Poll: Bright Finished versus All Wood?
Dec 11th, 2006 | By Dan (CSFW) | Category: 06.11 Black Pearl (CT), Kayaks, NewsI recently received a second inquiry for a monochrome painted Black Pearl. It’s really got me curious:
What do kayakers prefer in general? Painted boats or varnished wood (finished bright)?
I’m personally a fan of wood (hey I’m slightly biased…). With different wood strips, inlays and veneer overlays the graphic design options in wood are limitless. Now that I’ve worked on the Pearl I can see the simple elegance of a painted, monotone boat. I am definatly planning on incorporating painted boats into the company and will have more info on the website when it gets redone. For now I’d be curious to see how others feel… Please post a comment with your thoughts.
Thanks, Dan
12/17/06 I have edited the above post to correct a misconception I had that “bright” = “painted.” NO!! “Bright” = “varnished.” It should make more sense now. Thanks, to Bill and Bjorn.
My first boat (a CLC S&G) was a combination. Painted sides & bottom with a wood deck. I left a stripe detail on the side in natural wood finish. Looks great. That said, I prefer the all wood finish in high gloss is still my favorite.
Steve
This is a discussion I have been having a lot lately. I was initially partial to a clear wood finish, and once wrote on my site:”how could anyone even contemplate hiding all the beautiful woodwork under a layer of opaque paint!”
But after some ten bright finished kayaks I began to reconsider. Other visual expressions tempted. A collegue built kayaks with white hulls and clear deck. They looked better every time I saw them and had definite maintanance advantages.
The pearl became black for three reasons:
1. it is a very small kayak and a dark color makes things look smaller, supporting the visual statement.
2. I wanted to remove all visual distractions, such as busy wood patters, to focus on the lines – letting the light over monochrome surfaces define the shapes rather than joints, epoxy fillings, inlays and variations in strip color.
3. it was a hommage to the contemporary rolling kayaks of Greenland – often black as opposed to the hunting and racing kayaks, that are often gray or white.
I would say, from received pics and building reports, that approx half of the Pearls hitherto built (some 70) have been painted, most of them black, a couple white, a quarter of them with painted hulls and clear decks and the rest all wood.
Correspondens with builders indicate a number of reasons to paint: the beauty of an uncluttered surface with focus on lines, a wish to simplify the building process and maintenance, a reaction to decorative or artistic stripping, that is sometimes perceived as visually busy and limiting to the usefulness of the craft – many “painters” build rugged kayaks to use from rocky beaches and in rock gardens…
As this is my Black Pearl – I should just say painted and leave it at that, right? However, that being said, I seriously contemplated the hull in black and the deck clear strips. It seemed to be the best of both worlds – black where most deep scratches happen and clear to show wood patterns.
However, to be quite truthful, I love Black Kayaks…as the first one I saw was the “stealth boat” Bill Whitcomb built (mentioned on Bjorn’s site) built for Cheri Perry and have wanted one ever since. So, maybe it will be a wood over black boat next time, but this time its painted for me!!
Scott
I’m really diggin’ this log, so I hate to nitpick over nomenclature, but to avoid confusion, especially for Swedish friends, “bright,” I believe, traditionally means clear or varnished, not painted wood.
Thanks Bill, this is also my understanding…
You know… I think you’re right. I checked a few traditional wood-boat site and bright means varished. I’ll edit my original post. Any other nomenclature that doesn’t seem right, please let me know. Thanks.
Not likely in our lifetime, you have already forgotten more about boatbuilding than I will EVER know. I’m enjoying following your log with my eyes, and look forward one day to doing so with my hands!