BYYB Forums

While I was thinking about paint schemes for the Peapod, I happened to recall a handy online tool that I used to pick floors and paint for the kitchen remodel in our house.  The Sherwin Williams Paint Visualizer  (other major paint brands have similar tools) makes it really easy to see what different paint colors will look like (more or less) on your walls, trim, etc.  The best part though, is that you can use this tool to "paint" your boat! 

The way the tool works is thus:

1.  Upload a photo.  I uploaded this one-
       


2.  Mark the areas that you want to paint using the "masking" tool.  Most of the programs will allow you to mask more than one area and try out different colors.  Don't try to be too particular about getting the lines absolutely perfect, but make sure you close all of your polygons by returning to the starting point.  You can also use the brush tool, but I prefer to mark off the perimeter of the area i want to paint.

3.  Sift through thousands of paint colors and have fun!  Colors are semi-transparent, so if you have grain in the wood on your boat, you can see it through the paint.

This is a great way to help visualize that paint scheme before you place an expensive order.

Here are some color schemes I made while fooling around with this toy. (you can download your pics for offline viewing too.)







Hope this proves helpful!

The bottom one looks like a Christmas ornament, maybe an Italian one. I've found highly contrasting colors between bottom and topsides works best. In recent years I've stopped using traditional colors and combinations. The last nice paint job I did, was a white bottom with teal topsides and mahogany shear strake. Typically the traditional way would have been the other way around with a teal bottom. I like white bottoms, but this might be the Irish in me.

Colors can be very difficult to work with, particularly for men. The best thing you can do is get the better half involved in this process, because trust me, she's going to be way better at it than you. I still think the first several strips should be brightly finished, then a subtle color for the topsides, maybe a yellow, but with a good bit of tan in it (towards the cool side, not the warm) and what ever bottom color floats your boat. Black is a cool color, but will show every single unfair area. Maybe copper, which is traditional.

I'd like to paint my Vacationer with two different hull colors:  Black from the waterline to the lower rubrail, and red below the waterline, with a white stripe separating the two colors.  Short of putting the boat in the water, how can I determine the location of the waterline, and what's the best way to mask the hull for painting?

Dave

Short of putting her in the water, you'd have to get the waterlines from the designer, and/or calculate them yourself.  On a boat this small, it's a judgement call anyway, since the waterline will vary considerably with the number of crew.

(09-13-2012, 05:10 PM)Paul Riccelli PE,NA link Wrote:I still think the first several strips should be brightly finished, then a subtle color for the topsides, maybe a yellow, but with a good bit of tan in it (towards the cool side, not the warm) and what ever bottom color floats your boat. Black is a cool color, but will show every single unfair area. Maybe copper, which is traditional.

Like this?

You're the one that has to live with it, what do you think? I like the combination.