68 July 2018 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk
TECHNICAL
Follow the simple rules for a colour makeover at a stroke
Ask your questions [email protected]
O
ne thing’s for sure, it’s up to you.
A fresh coat of paint in the same
colour or a daring makeover.
And only you and your regular
passengers need to like it. And once you’ve
completed the job there’s no boat to beat it.
Stick to some simple guidelines and you’ll be
turning heads on the towpath.
The choice of red and green doesn’t have
to be avoided just because there’s a lot of it
about. It’s seen up and down the network
because it works. They were common
colours for working boats but a modern take
is turning towards a fairly dark green and
middle to bright red. However, a less
fashionable mid-green paired with a red that
is heading for orange looks fresher and
sharper.
With modern boats, strong colours in the
most dominant areas often look more
elegant than light ones. Navy blue gives a
feeling of depth and strength for instance
that a light blue wouldn’t. The same is true of
most colours. Even a mid-chrome yellow has
more punch than lemon chrome.
Just as important is the level of contrast
and colour balance between major colours
and the secondary ones. It’s safe and
effective to have two shades of the same
colour – perhaps deep Brunswick green
paired with light Brunswick green set off
with a red handrail and an off-white line – or
a deep crimson offset by a related but
brighter red – with a gold line.
Gold lines certainly work well if the major
colours are rich and dark and then even the
signwork could be in gold as well, providedPA I N T YOU R BOAT