Which white is right?

Its tough. I have "Awl Craft Stark White" on my Bertram 54. It's gorgeous .. shines deep.

I'm going to paint another boat with a red and white. Will see if the Stark White works with that or whether I should choose a different white.

Tough choices.

Mike

Depends on how original you want to be and your taste. For the '81 56' I run we're the Hatteras off white. It's not as common, and stays much cleaner looking.

The were two Hatteras white's. The earlier one was really a yellow/beige and ugly IMO. The later one was a very light beige from the mid 80's on and is a nice color but is a little dated I think. I prefer bright white.....which I think would be snow white and you see a lot of older Hatteras' getting painted that. The whites all look the same on the little sample, but look VASTLY different on the boat. If anything invest in a quart of 2 whites you like, have a large piece of cardboard painted with them and compared against the boat. Picking the wrong color on a yacht is a very costly mistake if you don't like the outcome.

When I was up in Baltimore a couple of months back there were a bunch of older Hatts over at Henderson's Wharf Marina I believe. A walk down that dock could give you some insight. If you're only painting the house and bridge though shouldn't the hull color dictate your choice? If you decide to paint the entire boat, I think it may be time to give these boats a new look with some color. I know it's a radical thought. We had to replace the spot lights on the 56. Couldn't find two of the old large lights. The thought of putting on modern spots took some adjustment until we concluded that these boats have great bones. Why not modernize their appearance.

My Post owners book says,

"Interlux exterior Gloss White #87 mixed with Interlux Ivory #244 approximately 8 oz/gallon"


Also, there are some threads on the Post owners site that indicates Awlgrip Oyster White is a match.

Baltimore Bob are you trying to paint a Post? What year is the boat? Depending on what it is I may have a formula for Imron that may work for you. I recently had completed my Post 46 and came up with a paint formula that in my mind a perfect match.

Lou, with my experience using Awlgrip, I do not recommend it for painting the hull or structure, if you have to do spot repair work the blends never really hide well. I have used Imron with great results. I have over 35 years experience with boat and fiberglass repairs. After Awlgrip is wetsanded and buffed on a spot repair you will almost always be able to spot the blended area. I have spot repaired gelcoat with Imron and had great results, and spot repairs with Imron on top of Imron is fantastic.

I have a 1988 46 Post with Awlgrip "Oyster White" real nice finish on the forward deck. I will be repainting the transom this spring due to Hurricane damage last year. Also I need to recoat the forward deck and the non skid areas. I will post some pics when we get to it in the spring. Also any info on painting the forward deck non skid areas would be appreciated. I watched a few You Tubes on it, I think I have it, but couldn't hurt to hear from you guy's.

Get something that will shake the sand/glass beads out evenly, whether it be a shaker for a restaurant for grated cheese etc and experiment with the amount of sand (non skid) you want. Mix the paint with slow reducer and maybe a touch more reducer than normal. You want enough time to shake the sand/glass beads and allow that to adhere an absorb into it a little bit before the paint sets up. Shake the sand over it and you want it a little aggressive and it's easier to have one person painting and another person putting the sand/glass beads into it. Then you want to put 1-2 coats of more paint over it (without sand) to seal the sand in there. 2 would probably be better.

I have almost always re-done non-skid with interlux non-skid additive in Imron, and rolled it on. I have also put the additive in gelcoat with a 50/50 mixture of gelcoat clear and rolled that on, both give a great appearance; but the gelcoat is definitely more durable. I have only used the roller on both these products with non-skid, I can't tell you how Imron would work out that way, You may be able to do a roller with the gelcoat but you would probably have a lot of sanding to make it smooth before you buff.

I used Epifanes non skid deck coating, in my opinion its very easy to apply, good color match (little more white) and as far as I can see...cheap too!