"Keith" wrote:

A couple of notes:

The coolest color is white, because it reflects more sunlight than any
other. Matter of fact, in the color industry, they use pure titanium dioxide
pigment (white) as the 100% reflectance standard. The coolest canvas would
be white. Black or dark colors basically act as solar collectors.

If it's just a bimini, you might notice a difference or not. You'll SURE
notice a difference in how dirty the white gets though!

That's why we don't have pure white, but a kind of cream. And since
it is stamoid, it is easy to wash. The only real trouble we have with
dirt is the thread and velcro which gets mildewed and doesn't ever
look clean.

OTOH, the most UV stable color is black. That's because the pigment used to
make it black is carbon black... degraded about as far as it can be. That's
why I use black dock lines, etc. Yea, they do get hotter which will degrade
them a bit faster, but UV is what really kills synthetics.

I guess that's also why they recommend dark colors for sail covers.

Oh yea, those "reflective" "silver" tarps aren't. The pigment is just
aluminum powder, and acts just like any dark color. If you want something
reflective, get metallized mylar like they use in space blankets. Kinda
impractical though.

grandma Rosalie