Yellow paint

Mark Adams

all wood nut
So, the question is, where were all you, my sage and wise canoeing friends when I decided to paint a canoe yellow? Over a dark grey primer? (I could have gone with a white primer). I had completely forgotten what LOUSY coverage yellow paint gave. I am using Kirby's Shaw Yellow. on a 1965 OT 50 pounder. I had to call Kirby's yesterday and order more paint. I sprayed the first coat, and then decided to brush the second to see if the coverage was any better. It wasn't. I just sprayed the 3rd, and it is looking much better, but it needs at least more coat. Never again!
 
Yep, even looking yellow seems to really be depend on paint film thickness. I think I rolled and tipped three coats of porch enamel on this one before I was sure it was even. I have both regular and HVLP spray equipment, but by the time you thin boat paint enough to spray well, it can take a whole bunch of coats on some shades to get a solid color, so I don't bother. I'm used to spraying 20 coats on guitars, but I'm not going to do that on something as big as a boat.

The good news is that of all the possible colors, I don't think there is any other that really makes the warm tones of the cedar pop the way yellow does. You may get a few banana jokes from the peanut gallery but it's worth it. There was a photo in the 1969 or 1970 Old Town catalog of two hunters with a dead deer in a yellow O.T. Lightweight and I always thought "some day, I'm going to paint my Guide yellow so that the wood will glow like that". I did and it does. Looks nice with the fall leaves, too.
 

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Mark,
I've had requests to paint Shaw's Yellow on 4-5 occasions. My advice is to just keep painting it..... When you sand, avoid the areas that sand through to the filler. It usually takes a bout 3 more coats than normal, as I recall.Berryman4.jpg100_0817.jpg
 
Todd,

The way the yellow "pops" the colors of the wood is why I chose yellow. I figured it would look pretty dang nice, and the posted photos by you and Dave only confirm that. But jees, what a pain! The real problem is that I am supposed to be delivering the canoe to Logan, Utah on Wed, and the last qt. of paint is scheduled for Monday delivery. That leaves a day and a half for the paint to cure before I strap it on the trailer, and hit the road. Not much time! And, I still have to install the stem bands.
 
Note that Joe only had 36 distinct colors recorded in the record, and I lumped all the primary colors togther for the percentages, ie, all greens, all reds, etc.

Dan
 
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