What colour to paint rowing dink.

[SVDistantStar]

Ive got a nice little 8' rowing dink that needs a paint job. I had to sand most of it down to do some repairs. Thats what i get for dragging it 100 yards over rocks to the water all the time. Now on to the paint job. Ive got 3 choices of colour, Red, Sand Beige and White. The boat is white right now, and im kinda bored with the plain white look. Ive got all 3 colours on hand. Also note that ive got both blue and black bottom paint on hand for it too. Im only painting the outside of the hull, leaving the inside as it is.

[Maine Sail]

Painting it a color will only exacerbate the "drag" marks on the bottom. The best fix is to roll on some more gel coat, wet sand and buff it bit I'm sure that's more than you want to do. I re-gelcoated my old sailing dinghy and it took me about 18 hours of labor but it looked great a held up very well. Paint does not hold up on dragged dinks.. Ask me how I know?

If you are going to paint use a white or off white primer and a white paint. That way when it scratches you either see white primer or white gelcoat. If you don't care about the scratches go RED!

[SVDistantStar]

well the bottom will have antifouling paint on it. No more dragging it around

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Distant,

I'd go for red, white and blue. Red hull and blue bottom paint. Of course, if you don't want it to get stolen then beige, brown and green in a camo pattern might be good or just throw some paint at it from a distance.

I just painted mine center line yellow and am ready for the third coat soon. The experimental water based epoxy did not turn out so will be using a mono interlux yellow for the next coat.

Good luck. It looks like a great little dink.

JohnL

[Daddy's Dream]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

Aloha Distant,

...... just throw some paint at it from a distance.

Paint ballons ...... You got the right idea. Now, just load up the paint ball gun and you won't have to worry about it disappearing on you. Use neon and you'l always be able to find it easy.... Even at night.

Now, if you want it nice and pretty I'd go with what Acoustic said.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by SVDistantStar

well the bottom will have antifouling paint on it. No more dragging it around

You ought to give this serious consideration. If and when you need to bring the dink on deck due to rough weather that paint will be EVERYWHERE! It makes a gawd awful mess. Did a delivery last year with a bottom painted dink and what a mess. We were covered, the boat was covered and the foot of the genny was covered..

Bring it into the dock once a month or so and give it a good scrub. If you really want to get fancy use ON & Off to remove any rust or tannin stains.

Our AB rib sits in the water a lot of the time, were on a mooring, and I clean it every now and then on the dock. Takes me about 10-15 minutes once every six to eight weeks..

If you never bring it on deck, or won't ever be doing so, or moving it in your car then go for it..

[Pblais]

Herrschoff said it best. There are only two colors you can paint a boat. Black or white and only a fool would paint a boat black.

I would agree that the bottom paint idea gets worse after the good part of the idea wears off. About the only alternative I see is to ugly it up so it's easy to find and perhaps will be passed over when a thief strolls by looking for a free ride. Currently it's not ugly enough to avoid stealing.

[SVDistantStar]

Well its just my dingy here in Charleston, it doesnt travel, for that matter i dont travel. Not painting antifoul paint on the bottom would mean once a week washings in the summer time here.

[imagine2frolic]

White will show blemishes a lot less. I rolled, and tipped Imagine with white, and red using awl-grip. The red hull takes a beating from oarlocks on the inflatable. I can wipe away the scuff, and the paint is still looking good. The roll & tip method with awl-grip can look like a spray job......i2f

[Roy M]

I must be a fool to offer the following advice, but it works, so there you are. If I understand you correctly, you are dragging the boat over rocks. Hence, ANY bottom paint or paint at all, is going to be scraped off. I coated the bottom of some San Diego Lifeguard Service rescue dories with West System epoxy mixed with graphite powder, per the suggestions of the Gougeon Brothers and my own experience having coated the underwater portions of my Searunner trimaran with the same mix. This was so I could beach the boat to do bottom work. Not only did it reduce friction (they won the Regional championship that year), but it ELIMINATED repairs and maintenance on boats that get heavy use and abuse. It looks good, too. Paint wasn't meant for this type of abuse, but epoxy and graphite do exceptionally well. Since it isn't directly exposed to UV light, there is minimal effect due to the sun's rays on the bottom. The result is a jet black coating.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Sounds like you won't be hauling the dink onboard, so given the colours you have to hand I would go for red topsides and a black bottom.

Photos when finished please

[Ex-Calif]

Nice dink.

Paint it the color the admiral wants. Then you can say, "Honey I really value your opinoin so much that I couldn't possibly paint the dink without you picking the colors."

Instead of - "Honey, I don't care what color you want. Some stranger on the internet is going to pick it."

(Just kidding. Paint it red.)