Colored vs White hulls

[RustyTank]

Getting ready to purchase a used TE 28'... can any owners talk to their experiences maintaining a colored Albin hull? How much effort annually on the colored hull and what is the "best" way to keep it up?

I'm assuming the color is in the glass... not painted ... but i've seen several used boats with hulls that have been painted/Awlgrip'd I'm guessing this is due to the base color getting too "aged" to clean up successfully?

All my previous boats have been white glass... but I must admit a shined up blue hull is simply georgeous... but I'll stick with white if im setting myself up for an annual battle...



- Rich Nolan

[jcollins]

Getting ready to purchase a used TE 28'... can any owners talk to their experiences maintaining a colored Albin hull? How much effort annually on the colored hull and what is the "best" way to keep it up?

I'm assuming the color is in the glass... not painted ... but i've seen several used boats with hulls that have been painted/Awlgrip'd I'm guessing this is due to the base color getting too "aged" to clean up successfully?

All my previous boats have been white glass... but I must admit a shined up blue hull is simply georgeous... but I'll stick with white if im setting myself up for an annual battle...



- Rich Nolan

Maintaining a colored hull can be as easy as opening your wallet. Then again, many prefer the d.i.y. route. These hulls require waxing every few months or yours will end up looking like mine did before wet sanding. Now it's beautiful. I still think paint is the way to go but short of that, wax on, wax off.
Search around the board. You'll find many discussions about colored hulls, before and after pictures.

Welcome to AOG,

John

[RicM]

There are extensive discussions on this board about "colored" hulls (sounds like a civil rights question from the 60's) that you can search for and read. My 03 28 TE was fairly well oxidized on the starboard side as the first owner's slip had the starboard facing south. I was reluctant to be too aggressive with compounding my new boat, and that was a mistake. Albin put a good quantity of gelcoat in the mold. A vigorous wetsanding will not go through the color like it might on your typical Bayliner. Each year I have gotten braver and more aggressive with compound and still have plenty of color left. Worst thing that can happen? Eventually you will burn through it and THEN it's time for Awlgrip.

[Jack28]

Algrip! no fuss, no muss JRG

[lpbp]

Question --- If you have a white hull and you want to color it ,how does algrip work and apply , cost and up keep . also would you change the color from white --pros and cons

[Jack28]

Algrip recomends you prime the hull with there 545 primer I have a green hull and sanded it before priming. I thought about just applying top coat with no primer as what better base could you have, but I primed like the manufacture recomends. As far as a white hull goes I would leave it white, there are more colored hulls that white as far as Albins go, I guess if its a 28 and white does not fade as fast. my 2 cents. JRG

[Russell]

I had a blue sailboat Awlgripped without the primer and it came our beautifully. Looked new year after year. If your hull is in good shape and you are keeping the same color you can skip the primer. The person who applied it said he "scratched" the hull to make it ready for painting. I also saw an older sailboat in a yacht yard that was recently Awlgripped white and it was stunning. Awlgrip looks shinier and smoother to me than new gelcoat.

[NJRobert]

I have an '07 28TE with a blue hull. From "day 1" I made sure that every Fall ,I wash it and then apply a cleaner wax. McGuire's. Then each Spring, I rinse, wash, apply cleaner wax, then at least 1 coat of Collinite, liquid or paste, doesn't really matter as long as you put it on and off by hand. This will be season 4 in the water and it still looks like a new boat. Really not that much work if you keep up with it. That's the secret.

[special k]

blue hulls...
really not that much work, as long as you work at it

[tomtutton]

Our Green hull on a 98 TE finally had to be awlgriped - came our great
Tomcat