I decided to browse and see if there's any such thing as a narrowboat paint chart. Here's one I found - Click! I don't know how accurate these colours are on a computer screen because they one they've called "Best Red" looks orange to me.
Isn't it a good thing people have such different taste or the canals would be nowhere near as colourful. We prefer understated colours with our 3 favourites being a deep blue, a rich burgundy, or a dark green. It seems that blue is a common choice - in various shades. We're glad about that because it increases the chance of us finding a boat with a colour we like. It's unlikely we'll be able to afford a new paint job.
We aren't so keen on light colours for a narrowboat. Every one of our houses has been weatherboard and Mick has been very vocal with his opinion on paint colours - the lighter the better. Admittedly it is better under our harsh Aussie sun to have a light coloured house and roof. Firstly so it doesn't absorb so much heat and also because the paintwork on weatherboards lasts better if it's a light colour.
Here's our picks if we could paint our narrowboat. We like the blue with white coachlines and sign writing or the red :
So what would be your colour choice ?
4 comments:
Hi Elly
Red paint fades in sunlight, yes we do get enough light if not heat - it is all to do with safety changes to the chemicals/aromatics they used to use in paints - the safe ones make the red paint fade.
Red writing should be fine, it is roofs that suffer most.
We have a red boat and wouldn't change but you must be prepared for red to fade. When we repainted we did a grey roof.
Thanks for the comment Mal. I guess it's a bit like cars. You often see older red ones with the paintwork looking very average. It is worth keeping in mind.
I think I would rather a lighter colour roof either way. I've seen many boats with a cream or grey roof.
Elly
We're having Briar Rose repainted later this year, and although we wouldn't have chosen green if we were starting from scratch, we'll be staying with it for the repaint (although the scheme will be changing in some respects). Green just seems right for Briar Rose!
For some reason I don't understand, BR currently has a blue roof, and we're going to change this to Raddle Red. There are a few reasons for this: it's a traditional colour; it's a matt finish, so is naturally non-slip; it's easy to touch up; less glare, which you can get from pale colours such as cream. I'm sure it will seem strange from the helm, seeing a raddle red roof after a year of seeing a blue one!
Adam, we'll look forward to seeing Briar Rose's new paint job. We really liked the green that she is now. Will be interesting to see the red roof too.
Elly
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