On May 10, 6:44�pm, "Scott McPhillips [MVP]" org-dot-mvps-at-
scottmcp wrote:
I have a new-last-year fiberglass boat with a white hull. *I keep it in
the water for the boating season, but it spent the winter shrink-wrapped
ashore at a marina.

The marina called today to ask if I wanted them to paint the bottom
black. *(As if that were the obvious choice.) *Maybe a stupid question:
Does the bottom paint color matter for protection, or is the choice of
color just an appearance thing?

Color doesn't matter.

But there's a neat trick you can do with bottom paint and you might
want to start with a lighter color than black. Put on a couple of
coats, using different colors. You'll be able to tell when the top
coat is fairly well abladed away when the color below begins showing
through.

As long as you clean your bottom paint, sand it lightly, and check to
see that adhesion remains good you can normally add additional layers
of the same type of paint without having to strip down to bare glass
every year. You will eventually have to strip, but the contrasting
undercoat will help alert you to the areas that need special touch up
attention before the bare glass shows through.