Black paint on boat

i'm thinking of changing my boat's colour from white to black, but I have heard that black painting requires other cares, what do you think about? what about hull temps?

Now why would you want to do a thing like that?
Such potential for problems.
If it were me, I would just wakeboard behind my white boat and be happy. I know it's hard to stay happy if you own a boat and can go wakeboarding behind it, but with some positive thinking...
Peace.

I've heard the cons are that black shows even the minor scratches, is hard to keep looking clean, water spots easily, and yes....it will be hot on the feet and arms on the topside of the deck.

So, if you like the looks of a black boat...you have to decide how much work you're willing to put into taking care of it. Granted...you may do about the same level of work on a white boat now..

good luck......

Levi... true points, all.
I wasn't so much bagging on the idea of a black boat - they can look pretty cool with a nice professional gelcoat finish. I was more thinking of all the hassle and things that could potentially go wrong in an attempt to paint a boat in general, but especially black.

Luciano, maybe you could start by painting your wakeboard black, see how much trouble it is, how good it looks, and how durable the paint will be after you use it a little while and things start getting banged around. Then you can have more knowledge from which to make an educated decision about whether it would be worth it to tackle the whole boat. Good luck.

billy, doesn't that kinda run counter to the reason for a "discussion" board? instead of going thru the hassle of painting his board, wouldn't it make sense to go to a knowledgable community and see if anyone has any previous experience with an endeavor of this kind? seems like the smart thing to do to start.

of course, posting this in the boat forum would have been even smarter...

My name's not Billy!
(Wasn't that a scene from Southpark? "Kill me, Billy!")

Look, if the guy wants to try to paint his boat black, that's his business. I'm just wondering whether his ambitions might be tainting his perceptions regarding the pragmatics of the whole endeavor, and I thought I might offer a suggestion for a relatively simple exercise with minimal risk to provide him with an ecologically valid behavior sample to supplement the wealth of invaluable knowledge that undoubtedly will be heaped upon him by me, you, and other members of the know-it-all cast of characters who comprise this knowledgeable community. I never even remotely implied that he should not have asked his question and that no further discussion should be generated. I love discussion. Without it, what would you and I do all day at work while we are being paid supposedly to do something else? I was merely suggesting an additional avenue through which our style-conscious Argentinian brotha' might acquire some additional knowledge to help him along his quest to seek an answer to his initial question of "to paint or not to paint?"

I'm just trying to help out, dog. Why you gotta be all hatin' on a brotha's ideas and tryin' to squelch creative thought?

And, if painting a wakeboard represents a hassle (which it might), wait 'till this dude starts trying to paint a whole boat! Like I said, if he wants to paint his boat, that's his business. It might even come out OK. But why take all that time away from actually wakeboarding when a person could be developing better skillz to impress those lovely Latin ladies, practicing spinning, riding switch (I know ya feel me on that), jibbing rocks (ouch!) and fun stuff like that?

LOL johnny! oh wait...mikey?

if he's planning on having his boat painted for him, then the things that might ***** his perceptions regarding the pragmatics would be exactly what he was asking for! as you might note, he said "I have heard that black painting requires other cares." sounds like he's asking about post-coating maintenance and issues. why not ask at a place where others might have already done this and could explain the pitfalls and unexpected benefits?

for all we're aware, he knows an excellent paint shop that doesnt normally do boats but since his sisters-boyfriends-dads-bestfriend owns the place, he's willing to do the job for cheap - and all he wants to know is, when he's cruising the parana, will the deck be too hot for his hotties?

y'know, you sound a lot like this guy jimmy i know...uncanny...

