Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Colour schemes

Per my last post, we're getting close to painting the hull. This calls for some serious decision-making, and being that kind of bear, I decided to whip up some graphic treatments of various colour schemes to make the choice more, um, reality-based.

All feature the same gorgeous BC background, sails textured from photos of actual sailcloth, and colours from the paint company's colour charts. The Photoshop work is quick and dirty, and there are no fine detail lines - we're just looking at topsides colours at this point. Oh, and I left the cabin, rudder, masts etc. white 'cause I'm lazy.

I know there are millions and millions of people reading this blog (heh), so I have decided to post these for your amusement and feedback. So, without further ado, I give you... Six Scrummy Schemes for Sturdy Sailboats!

1. With tanbark sails (kinda traditional in the land of the Shilling):

Dark blue with Hatteras off-white











Dark blue with buff











2. With white sails:

Hatteras off-white with dark blue











Blu-Glo white with sapphire blue











Blu-Glo white with buff











Off-white with sapphire blue











There are lots of other possible combinations, but these are the ones I like best, so they're the ones you get to see. If you have other suggestions, though, I'm happy to entertain them. Oh yeah, two more things: you can click the pictures for a larger version, and the colours look their most realistic if you actually print the pictures.

So, what do you think, O Mighty Blagsphere? I'd love your feedback!

9 comments:

Willow Bay Boy said...

Hi and well done for progress so far. You will recall that Phil Swift is building my Shilling (009)at Willow Bay Boats and he is fitting out the cabin at present. I did the same as you and played with colour options. I reached the conclusion that light was better than dark. Brown sails seemed to make the boat look squat and lower than did white, so I went for white. I have a cutter rig. Dark hulls lost the elegant shape, so I have gone for white top sides, red antifoul, blue boot line and cream interior. Also, I paid Phil a bit more to fix mahogany veneer to the bulwark on the outside so that it will take varnish - it looks bloody smart! Fixing seemed fairly straightforward, using moads of ply squares with fairly firm foam attached to them, and LOTS of clamps, doing half of one side at a time. Timber veneer coat around £75.

Courtney & Tara said...

I just talked with Dad about that very idea, I think it came up on the WoodenBoat forum too. He's worried that veneer might delaminate over time in the elements.

I think we'll probably paint the bulwarks but finish the cabin trunk bright.

Willow Bay Boy said...

I hope it won't as mine is already in place! In any case, I do not see how it could unless the rest of the boat fell to bits too, as the the veneer is 1.5mm solid wood and is glued in place with epoxy, as is the rest of the boat pretty much. Shilling no 1 "Margory" was painted in a russett colour that looked rather like varnished mahogany, that could work well as an alternative

Courtney & Tara said...

We probably have to worry about the elements a bit more than you do, because the climate here is so variable (temps range from -40°C to 40°C, and humidity can be anywhere from full to bone-dry). You'll probably be fine in a more moderate climate!

Bret said...

I noticed on the WB forum that you've picked a colour scheme. I too am partial to off-white -- that's what I painted the Chesapeake17 (Brightsides 1-part polyurethane... I think the colour is called Matterhorn White). Anyways... great choice and happy painting!!

Bret said...

Oops... I checked the can and the colour is actually Off-White. I recall now that I contemplated the Matterhorn white but decided it was too dark.

Nightfall said...

I like the tanbark, blue and buff one. I couldn't say why.

why yes, i'd actually rather be sailing. said...

Off-white with sapphire blue


mos-def.

see, it'll be easiest to keep clean. also you'll recall that you don't use antifouling paint on this boat as it will be a lake boat. so your boat bottom can and perhaps should be also offwhite. i suspect that the photo scemes are from swifty's site or something and they're all more likely vessels for use in the sea as daysailors.

looks great. hope things are well in shilling land.

Courtney & Tara said...

Ron, we're using a hard freshwater antifouling bottom paint... it was a tough call between the sapphire blue and the dark blue, but we ended up going dark.

And, um, I did the colour schemes myself in Photoshop. ;-)

Hope all's well over the water! - C.