Blue Hull, Just how bad of a PITA is it ?

Gimme Time

Gimme Time

Active Member
GOLD Sponsor
Jan 7, 2007
907
Charlottesville, VA./ Deltaville, VA. / Tidewater
Boat Info
2006 52SB, Ray Marine E120, Garmin 7612 through BOE site sponsor,
Engines
QSM11s
Let me know as it says above just how big of a concern is it? Is this the biggest mistake you ever made or ya can handle it if ya just take great care of it!

Let me know what you think and if you have it how do you take special care to take care of it?

AJ
 
All colored hulls are work but worth it if you can keep up with it. A friend of mine had a Formula and it must be painted ( Emron ) and he never did anything to it for years and it was perfect.
 
I have a complete black bottom and black sides. It's really no that hard to keep a shine, in fact. I just did it this weekend. Used Magiers Oxididation remover (to remove the watet spots), follow up with a Marine Polish on a Blue pad, then maguiars ultra penacal wax for boats. I did the underside too. First time doing this since owening it 2 years ago. Looks buiitful even under the poll.
 
I had a blue hull on my 360. It was my first and last colored hull. I also only used to drive black trucks and cars. I loved the way that blue hull looked once cleaned and waxed. If you stay up on it, they will remain beautiful. Had I kept the boat, I would have painted it and it would have been easier to keep that shine. The colored hulls will show any dock rash, sea gull crap, oxidation, and dirt much faster.
 
Sea Ray has struggled with the gelcoat formulae for colored hulls. The blue ones eventually turn purple, the pewter and cinnabar ones will chalk over days after cleaning and polishing our dealership sold a lot of blue, black and pewter and all of them look like horrible after a year or so in the FLorida sun. There are 2 (out of 100's) here that I know of that are still nice……a 420DA kept in a boat house and waxed every other month and a 50DA kep in a covered slip and waxed 4-5X a year. By comparison, my white hull looks like new and it is 20 years old…..waxed 2X a year.

Sea Ray's top quality control guy has a saying….."White is Right".
 
Formula I believe uses Awlgrip on their coloured hull sides for that reason. I have never seeen any coloured hill over 5 years old that did not look a bit chalky. And that's up here in Canada. They look great new though.
 
Friends out here that have colored hulls and stay on it look great. Most of us are in covered slips so they only see the sun when they are out using them. One friend has a blue hull but keeps it at his dock behind his house with no cover. This one gets pretty chalked up. It all depends on if it's going to open or covered slipped and how much you like to polish!
 
Paint is the only way to go for colored hulls, but as Frank said, Sea Ray uses gel coat and it eventually fades. Agree that they look great when they look great, but when that blue turns to purple there isn't much that can be done to fix it, short of an expensive paint job.
 
My white hull was painted black by a previous owner. It only requires washing. I had it waxed about 3 years ago. Very pleased with how it has held up. Here is a pic from a trip this weekend.

4d17c647f2e23fa5ae98a4366bcaa637.jpg



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Since it is my favorite color, I looked at several blue hulls while shopping for my present boat. Mostly 03/04 380's so they were a dozen or so years old. Nine out of ten looked like crap. Probably half of the crappy looking ones could have been brought back with light wet sanding, compound, and polish which I think would have been worth it because they look so good when they are done properly. But that takes a lot of skill and hard work. Then once brought back it takes a lot of maintenance to keep them looking good.
The other half that looked like crap would have taken refinishing to bring back. Way more than I was willing to take on.
If you have the skills and are willing to do the work, or are willing to pay to have it done and then maintained then it's worth it.
If you lack the skills or inclination but are willing to pay make sure you have a pro look at it before you buy the boat so they can let you know what, if anything, can be done.
 
Sea Ray's top quality control guy has a saying….."White is Right".
Click to expand...

I was there with Frank when that phrase was uttered by the guy at SR that does all the materials testing. At that time (2012) he said, at best, they are getting 2 good years out of colored gel coat. I believe the FLYs are painted (Imron or awlgrip?). Formula uses Imron too.
 
Ughh...I owned a black hull for a couple seasons. It was pretty miserable. It waterspotted something fierce (freshwater). I really, really like the look of the bigger DA's with the blue hull but I'm not sure I could torture myself with one. They sure do look sharp though.

And as mentioned I above I too have always owned and driven black vehicles (still do). For some reason it feels different on a boat. Different as in "a lot more work"...
 
Had a blue hull 300DA. Never looked good enough despite trying everything I could. White hull now and forever. No one really cares what color your hull is. There is so much more to spend time on than chasing after a fading dark gelcoat hull.


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After two years in the Florida sun I gave up on keeping the blue shiny. Had the blue painted with Awlcraft 2000 and could not be happier. Went with a darker blue.
 
I had a black Chaparral and loved it. It did show salt spot but they hosed off. I wish my current boat was black.
 
I certainly would have opted for a white hull if I had the option at the time, however the "right boat" at the "right price" happend to have a blue hull. Mine is an '09 and it was in pretty good shape when I got the boat thanks to an "open checkbook" PO. I've been pretty diligent at polishing and waxing myself, but in all honesty by the end of the season it needs some work. Anything bigger than what I've got now, and I don't think I'd go with colored hull.
 
With our short boating season, less exposure to the elements, the colored hulls probably hold up a little better in my neck of the woods.

My first two SeaRays were black, looked great, not bad for upkeep, but they were small boats that I took home and could putz, and shine when I wanted. When I bought the 280DA I made sure it was white. That boat was stored at home also and I could do the waxing. Then I bought the blue 420DA, my preference was white but I compromised because it was otherwise a pretty good boat. It always looks good from a distance.

The 420DA is always 2-3hrs away. It gets waxed good once a season. Even in winter storage it's hard to put the time in to do the things needed. It's not like I can knock it out in a day like the smaller boats.....so I have to pay for below the rubrail, they're pretty good, I think I could do better though, except....I don't want to do it anymore. With that in mind as long as I'm paying someone anyway I guess it doesn't matter what color it is.
 
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