Gelcoat Colors

As part of our search for our next boat the question of color came up. While we believe white on white makes for the perfect yacht providing a cooler boat in summer and easier to keep up we have had fun with other colors over the years. Some of our smaller boats were tan, brown and blue. One of our Nordhavn's had a gray hull and our Mako was an off white. One recent boat we were aboard had a nice Champaign finish with tan non-slip. Not significant enough to be a distraction from basic white but a very nice change.

Curious what others think about gel coat color if they were building a new boat. Have fun with this one!

John
N3522
La Tempestad

There are many shades of white. ...

White is boring. While my last boat was all off-white, I recommend multiple, contrasting colors. Avoid looking like a large whitecap or like 85% of all other pleasure boats.

Yup. Anything but white.

Dark green or blue hull with tan non skid.

Fiberlay

Lots of colors to choose from.

I'm painting the little skiff I'm building Fighting Lady Yellow, mainly because I've got a lot of it. It's not a bad color but I think I'll try to find some paint the same color as that Key Lime Green gel coat to jazz it up.

I once painted a boat very bright yellow. Everybody saw me coming.

HopCar said:

I'm painting the little skiff I'm building Fighting Lady Yellow, mainly because I've got a lot of it. It's not a bad color but I think I'll try to find some paint the same color as that Key Lime Green gel coat to jazz it up.

I once painted a boat very bright yellow. Everybody saw me coming.

Click to expand...

Be careful or they will keep flagging you down as Sea Tow...

When I get close enough for them to see how bad a painter I am, there is no danger of them thinking that I'm Sea Tow.

Sounds like you and I have the same level of skill with a paint brush Parks

I believe it was Nat Hershoff who said that" there are only two colors for a boat white and black and only a fool would paint a boat black". That aside dark colors can look good but they are rough on the substrate and insulation effectiveness due to heat build up and are harder to keep esp. if jell coat. Light colors also give the impression of length and dark shorten the boat according to visual tests I once read. For the sake of maintenance and the boat's welfare I prefer white. Unfortunately the Admiral likes dark colors. Conflict at sea. Try walking down a dock on a sunny day and feel the sunny side of the hulls of different colors you may be surprised.