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Old 29-01-2013, 23:06   #1
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Blue Hull Concerns

My wife and I are about to purchase a sailing yacht to cruise through the south pacific and then around the world mostly in the tropics. We have settled on the boat however we are having a slightly heated discussion concerning the hull color. She really likes dark blue rather than white. I have major concerns about the hull getting excessively warm in the tropics. I am also concerned about difficulty in keeping it clean and ship shape. Do any of you have any thoughts on this?
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Old 29-01-2013, 23:15   #2
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Re: blue hull concerns

No! You don't want a dark hull/deck in the tropics. I repainted mine!
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Old 30-01-2013, 00:12   #3
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Re: blue hull concerns

Dark hulls have massively more heat gain than white. Unless you have made the commitment to run the generator 24/7 anyway for AC, it's a bad idea.
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Old 30-01-2013, 03:33   #4
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Re: blue hull concerns

Go for a blue hull to break the mould and stand out from the crowd, but top it with a white deck to help keep things cooler below. Thus, a happy compromise is found to set the theme for life at sea

Anyhow, why worry about the heat; ain't that why you're heading to the tropics?
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Old 30-01-2013, 03:48   #5
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Re: blue hull concerns

Dark hulls can be beautiful. On the old boat we had a dark blue awlgrip (don't remember colour name). It was done at the factory and required no maintenance except for a washdown when cleaning the boat and once a year or two a polish. Polish would remove most nicks as well.
That said, would we get a dark hull again? No unless it was the only option. It does get hot. It was a benefit when we were cruising Eastern Canada, but not down south or in the Med.
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Old 30-01-2013, 03:58   #6
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Re: blue hull concerns

Generally dark hulls require a lot of polishing to remain looking nice.

If you or your wife have a polishing gene - go for it! If not, don't even think about it

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Old 30-01-2013, 05:15   #7
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Re: blue hull concerns

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, dbrown.

I, and Nat Herreshoff would agree with you.

“There are only two colors to paint a boat, black or white, and only a fool would paint a boat black.”
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Old 30-01-2013, 05:25   #8
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Re: blue hull concerns

Welcome aboard! (One more vote for "talk her out of it" -- It will make the boat interior significantly hotter, plus the thermal cycling will probably eventually cause surface imperfections that look like a basket weave (actually the pattern of the fiberglass laminate layers).)
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Old 30-01-2013, 05:35   #9
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pirate Re: blue hull concerns

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Originally Posted by Waterway Guide View Post
Welcome aboard! (One more vote for "talk her out of it" -- It will make the boat interior significantly hotter, plus the thermal cycling will probably eventually cause surface imperfections that look like a basket weave (actually the pattern of the fiberglass laminate layers).)

Never seen that happen... must be the way you guys build over there...
Personally... having had 'dark' boats in temps of 40c... I never found that much difference to be honest... not enough to warrent repainting my boats..
Just another urban legend...
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Old 30-01-2013, 06:16   #10
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Re: blue hull concerns

Dark colors do help keep condensation (and hence mildew) at bay by raising internal temps to slightly higher than ambient. You can still insulate and shade your boat as well, and get all the airflow (ventilation) as possible.
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Old 30-01-2013, 06:21   #11
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Re: blue hull concerns

Definitely NOT an urban legend! I had a San Juan that the previous owner had painted white. I decided I wanted a bolder statement so during the winter (relatively speaking, it's Florida, after all) of my second year of ownership I painted the hull fire-engine red. By the end of summer I had realized my mistake, as the boat was very noticeably hotter. Pulled it out and put it back to white. Nope. Very definitely not an urban legend.

For any boat that spends most of its time less than 35 degrees of latitude away from the equator, I would not consider any dark hull color. Maybe a pale yellow, if you really don't like white. But very definitely not anything dark.
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Old 30-01-2013, 06:38   #12
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pirate Re: blue hull concerns

Quote:
Originally Posted by denverd0n View Post
Definitely NOT an urban legend! I had a San Juan that the previous owner had painted white. I decided I wanted a bolder statement so during the winter (relatively speaking, it's Florida, after all) of my second year of ownership I painted the hull fire-engine red. By the end of summer I had realized my mistake, as the boat was very noticeably hotter. Pulled it out and put it back to white. Nope. Very definitely not an urban legend.

For any boat that spends most of its time less than 35 degrees of latitude away from the equator, I would not consider any dark hull color. Maybe a pale yellow, if you really don't like white. But very definitely not anything dark.
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Air conditioning in the Caribbean for Chrisake... its balmy there
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Old 30-01-2013, 06:48   #13
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Re: blue hull concerns

only thing i noticed a blue hull to be different from other colors was when the pelican slammed into the hull when he was hunting--he slammed us 3 times, thinking, i spoze, the boat was air or water....silly birdee....
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Old 30-01-2013, 09:20   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by denverd0n View Post
Definitely NOT an urban legend! I had a San Juan that the previous owner had painted white. I decided I wanted a bolder statement so during the winter (relatively speaking, it's Florida, after all) of my second year of ownership I painted the hull fire-engine red. By the end of summer I had realized my mistake, as the boat was very noticeably hotter. Pulled it out and put it back to white. Nope. Very definitely not an urban legend.

For any boat that spends most of its time less than 35 degrees of latitude away from the equator, I would not consider any dark hull color. Maybe a pale yellow, if you really don't like white. But very definitely not anything dark.
The red end of the color spectrum absorbs light / generates heat much better than the blue end. Yellow would be hotter than the same shade/tint of Blue.
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Old 30-01-2013, 09:35   #15
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Re: blue hull concerns

Blue hulls are perfect for Newport, Rhode Island. Anywhere south of there, a blue hull is an abomination.
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