What color is your bottom?

drysuit2 · Post by **drysuit2** » Feb 27th, '11, 09:33

SWEET!!! I have always lusted after the 27. I think it was Cape Dory's best looking boat. I saw one a few years ago, where the owner had added a bow sprit and a mizzen. Whether or not she has the original Sloop rig, a Cutter, or a Yawl...it's hull has the sweetest lines. In my opinion the tiller option is probably the best sailing CD out there.

bobc wrote:
drysuit2 wrote:I switched to red. I had the same problem. It just became to hard to find brown. Especially in an ablative paint. This year I am thinking of using a hard {i.e. racing bottom paint} in green for my boot stripe. Has anyone tried that? Does it work? or am I asking for trouble?

Thanks

I don't think you're asking for trouble. I've used a dark green boot stripe with red and think it looks great.

If anyone's interested, my CD27 will be for sale as soon as I decide to take the winter cover off. I'm headed off to the dark side (trawlers). More info and pictures at http://www.cd27.org

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Feb 27th, '11, 13:12

Troy Scott wrote:Russell,

Light mint green, or dark green?

I have used both. Currently dark green (Micron 66).

trapper · Post by **trapper** » Feb 27th, '11, 19:54

I couldn't find brown so I mixed Pettit's Trinadad black and red and here is what I got:

http://s206.photobucket.com/albums/bb14 ... G_0454.jpg

I think it was 1 gal red to 1 to 2 qts black

rollo_cd26 · Post by **rollo_cd26** » Feb 28th, '11, 04:04

Interesting thread! I have been wrestling with the bottom/boot strip color issue all winter. When purchased my CD26 had hard Trinidad red on the bottom and the old brown strip. I am repainting the bottom with the same Trinidad red and an Interlux Brightside saphire blue stripe to compliment a teak brown dodger and sail cover. The CD27 you show has no white line and it looks great! I am removing mine too to move stripe up since I am using Brightside. I considered a dark green stripe but I didn't think it looked good with the brown canvas.

Carl Thunberg · Post by **Carl Thunberg** » Mar 1st, '11, 08:01

It's kinda personal, but I guess we're all friends here. If you must know, the color of my bottom changes with the weather. When it's cold, my bottom is red. When it's really cold my bottom is blue. When I get out of the shower, it's pink. Too much information, you say? Well, you asked. . .

Oh God, please let spring come!

Larry DeMers · Post by **Larry DeMers** » Mar 1st, '11, 14:09

We have always used Micron CSC brown, until they took brown out of their line. So we switched to Micron Extra (expensive?) in brown.

Well, got to thinking one day..a dangerous side-line by the way, and realized that a. we sail on the normally cold waters of Lake Superior, where little to nothing grows on your bottom but a layer of slime, which I reason could be a good thing in the right circumstances. and of course b. all bottom paint does for us is give the bottom a nice smooth surface and a complementary color over all. So why use a poisonous, expensive paint? Why not a nice brown bottom, but covered with a good quality house paint?

Seriously.. I removed most of the old Micron paint, sanded to fair the bottom a little bit (we are a full time cruiser from late April thru late October and so speed is not as big a deal as it would be to a racer) and applied 2 coats of house paint.

It looked super, even if I felt like lying about it to my fellow sailors. I mean, House Paint?? Really? Well the test would come over summer.

Heh, we were relieved that the paint did not come off in large sheets, once we splashed.

This fall, upon the orderly removal of our floating home from mother superiors clutches, the first thing we checked out was the bottom paint situation. It looked good! None had come off. So then we power washed the whole bottom, and checked again..no problems at all.

The next data point will be the condition of the bottom this spring.. We will be up there in about 4-5 weeks to see.

So there is my little experiment, trying to save a few bucks to that we can sail further this year.

Cheers,

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
CD30c Sailing Lake Superior for 21 years

Jack Carr · Post by **Jack Carr** » Mar 1st, '11, 22:39

I asked the board this question 3 years ago and followed its recommendation to mix red with a little bit of black or grey and yellow. It worked fine. I have the exact proportions somewhere but with a little experimenting its not difficult.

Jim Lewis · Post by **Jim Lewis** » Mar 2nd, '11, 05:09

Don t understand all this about color????? if your boat is in the water what difference does it make other than longevity.........
I use red in Carolinas and it gives the best service for lasting.
I haul every 2.5 - 3 yrs.......and the old blue bottom paint or white gelcoat is showing in places.......I think this last haulout they charged about 120 a gallon......a good yard will put whats best on your boat for your area.....especially if you are a repeat customer.
I always have two coats applied......and it is pretty much gone by
the time I haul......let me know if someone finds what works on the prop for 2- 3 yrs.........that would really be nice......

Tom Keevil · Post by **Tom Keevil** » Mar 2nd, '11, 21:36

Our boat has a black bottom, and there are folks in the boatyard who think we're asking for trouble. They claim that white boats with black bottoms attract unwanted attention from orcas.

We've had a few get pretty close, but thus far no attempts to fight us or mate with us. Maybe a fin keel would make us more interesting?

captzigzag · Post by **captzigzag** » Mar 2nd, '11, 22:13

Below is a pic of mine. Micron Extra red, Awlgrip sable brown boot and oyster white hull.

https://picasaweb.google.com/home?tab=mq

Paul D. · Post by **Paul D.** » Mar 2nd, '11, 22:43

Dark blue VC 17 (were on the lakes) bottom with brown bootstripe. When I refitted our Typhoon years ago, the black bottom with red bootstripe looked really, really good.

Al Levesque · Post by **Al Levesque** » Mar 6th, '11, 15:50

I thought I read it here. Some time back I found it harder to get brown so I saw a suggestion to use red and black. I get a gallon of each, mix them in a five gallon pail and store the remainder in one of the cans for the next year.

mashenden · Post by **mashenden** » Mar 6th, '11, 16:59

Carl Thunberg wrote:It's kinda personal, but I guess we're all friends here. If you must know, the color of my bottom changes with the weather. When it's cold, my bottom is red. When it's really cold my bottom is blue. When I get out of the shower, it's pink. Too much information, you say? Well, you asked. . .

Oh God, please let spring come!

THANK YOU. I thought we were all getting just a bit too mature for our own good. I am glad someone took it in an irresistibly, funny direction

bottomscraper · Post by **bottomscraper** » Mar 6th, '11, 18:41

Al Levesque wrote:I thought I read it here. Some time back I found it harder to get brown so I saw a suggestion to use red and black. I get a gallon of each, mix them in a five gallon pail and store the remainder in one of the cans for the next year.

That works but the color will be a very dark brown very much
like Ghiradelli "Twilight Delight" or maybe even "Midnight Reverie"
dark chocolate . We did that for a couple of years. It did look
good enough to eat. I would guess 1 qt black to 1 gal red would
be closer to the original brown.

http://www.ghirardelli.com/products/cho ... tense.aspx

Steve Laume · Post by **Steve Laume** » Mar 7th, '11, 10:59

Rich, I read your reply and then had to look to make darn sure you were not quoting Carl!

Steve

The Cape Dory Board

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Re: Back to the original question