Hull Color Choice

[Brent65]

Fellow Sailors,

I'm in love the look of a navy hull on a sailboat.  Do any of you have colored hulls?  Are you glad or sad you made this decision?  If you could go back and order again, would you still choose a colored hull?

Best,
Brent

[Cpy23ecl]

My experience is dark colored hulls fade badly as they age.  While they look really nice when new, I personally would only go with a dark color if the boat was going to be stored indoors almost all the time.  I once had a boat that was a bright red hull but by the time it was 7 years old it was a chalky maroon colored hull.  I would buff and wax each year and for a few weeks it would look like a maroon hull that was in fairly decent condition but would very quickly go chalky again. YMMV.

Fred

[bruce]

I agree with Fred. I have a dark blue hull, new in 2010, that still looks great because I dry sail out of a garage. Scratches do show, some can be buffed out. For paints, I know, in general, red pigments are more fugitive than blue or green. Not sure if we are seeing fading here, or just chalking of the surface, maybe both.

FYI, wet the surface, with mineral spirits for example. A chalky surface will clear up, and might be able to be buffed out, wax would help. A faded pigment will remain faded.

[wes]

I love my dark blue hull (Interlux Perfection in Flag Blue) and have had zero problems. A high quality paint job with a two part paint like Perfection, Awlgrip or Imron is nearly the equivalent of auto paint. You don't see blue cars chalking, do you?

Get the color you're dreaming of. Life is short.

Wes

[Brent65]

Great Feedback, thank you!!

I should have mentioned, my boat will be stored inside a garage unless I'm using it.

[Renae]

If memory serves though, you're thinking of getting a new Eclipse.  As much as like my painted hull, there's no way in hell I'd to that to brand-new gelcoat.

[brackish]

Agree with Wes, I built my epoxy composite skiff and used Perfection Plus flag blue and it looks great after about five years.  Two part paints tend to be tougher than and resist UV fading much better than pigmented gel coat.  If I could not keep the boat out of the sun I would not get a dark color gel coat on a new boat, but would and have painted an older boat with Catalyzed Polyurethane.

[Reighnman]

I had a 1979 Siren with red gelcoat and it was a labor of love(hate). I went down the rabbit hole of compound, polish, and waxes. The neighbor had a blue hulled Albin and it looked incredible in May and chalky by late July.

[Sunny Day]

I have an Imron Blue....beautiful...

[Brent65]

Thanks to everyone who commented.  Based on all your experience, I think my hull color choice will need to be white.

Best,
Brent

[PENN]

Looks as good as the day I got it.  Keep it waxed, clean, and indoors.  Sail maybe 20 days a year in Michigan.

[bruce]

I certainly respect Brent's decision, and the opinion of others against a dark hull color, but if the boat can be kept under cover it can be a viable choice. It will require some extra care to avoid scratches. Our primary hand-carry boat these days is a 18.5' Bell Northwoods canoe, clear gel coat over carbon fiber. Talk about a prima donna!

Inspired by PENN, I launched the boat in the driveway today so I could take a photo to compare it to previous photos I'd taken in 2012 and 2017. They were taken when I was playing shade-tree mechanic, the stern cleats are made up to a tree so I could slide the boat back on the trailer, to drop the centerboard.

In the first two photos you see reflections of the bumper of the tow vehicle, and a hose I used to wet the bunks. Today it's a step ladder off to the right, and my legs. She does get rinsed after each use, soap occasionally if needed, but never has been compounded or waxed.

[Brent65]

Penn and Bruce,  You guys are kill'in me.  Now I want navy again.  Penn, a question for you: I'm not seeing any teak trim or teak companionway boards.  Was this a choice you made or has the factory eliminated the teak trim?  I really like the teak trim pieces. 

[bruce]

If teak trim is available, it will also do well under cover of course. Here's a photo of our boom gallows taken last summer. I think I lightly sanded and recoated it in 2016, when I was working on some dings in the centerboard trunk cap. Didn't really need it.

I wouldn't try and to keep the wood bright if it wasn't under cover. Com-Pac had selected some nicely-figured wood, like the fiddle-back curl in this piece, that I did want to highlight. The boat was shown at the Catboat Association annual meeting in February 2011 just before delivery. That might have been a factor in the wood selection.

[Cpy23ecl]

Factory definitely hasn't eliminated the teak trim.  I ordered my 2021 Eclipse at the end of July and it was delivered a few weeks before Thanksgiving.  It has teak hatch boards, teak on top of the cockpit coamings, teak cockpit locker trim, teak hand rails and a teak bowsprit.

If I had known that I could eliminate the teak I think I would have done that, maybe with the exception of the handrails because of the added safety factor.  My guess is that was a custom order or an owner modification.  I ordered mine with several custom additions:

13" trailer tires instead of the normal 10"
stainless hydraulic disc brakes
vc17 bottom paint instead of the standard epoxy bottom paint

almost ordered it without a rudder with plans to buy a ruddercraft rudder like I had on my CP23 - they were willing to do that but did not recommend that rudder for the eclipse

The factory was very willing to accommodate my non-standard requests.

Fred