Bilge paint color?

[Astronomertoo]

Hello all,
I have researched the options for new paint for making my nasty bilges and storage lockers look better after cleaning, and installation of new hoses and valves. I had asked around and Interlux Bottom Kote gray came up as the most simple, and highly recommended. However I had saved a file picture from this site, of someone's newly painted bilges and inside storage areas (a CD26?) that was a very attractive light brown/beige color, and now I can not find who's boat it was, and what the paint was. I really liked the brighter color over gray. Does anyone here know what it was? The only bilge paint I found listed that includes a Buff Biege color is Pettit EZ Poxy #3829. if you know what it was, or if that was it, or have another paint suggestion, please let me know here.
Thanks
BobC

[Sea Hunt Video]

Bob:

Any chance the paint/picture you saw was a Rustoleum product

I have been looking at Rustoluem as a possible paint for the bilge on S/V Bali Ha'i. I actually like the color gray for the bilge.

[Astronomertoo]

Bob:

Any chance the paint/picture you saw was a Rustoleum product

I have been looking at Rustoleum as a possible paint for the bilge on S/V Bali Ha'i. I actually like the color gray for the bilge.

---------
Hello Roberto,
Yes Tim Lackey in particular offered his suggestion to use the Bottom Kote gray as it was easy, coats well and is hard, long lasting.
I looked up the Rust-Oleum® Marine Coatings Topside Paint which includes a sand-beige color. I do not know if that is what I saw in the photo.
I have time, and am not in a hurry, as I must finish the house projects before starting the major boat project!
Thanks
BobC

[Jim Walsh]

Interlux Bilgekote is real good stuff. I chose white over grey and it makes a huge difference. It really coats very well, it's very durable, and it brightens up whatever area you apply it in. The difference in a lazerette or a cockpit locker is amazing when it goes from a dark hole to a clinically white storage area.

[tjr818]

Grey, beige, tan . . . ? How about something brighter and cheerful, yellows, light blue, bright orange? I, for one, want to brighten up those areas. Right now we have bright sky blue lazarets that are certainly nicer to look into that the factory beige.

[Astronomertoo]

Hello Tim and all,
Speaking of other light colors, the last two times I was inside a brand new CD at a boat dealer or show and opening lockers was at Clearlake/Houston in 1980, and at the dealer at Madisonville, La. I do not remember what colors they used below the deck from the factory.
Can anyone here that bought a brand new CD tell me if the lockers and bilge used the same color, and if it was the beige/buff or something else?
In 1979 I bought a used Kittywake 23 in Houston which I kept down at the San Leon Sailing Club on Galveston Bay. I always wished it was a CD, which was out of my price range at the time. Same for when we later moved it to Slidell, La.
I had repainted it nicely with Interlux 259 (blue glow white) deck and hull, and Lt blue nonskid, and used white in the lockers. I sailed that boat often near a new 1980 CD25 so we kept it looking sharp.
My next boat was a new 1981 27 (also not CD) with light gray non skid and white inside lockers and bilge, which I never cottoned to on that boat. But it did not burn our feet in summertime in either La, or later in FL.
This older CD 25 will have the buff/beige color for nonskid, and on the mast/boom, with the normal CD white on the hull/deck and I am still thinking either the buff or white inside the lockers and bilge. I would rather have the contrast of the buff non-skid and mast out on the water rather than more blue with blue water all around, just a personal thing.
I always keep my teak glossy.
Bob C

[Neil Gordon]

I'm thinking the best color for painting/repainting lockers and bilges is "on sale." That said, I'd suggest that the best color for the bilge is in total contract to the color of whatever you're likely to drop in there.

[John Stone]

I went with Interlux bilge-kote grey and I am very happy with it. It has a fair amount of shine to it and I have not found it to be dark at all. One of my mentors mentioned to me that he used the white bilge kote once and it yellowed over time. I have no experience with white just passing along a comment from someone I trust. The Interlux bilge-kote has sure proven to be tough, at least so far.

[tjr818]

My point, exactly. Bright yellow will not "yellow". And so far our bright blue is still bright and very blue.
But then, we are fresh water, and we do not lock or prop.

[Steve Laume]

I believe Raven had the original beige buff color in the bilge and lockers. It looked pretty dismal when i took over so I went with white. I am pretty sure I used Bilge Coat in the bilge and it is now looking pretty nasty again as I am not a stickler about a dry bilge. I have also painted the cockpit and anchor lockers as well as both sides of all the fir plywood in the boat. For all of this I went with Rustolium just because it is cheap and easy to find. It does tend to yellow slightly with time. This has no effect in places like the anchor locker or the underside of the settee plywood. I have repainted the cockpit locked a second time and that was pretty easy to do.

So I am pretty much in the go cheap and do it often camp on this one, Steve.

[Neil Gordon]

So we're down to "don't use white because it yellows," or, "use yellow because it's already yellow." Okay then!