Must all Cape Dory's be white?

[Lost Quays]

I like the lines of Cape Dorys and they look really good when the white gel coat hulls have been well kept. Is there a bias though that suggests CDs must remain white? I've seen several recent examples of CDs where the hulls have been painted other colors and they also look good.

[David van den Burgh]

No bias here, just the ease and reduced cost of gel coat maintenance over the expense and care of a painted hull. At some point, Ariel's gel coat will need to be painted, and we might just go with a dark hull. Until then, however, preserving the gel coat is a whole lot cheaper and easier.

[Oswego John]

My Ty is Seafoam (medium to light) green. No cookie cutter look for me.

Dare to be different.

O J

[moctrams]

I believe Carl Alberg meant for CDs to be white. I have seen the mistakes people make when the Awl Grip their hulls/decks and use harsh cleaners like Simple Green to clean them. All they do is ruin an expensive paint job. Awl Grip has a special “no harmâ€

[Maine Sail]

They don't all need to be white and they do look great in other colors!

[Sea Hunt]

I could easily be mistaken (and often am ) but I think the picture posted by Maine Sail of the CD 27 with a red hull is the one for sale in Portland, Maine. Very pretty hull.

[Joe CD MS 300]

My preference is for green. I think darker colors are more common the farther north you go. Less likely to retain the heat. Not many black hull boatd in FL but it can seem like every other boat in SW Harbor ME is black hulled or dark.

[drb9]

Apparently, even with blue hulls, there is some variation:

http://newimages.yachtworld.com/2/1/0/7 ... 0262385000

Kind of want, but not sure.

[mgphl52]

That is a BEAUTIFUL shade of blue!

[drb9]

It is a beautiful boat. But, I promised my wife not to buy a new boat without first selling the current one . . . . I even like the name--"Three Sheets"

[Troy Scott]

drb9,

Thanks for the inspiration..., as I continue to work on my CD36.

[Tom in Cambria]

You all probably remember Hereschoff's famous dictum about boat colors. Roughly paraphrased it went: "There are only two colors for a boat - white or black, and only a fool would have a black boat.

[Troy Scott]

Tom,

Henry Ford said (of the early mass-production cars) you can have any color you like as long as it's black. Funny, yes, but that's not how life works. We like variety.

I think the CDs look great in colors, particularly dark blue. The prettiest one I've seen was a CD36 with highly polished bronze, perfectly varnished teak, a Flag Blue hull and mint green bottom paint. That is exactly the look I'm working toward.

The most unusual one I've seen was bright yellow!

[Tom in Cambria]

I don't necessarily agree, but the H quote is a famous one as the Ford quote is. One thing about a bright yellow boat is that you can always spot it easily in a crowded marina or anchorage and it's easy for the Coast Guard to find you in an emergency. I have always heard that a white boat reflects heat whereas a black one adsorbs heat, so cruising boats going to the tropics or in warm climates preferred white. In terms of esthetics I prefer something other than white, but I guess it's practical and it's certainly traditional. Another famous quote by I don't remember whom goes -- you're going to spend 90% of your time looking at your boat and 10% of your time sailing her, so you want to have a boat that looks pretty to you. Jack London said that you needed to pick out something that was really beautiful about your boat so that when you were having whatever problems you could admire that feature. For Jack it was the bow of his sailboat so that when things were going wrong he would say well, yes, but what a beautiful bow !

[Lost Quays]

Thank you all for your spirited comments! I like the Cape Dory's in all shapes, sizes and colors.

Does one affect the value of a CD if painted other than white?