Ship/boat colors

Most all pleasure boats are all-white as well as cruise ships (Cunard and Holland America major exceptions), whereas most all non-toy boats have darker hull schemes. What's with that?

Simple IMO tugs and most fish boats and other commercial craft get scuffed up marked in their commercial activities .... yachts do not ... usually.

White is a yacht color .. because they can perhaps.

And white looks best because it's bright like boats-yachts on parade. Fancy. Like a sailor in dress whites.

But there are odd people that put strange colors on yachts .. even black. I'll let someone else explain that.

Plain white is so cold and boring, I like color.
White is too bright, snow blindness on the water.

manyboats said:

Simple IMO tugs and most fish boats and other commercial craft get scuffed up marked in their commercial activities .... yachts do not ... usually.

White is a yacht color .. because they can perhaps.

And white looks best because it's bright like boats-yachts on parade. Fancy. Like a sailor in dress whites.

But there are odd people that put strange colors on yachts .. even black. I'll let someone else explain that.

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You mean black like this? Yes, you would have to be odd to think this is a beautiful yacht

Although, wasn’t it Nat Herreshoff who once said there are only two colors to paint a boat — white and black? And only a fool would paint a boat black.

Larry,
Almost any color would look great if as smooth and shiny as that sailboat. I really don't think the color matters much ..pink, purple may be so odd it wouldn't be liked but black and dark green look great. Your boat would look even better if she were fly'in around in the air so we could see her green bottom as well.
This boat dosn't look good because the finish is not so good. But the amount of blue and white does not help. Just like the red and white Coot.

A friend of mine has a boat (Sea Ray) with a dark blue hull. He said "never again". It looks great if it's been freshly detailed but after a few months it begins to fade and looks bad.

My boat is a light tan (Almond, more or less) color and it fades but not as bad as his.

White fades a bit but it's not really noticeable. White also reflects heat from the sun and the interior is cooler. White is also easier to match if repairs are necessary.

Black, dark blue, red, etc. look great when new but not as they get older. Also, colors go out of style, white does not. Remember the orange and maroon boats of the seventies?

Ours is 18 years old, but out in the sun (or rain) only 3-4 months/year. Dark green hull still looks great, with an annual Finesse-It buff and then wax.

Small boats have always been largely colored. Larger boats, white. Even on gelcoat, color is more likely to fade than white is. However, most larger boats are painted. White was traditionally chosen because of what was a "yacht appearance" but that evolved largely because all the colors tended to fade. Paints are better today, but still most color on yachts is below the deck line. Our most recent boat, our loop boat, we were certain we'd go for color below the deck.

Black and navy are the colors offered and we would have chosen navy. However, here's why we didn't on this specific boat.

We think the windows are the best part of the profile styling and they get lost on the dark color






Our sport boat has color, just what was standard, not a color we chose or would choose.

Most cruisers are seasonal, usually summer.

Pre1980, air conditioning was pretty rare on boats.

Most boats aren't well insulated...and before anyone chimes in where are most white plastic cruising boats built, sold and used through the recent decades..

I've seen all sorts of colors, including many with white on commercial boats.

Pleasure boats on the other and are mostly in hot climates, therefore a/c is a cost factor.

Maybe white boats do not show the hull finish shiny defects as much as with a colored boat.

The color I oppose is Silver/grey. There's one very popular color on smaller boats that at dusk tends to get lost in the sun.

US NAVY haze grey? Thats so they can dissappear in the distance quicker after they wake the crap out if you...

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Come on! I like a little grey in my life.

At least that's what I've been telling my wife for the last 20 years.

BandB said:

The color I oppose is Silver/grey. There's one very popular color on smaller boats that at dusk tends to get lost in the sun.

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And the Dashews with their bare aluminum. We had a few cruising in our area in 2014 and under many daylight conditions they were almost invisible.

Dark colours on a wood hull tend to dry the planking and open the seams
when in the heat of the sun.

Ted

Conrad said:

And the Dashews with their bare aluminum. We had a few cruising in our area in 2014 and under many daylight conditions they were almost invisible.

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Absolutely. It's something people need to consider. Mark's Coot has very high visibility.

But those aluminum boats show up like battleships on radar.

BandB said:

Absolutely. It's something people need to consider. Mark's Coot has very high visibility.

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My boating friends can identify my Coot long before I can identify their boats.

The first commercial (non passenger) ships that went white were banana ships as an aid in maintaining proper temps as I am sure the passenger vessels had a likewise financial interests in reducing the demand on the a/c.

"Dark colours on a wood hull tend to dry the planking and open the seams
when in the heat of the sun."

Ted

I second Ted's comment. Painted my '73 wood GB a very light grey, and after about three weeks in the CA delta one could see light coming in between all the planks above the water line. White is needed in hot climates to reflect sun/heat...

Dawdler

Fore warned is fore armed...

Of course when I originally posted it said "disability" instead of "visibility" thanks to autocorrect. Someone pointed it out to me and I edited before time to do so expired.

manyboats said:

Larry,
Your boat would look even better if she were fly'in around in the air so we could see her green bottom as well.

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Eric, you mean like this?

WesK said:

Black, dark blue, red, etc. look great when new but not as they get older. Also, colors go out of style, white does not. Remember the orange and maroon boats of the seventies?

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WesK, this paint job is 13 years old, and all of it in uncovered docks and salt water. High quality coatings, properly applied can last a very long time.

Our boat came with a broad stripe area like any Manatee. When I saw the temperature difference in the Florida Sun on my Infrared gun (more than 60 degrees), I painted it white. Made a big difference in the stateroom too. I really like the looks of the colored hulls though.

LarryM yes,
Too bad the sun isn't on the port side in the picture. You could paint your house a similar green. Can't think of a good trim color though.

I recall you've mentioned visability problems w the Fortress on the bow .. why don't you stow it flat on the foredeck? The anchor is so light it begs to be deck stowed. One can keep an anchor rigged and ready to deploy on deck.

I like the looks of the dark green or navy hulls, but I wouldn't want one because of the increased maintenance to keep them looking nice.


Two things we insisted on a few years ago when we were shopping for a boat:
1. No colored hulls
2. No wood on the exterior


We got what we wanted in Beachcomber.

Blue hulls like mine ?

GFC,
Despite the sanitary approach that the Pope would look good on .. your boat is stunningly beautiful. Even the wake and running angle. And I'm very sincere in that even rarely being drawn to the type for beauty and positive asthetics.

ulysses,
Half freighter and half trawler? The blue looks good but may be dependent on the house when afloat.
Cool anchor.