Why White?

Why are boats mostly white?

Because white is the color of vanilla......you can order chocolate....or strawberry ....if you'd like.
 
Composite structures made of resins usually lose strength when they get hot. This is one of the reasons why the Beech Starship was limited in color avaliblity in order to retain the designed strength which is critical on an airframe. If you took two identical boats, one white and one dark blue out in the hot sun and tested them to their ultimate breaking strength, the blue boat would give way first.
 
Whether they start out as white or not, they tend to gravitate towards that colour after a bit of exposure anyway. The clever designers followed nature in an effort to save us the breath to explain why our boats look faded.
 
Why are boats mostly white?

Because it goes with any color Croc
 
This goes to show that the members of this board have great imagination. I am surprised that there are not more novels written be this crowd.

G
 
I painted mine white to match my car.

What color was it before? white
 
So the lawers can see them from under the water while they are circling waiting for you to mess up.....D......
 
The resins used in gelcoat tend to oxidise with time and solar radiation, forming a white, rather opaque, rather than clear, surface. Although the pigments in literally all gelcoats are metal oxides and are un-affected by the sun or aging process, the white resin oxides will tend to give the appearance of fading. On the other hand the white pigments (usually titanium oxide) will mask the oxidized resins--thus the white gelcoat wille lose its luster(shine) but not display the appearance of fading.
 
Mostly cheaper but also sun/heat reflection. The U.S. Navy discovered this years ago and ships stationed in the RED sea are painted white to assist in keeping the ship cool. Yea, I know, Red sea white ship.
 
Just an aside. Some 30 years ago I was running a supply boat in the Persian Gulf (Iran). The decks were painted "deck red" which is pretty dark and hotter'n blazes. I had all the decks over the accommodations painted white. I got away with it for 2-3 months till the shoreside supervisor happened to be on the drill rig and saw my boat and a sistership tied up alongside. Next thing I know he's bitching about my white decks. I told him I had no intention of painting them red again, and I had plenty of white paint left. He was NOT happy. A week or so later the sistership had an AC failure and they abandoned station to go in and get it repaired. Needless to say we were called out to stand by in their place, but I never heard any more complaints about the white decks.
 
Mariah made a boat that was bright red gelcoat. It looked really cool about 10 years ago. Now it looks like crap. Also, have you ever tried to put just your hand on red gelcoat around 1PM in July? You can almost hear your skin sizzle. I also think that Mariah made an all black hull too.
 
Hazzard is right on!!! I'll agree that a red, or blue, or black hull does look nice, partly because it's NOT white. But in the long run it's HOT, and those colors fade, and after a couple years it's not nearly as "cool" anymore. White IS a lot more practical.
 
Why white ?? Several reasons 1) Ti02 (titanium dioxide) is quite cheap as compared to other pigments. 2) Quite light stable (fade resistant) if pigmentation level is adequate. The higher the %, the more stable. 3) Reflects sunlight more & remains cooler to the touch. 4) More pleasing to the eye. 5) As Riverrat said "Most cars are white"; don't know about the German comment.
 
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