I still think he should paint his wakeboard first. Then, if he paints the boat himself he will have refined his technique and the boat will come out looking better. Even if he has somebody else paint it for him, he will have a wakeboard that matches his boat, adding that much more dramatic effect and emphasizing even further the striking visual impact of the black boat, thus it will again come out looking better.
You're just jealous you didn't think of it first!!

well, first of all, thanks for replying my post, then, I have to say this, in case that I were to have my boat painted black, I would pay someone who's an expert on the issue and there's NO WAY that I'm going to paint my board black.
about the cleaning, I can tell you that i have to clean it a lot, because water here carries a lot of sediments, and those get stuck on my boat's hull, and so do the emanations from my old volvo stern all over the transom, that the other reason why I wanted to have it painted, and black is the only colour (in my opinion) that matches the boat's interior. anyway i would have only the transom and sides painted, not the deck.
thanks again for reading

Here's a pic of "Emigre", it's an old argentinian boat refitted, check it's wake at my profile.
it doesnt only throw a nice wake for my level, but is also a hell of a boat for sailing

that is a nice wake luciano! do you have a pole? i dont even see a ski pole...

and i think black would look sweet on that!

yes i have a steel pole wich was made by someone who doesnt know much about wakeboard, and it sucks, so I'm planning adding a tower to the boat, something like mastercraft's x-star from the past few years

That's actually a pretty nice looking boat! I think your idea as you've now described it would look good, that is, it would look good if you painted black just the tansom and sides, essentially everything below the rub rail. If you paint the deck it is going to get hotter than h@ll, and the paint also might oxidize and get chalky unless you were good about keeping it waxed and keeping it covered. Post some pics if you paint it. Hope you didn't get pissed about the other posts - just having fun. I still think you should paint your wakeboard black, or maybe tie-dye, or maybe some throw-back Sex Pistols-type graphics (oh wait, already been done).

We still haven't heard yet from anybody who has actually painted a boat, have we?

our witty reparte scared them off micky.

no offense taken doc octagon, I'm asking for pricing on the painting job, but other possibility is making some big black decals..., also, I'd change the rubber rail to a grey one. anyway before the paint is done I have to find someone to make the tower and swim platform, then the sound system,,, etc etc jejejejje

I have painted a Super Air Nautique (with Gelcoat) before in red. And it is an easy job only if you have the right equiptment, and I think that Luciano can do it himself easily and I think that it would look cool. It is quite a horrible and sticky and time consuming job, but it is quite an achievment, when it is finished.

I thought about painting mine but ending up sanding out the oxidation from the gelcoat and adding decals.

My Centurion is black and I get so many compliments on it. Yeah, I probably have to wash it more often than others, but the way I see it is it makes me take care of it by cleaning it all of the time. Above my rub rail is white so could'nt comment on the hot issue.

sorry to ask this silly question, perhaps we are talking about the same and i dont know it (translation stuff) but.. how can you paint something in gelcoat??? I was told it was a poliurethane paint the one wich was used on boats

What is Gelcoat? Is it just a type of paint, is it a type of process? I really do not know enough about it. Don't the manufacturers put the gelcoat on first then layer in the fiberglass after it in the mold?

Gelcoat is a type of paint that goes on top of the fiberglass of your boat.It differ's from paint though in that it is 1/8-3/16's of an inch thick[around 5mm]Your boats gelcoat is white.Gelcoat is thick so you can sand a thin layer off and make the coat look new again[as I did].Because of the thickness it also hold's up to scratches alot better than just paint[this is the issue with painting your boat since the paint is not very thick scratches will show the original white colour.Hope you understood my rambling...

thanks for explaining, now, can i kind of sand a bit of my gelcoat, and then re-gelcoat ir again in other colour?

HEY,
Tribal, that boat sanding did wonders for ya, but the decal makes it look like your little sister got a hold of it, do something to it it man it up a bit.

Nice!! What a great contribution to this thread, Andy. That's really helpful. Thanks.

Another problem with paint or a gelcoat color on the hull is the scratches you get from water debris, power loading, docks and beaching. These scratches and dings go through the gelcoat very easily.
The underlying fiberglass is white which is why if you have ever owned a boat with "colored" bottom, you will never do it again.

thanks again, but I plan to leave the botton the same colour, just change the tramson and sides.
What is power loading???