Champagne hull colour

No Man.

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Instead of the standard white colour of gelcoat (which technically is the best colour to use in warm climes as it reflects the sun's rays and doesn't absorb energy due to its high albedo) or the common “Flag Blue” that I had on Zanshin I I saw a picture in the first brochure for the Jeanneau 57 with a hull coloured “Champagne” that looked perfect and that was one of the few decisions regarding how to outfit the yacht that I never revisited or revised. The pictures below are from the commissioning process and show the hull first in white and then in the various stages of completion. The paint used is Awlgrip.

This is the first picture of Zanshin upon arrival in the USA on September 9, 2011. (2011-09-12 10:12:15 iPhone 3GS [f/2.8, 1/1494s] ISO 64)

The base color, Champagne, has been applied to the hull and still needs to be completed. (2011-09-20 09:24:57 iPhone 3GS [f/2.8, 1/243s] ISO 64)

Zanshin right after the initial awlgrip work has been completed. (2011-09-27 12:15:23 iPhone 3GS [f/2.8, 1/1352s] ISO 64)

Zanshin right after the initial awlgrip work has been completed. (2011-09-27 12:05:24 iPhone 3GS [f/2.8, 1/2134s] ISO 64)

Zanshin at the docks for the the 2011 Annapolis Boat Show.

The colour does have some downsides, but so far it has been quite nice and quite distinctive. Those countries with electronic clearance systems, notably France, have a list of boat couloirs and of course “Champagne” is not on the list, so I substitute approximations of “Gold” or “Beige”. The AwlGrip is not completely free of maintenance, but after storage I ask Vernon, the expert cleaner at Nanny Cay, to clean and polish the topsides for me and that brings the colour back to a lustre.

Vernon, the polishing specialist, working on Zanshin in the yard. [18°24'1.52"N 64°38'1.22"W ]

Vernon doing the hard work of polishing Zanshin's topsides to a lustre [18°24'1.52"N 64°38'1.22"W ]

Vernon, the cleaning specialist, with a special greeting [18°24'1.52"N 64°38'1.22"W ]

Vernon putting the finishing touches on the topsides with cloth, Awlcare and lots of elbow grease. [18°24'1.5"N 64°38'1.39"W ]