Advice w/ Changing Color Schemes

[BigSteels]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and to salt water boating in general and I was hoping to get some good advice on changing the accent colors of my 25ft WellCraft Cabin Cruiser. I would absolutely love to completely change the exterior trim colors to something more my personal taste.

My first question is can I change the color of the canvass top by either dying or painting it somehow? The top is only four years old and in almost perfect shape, I just don't like the greenish color it is. I can best describe it as almost an emerald green on sunny days, and more of a teal or aqua hue on cloudy days. Also, I'm not sure how to identify the exact material it is, any help with this would be great.

My second question is regarding the exterior vinyl type stick on trim that wraps the complete boat. Can this be painted and sealed somehow so that the salt water won't tear it up? Or do I have to take the current stuff off and totally apply new stuff?

Although I have other questions, I'll limit this to this last question. I also want to rename the boat and it appears that the current lettering on the back is almost like a vinyl stick on type similar to the vinyl wrap on the sides. Can anyone tell me what that material is and where to get a piece to make my own custom lettering with? Also, I have no idea what really keeps it on, especially in the back of the boat where it takes a beating. Does this vinyl just have an extremely sticky back to it?

Thank you in advance of any first hand advice you may have to help me with my boat. And sorry for posting this in two places, didn't find this section until after I had originally posted

[ssanzone]

sadly, the only good news i have for you is that you have a nice template for making a new top.

marine canvas is treated and the stitching is most likely polyester so even if you applied a textile dye the results will be spotty at best and... you dont know what will happen when it rains and the underside of the canvas drips dye etc.

you can try fabric paint or a traditional oil paint but i have not heard any info on adhesion of these paints to marine canvas.

i think, if you are passionate about this, you need to start from scratch.

Not sure where you are located but there are a lot of people doing canvas work. check craigslist.org under services.

gl.

-s

[BigSteels]

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it. I plan on talking to the person who made it to discuss possibly changing it. Then go from there. If I can change it, then of course I will per their recommendations. If not, i'll most likely just change the vinyl stripe on the side to a gloss black and just deal with it. The top is seven pieces, in almost perfect shape, and was pretty pricey to have made.

Does anyone known if the vinyl stripe could be painted and clear coated successfully? If so, what paint is recommended?

[tamicatana]

The canvas colour description seems like it's "Persian Green" from Sunbrella. No, you can't dye it. Rather than doing the whole lot, have one piece at a time done. It'll be a bit odd, but no big deal. In fact, I'm deliberately doing my steering pedestal covers a different colour than my bimini and sail covers because my theme is multicoloured.

Do what you like, it's YOUR boat, after all...

I'm sure you can paint the vinyl stripe with some sort of urethane, but the smart thing is to just pull the vinyl and paint straight to the boat. Heat gun applied gently does the trick for vinyl removal