Hi there, I recently purchased a 1975 san juan 26 that needs a little gel coat repair on the hull. Does anyone know what hull color it is? Looks like off white. Or bone ??? Any help is appreciated.
Hull color
- Thread starter ronshara1
- Start date
The supplier of the OEM gel coat was probably Ferro. They seem to still be around, part of another corp.
In reality, even if you were buying a little container of your boat's exact product number of gel coat back in 1980, it would not (totally) match the OEM color. Every batch is very slightly different.
(Learned from experience.)
Gel coat fades due to UV, and also will change some with long term cure-out.
Reply #3 is the useful answer for you.
After all these decades getting a color match will be very difficult, even for an experienced repair person. I have tinted new gel coat to match our boat's original color and come close; several years later I could see exactly where I had done the work. Ditto for repairs done by master craftsmen in my area.
Doing a strong repair and getting the color to match will be a great learning experience for you. Satisfying, too. Just do not be too disappointed if the results are slightly imperfect.
And, about the color "white"..... there are about 50 shades of white... or maybe 100. When you buy some "base white" gel coat to start tinting from you may be surprised at the whiteness of the product!
In reality, even if you were buying a little container of your boat's exact product number of gel coat back in 1980, it would not (totally) match the OEM color. Every batch is very slightly different.
(Learned from experience.)
Gel coat fades due to UV, and also will change some with long term cure-out.
Reply #3 is the useful answer for you.
After all these decades getting a color match will be very difficult, even for an experienced repair person. I have tinted new gel coat to match our boat's original color and come close; several years later I could see exactly where I had done the work. Ditto for repairs done by master craftsmen in my area.
Doing a strong repair and getting the color to match will be a great learning experience for you. Satisfying, too. Just do not be too disappointed if the results are slightly imperfect.
And, about the color "white"..... there are about 50 shades of white... or maybe 100. When you buy some "base white" gel coat to start tinting from you may be surprised at the whiteness of the product!
For small repairs you can get a repair kit to match your color. Evercoat makes several different kits.
There is a reason why most insurance companies pay to repaint entire topsides for one small damaged area. They recognize it’s almost impossible to get a perfect match.
This all depends on how close you want the repair color to match.
This all depends on how close you want the repair color to match.
UV and weather changes gelcoat and any other material. The new original coating won't match the aged existing surface. To repair a small door dent in our car, the auto body shop sprayed the whole door and blended/feathered that into rear door and front fender.
The same with old gelcoat. The best you will get is a "it matches if I squint" type result.
The same with old gelcoat. The best you will get is a "it matches if I squint" type result.
Try an Interlux Color chart up against it. From the picture and from the era, I would say Hatterast Off White (1990) #4218
No need to guess.
IMO the best option is to buy or borrow a RAL or Instint colour chart/deck.
Instint has a wider range of colours, so that is my preferred choice over RAL.
Using the chart figure out which colour "chip" matches what you have, and then order custom matched gelcoat using the code for that chip.
Fibreglast.com is one company that handles both ral and Instint gelcoat matching. There are many others.
Option 2 would be to take a removable part of the boat that has the color you want, to a company to have them match to that.
option 3 is to have someone with a NIX Pro that has the Instint color Addon, come to the boat and scan the hull
Option 4 buy some gelcoat and spend time learning how to tint it to match.
Having once worked for a SanJuan dealer I remember that the usual hull color of the 26 was a beige, but not sure what the supplier of the gel coat called it. At best, you might be able to find a can of gelcoat near the color you want, but even if you could identify the exact manufacturer and color, it probably won't be a perfect match because of sun degradation over the years. So, as stated above, you will need to do some matching with various colorants to add to your gelcoat base in hopes you can match your existing color. Some people are really good at doing this and some not so. Good luck.
I read on a cruisers thread the easy way to match old gel colors:
go to a big paint store and get some interior paint color chips. take to your boat and pick the closest color match. every paint manufaturer supplies the paint store with a paint formula : for medium beige, base, white, 3 drops brown 1 drop yellow to get a color like Bristol beige. the ratios of what tints to use on the base white are what you want . sherwin williams prints the tint colors used and their % by volume right on the paint can lids. so that is a place to start.
go to a big paint store and get some interior paint color chips. take to your boat and pick the closest color match. every paint manufaturer supplies the paint store with a paint formula : for medium beige, base, white, 3 drops brown 1 drop yellow to get a color like Bristol beige. the ratios of what tints to use on the base white are what you want . sherwin williams prints the tint colors used and their % by volume right on the paint can lids. so that is a place to start.
The local polymer shop that I use is able to type in an RAL color and have their machine mix it. They were kind enough to lend me a few swatches with a deposit. Sherwin Williams gives away free RAL swatches but they have a limited number of whites available.