side with a red looks very cheerful and certainly cooler in this heat wave were having

 

Mine was painted cream this weekend. The cats are now begging to have the Squirrel re-lit due to cooling effect ........

 

I moved Surprise back to Bradford on Avon on Sunday in the teeming rain. Understandably glare wasn't a problem but then I wear photo-reactive glasses. It's difficult to tell whether it's significantly cooler as the heatwave we're having has yet to enable me to take off me thermal vest and big woolly. The roof is grubby already and I can't wait to start throwing the bags of coal on!

 

Regards, Jill

 

edited - when I grow up I want to do grammar and everything!

Edited June 28, 2007 by wrigglefingers

[Orphiel]

There's a bloke who had a narrowboat on the Thames last year that had a turf roof. Bet the insulation was fantastic. Could easily wreck your roof, but that's a minor problem...

 

A man down from me on my mooring says the cream roof on his new boat makes things much more civilised. It doesn't half show up the dirt, though.

 

I would like a vegetable garden on my roof. Interestingly topsy-turvey.

[JohnOnTheWey]

Mine was painted cream this weekend. The cats are now begging to have the Squirrel re-lit due to cooling effect ........

 

I moved Surprise back to Bradford on Avon on Sunday in the teeming rain. Understandably glare wasn't a problem but then I wear photo-reactive glasses. It's difficult to tell whether it's significantly cooler as the heatwave we're having has yet to enable me to take off me thermal vest and big woolly. The roof is grubby already and I can't wait to start throwing the bags of coal on!

 

Regards, Jill

 

edited - when I grow up I want to do grammar and everything!

 

Agree with all this. My boat is dark green and intolerable when the heat's on (from the sun, I mean). I plan to paint cream panels (about 5ft square) on the roof above the saloon and galley (OK OK ... living room and kitchen). That should obviate the glare problem, but to be honest if you wear a hat and a pair of shades when it's sunny I doubt it would be a problem anyway.

One thing that really honks me off is that the heat at the back of the boat when I'm steering can bring a cool can of Stella up to body heat in about 3 minutes. I get round this by having a cork dining mat placed in a handy position on the roof. Job done.

 

JOTW

[David Schweizer]

Light coloured paint definitely reflects most of the sun's heat, whilst dark colours seem to absorb it. If I place my hand on the dark green areas on my slide it is roasting hot, whereas the white sections are almost cold.

 

As as your roof is concerned, may I suggest that rather than cream, you try light grey, it will reflect most of the heat, but does not seem to reflect sunlight glare in the same way that cream does. The roof on my boat is light grey matt finish (apart from the increasing number of rust patches!!) and I do not have a light reflection problem.

[denboy]

made the mistake on my first boat by painting it black and gold looked great but in the summer you couldnt go near it it was like a 3 bar electric fire soon changed to lighter colours kept burning my belly on the sides

[WJM]

Just to add to the mix - cream roof here - and no problems with glare whatsoever, even without sunglasses.

 

My cream roof paint has that non-slip sand in it which I would think reduces glare but I think that surface finish is standard for roof painting anyway.

[Maffi]

Milly has a cream roof and the glare can be quite hard on the eyes, but I would have sunglasses on anyway if the sun were that bad.

Edited July 4, 2007 by Maffi

[John Orentas]

Milly has a cream roof and the glare can be quite hard on the eyes, but I would have sunglasses on anyway if the sun were that bad.

 

 

Not sure of the physics but I think you would get roughly equal 'glare' from a shinny cream surface or a shinny black surface. The trick is to scatter the light, hence textured mat finish.

 

Absorption of the light energy is a different matter, the lighter colour will reflect far more of the radiation and absorb less, hence a cooler boat.

[Machpoint005]

Not sure of the physics but I think you would get roughly equal 'glare' from a shinny cream surface or a shinny black surface. The trick is to scatter the light, hence textured mat finish.

 

Absorption of the light energy is a different matter, the lighter colour will reflect far more of the radiation and absorb less, hence a cooler boat.

 

Light colours reflect more UV (which is a form of radiation) and that may be the main problem.