Bottom paint color suggestions.

[SmokyMtnGrady]

Ok, my boat is down at Hystocraf in South Carolina and soon will getting the blisters repaired. I decided to epoxy barrier coat and then use petit's vivid bottom paint. I spoke with Hydocraf about white . They said it can yellow some. They also said it's coverage is terrible . I don't want black. I don't want dark blue either. I am leaning to a blend on the petit chart of 1 part white and 1 part green or possibly 1 white and 1 blue.

My boat ,as many know, spends her summers in a covered slip on Fontana Lake in the Great Smoky Mountains. The water is fairly clear and we don't get a ton of growth. When I am luck I get 10-14 days in the keys . I say these things because I don't do a lot boating in tannin stained black waters or muddy brown waters so a lighter bottom I would think is not an issue.
Also, we are stoping the paint at the hard chine on the sides . I am trying to make the boat look clean on the sides. all the blisters are in a line 6 inches wide on the keel . Hydrocraf thinks the blistering is a lay up problem more than anything else. Anyway,. I want a lighter bottom. Just wondering what guys think ?

 

[seasick]

Just to confuse you more, pick two colors you like and alternate between regular repainting. That makes it easier to see worn spots since they will be a different color than the top coat. For the firat season it doesn't matter since the barrier coat will act as the telltale color. Personally, I wouldn't pick white, ever.
If you get hull stains above the water line during a season, you will get staining on the bottom paint too, only more.

 

[Uncle Joe]

I use the bright blue from Interlux. Looks nice.

 

[Fishtales]

All GWs at my dealer and marina tend to use black ablative. It looks nice on the boat in my opinion both in and out of the water. I like the idea of a bright contrast color should the boat turtle in a sinking incident (basic floatation boats usually do) for the CG to locate you easier. I just went with the crowd and did black years ago.

 

[DennisG01]

I hear what you're saying about the reason you want a light color, Smokey, and the "clean looking" sides. It sounds like you're just looking for enough paint on there to keep the majority of growth at bay, although you likely wouldn't have much more than soft growth. In the olden days, white bottom paint would turn a pale green where it was above the waterline due to the copper in it. But that won't happen with the copper free stuff, nowadays. Vivid isn't the only player out there in good bottom paint - try talking with some other manufacturers about their whites and see what they say. Look at other Pettit versions and also brands like Micron. However, I do think that white is going to be an iffy choice as it doesn't take much to make it look bad. Note... if you want to keep the color on the lighter side, a 1:1 ratio of blue:white isn't going to be drastically lighter than just blue. You have to increase the amount of white - possibly even 1:3 or 1:4.

 

[Ky Grady]

I'm in for 1 green/1 white.

 

[Parthery]

Why not black? Anything lighter in color will look dingy pretty quick.

 

[Fishtales]

I second black. Would never do green or lighter blue for just visibility in the water should the worse ever happen and you turtle.

 

[Blaugrana]

I like the black color. By me the older Gradys seem to have a light blue color while most newer ones seem to have the black.

With that being said, does the color matter? When in the water you rarely see it and when you take it out, unless it’s black or you immediately repaint it, it will look worn.

I would just go with whatever makes life easier for you. Can you easily pick up these 1 green, 1 white color? I’m new to this so only remember seeing 1 or 2 colors at local stores, black being 1 of them.

 

[Ky Grady]

I second black. Would never do green or lighter blue for just visibility in the water should the worse ever happen and you turtle.

SmokyMtnGrady and I have discussed this scenario also. I'll let him give you his solution for turttling and being visible.