Hull Color - Any Considerations?

A darker hull does absorb more heat so going from white to say, navy or black might require an a/c upgrade or at least more run time. I'm a warm weather boater but in Maine the dark color could provide free solar heat.

usually the hull doesn't increase too much heat load as only a small portion of it is in the sun at one time. Your maintenance and waxings absolutely increase 2 fold with a dark hull. Unless it's awlgrip that doesn't require wax. But the paint itself won't last as long.

Darker colors are much more transparent when it comes to fairing imperfections,it will show easier the surface deflections and age of the paint.

Said that, darker colors look very beautiful on some Hulls and having a proper paintjob will gain more aesthetic taste.

Not all frp hulls should be painted dark colors - production boats may have resin systems that were not designed for dark colors, their surface temps can go beyond specifications.
If it wasn’t a factory option, do some homework to determine what the manufacturer used in their layup.

I would not want a boat with blue gel coat. Any flatter surface (usually the transom etc) gets faded and chalky extremely fast without constant maintenance. Also, depending on where you boat, water spots really show up on the dark hull. In The Great Lakes where we boat, the water is really hard so I either have to spray the boat with softened water after each use otherwise go around the boat in the dinghy from time to time wiping the hull sides with a mixture of water and distilled white vinegar.

That being said, our current boat is flag blue Awlgrip and I'm currently having it repainted the same color as my wife and I like the look (and I'm the one that maintains it). The original paint lasted 15 years... the life span was likely improved as it wasn't constantly in the hot FL sun. She spent her first 3 years on a lift in FL during the winter and in a building during the summer, before being moved up to The Great Lakes where unfortunately we have store the boats in heated warehouses for winter.

Max

I manage and maintain a 62' Express that had a midnight blue gel coated hull. I had to have the hull compounded and waxed every 3-4 months, here in South Florida. The boat is a 2007 and by 2014 the gelcoat was showing through a little. We painted early 2014 with Awlcare in midnight blue. It still looks perfect and the only thing I've done to it is wash it with awlwash and wipe awlcare on it once a year.

Although I do admire the looks of a freshly painted blue hull, unfortunately they don't tend to look like that (freshly painted) for terribly long without a covered slip. You touched on the other big problems with dark hulls, the extra cleaning/upkeep and the tremendous heat in the south. Our A/C's have enough load on them being out in direct sunlight all day with little or no insulation to keep the cool in.

Also, colored hulls are fads. They come and they go with time. A white hull never goes out of style.

Just my $.02.

I manage a 62' Sunseeker predator that is midnight blue. We had it sprayed with Awlcraft 2000 5 years ago. Once a year I wipe awlcare on it and am religious about having the entire boat washed with Awlwash. It still looks near perfect and minimal maintenance. Granted, I do expect it to last a few years less than a white hull.

In addition to heat and maintenance issues, not all boats can be done in dark colors. Any flaw in the hull will be magnified. I ve seen really awful fairing jobs from some builders which aren’t too bad in white but terrible in dark colors.