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Blue Hulls
Colored gelcoats have a short life, 3 or 5 years or so, then they all fade. If its a light color, say sky blue or tan, you may not notice the fade too much. Dark colors fade very strongly. Better builders paint their colored boats from the getgo. Poorer builders let the unfortunate buyers pay to paint them when the gelcoat inevitably fades.
My lesssion learned - when I bought a 1977 red C&C at the start of the 1981 season the gelcoat looked pink. Several days of compounding, sealing, and waxing restored a gorgeous dark red color. After a month in the water, the boat was pink again! Only waxing it every few weeks could maintain the original red. The next year I had the boat awlgripped - I see that boat every now and then, after 20 years the Awlgrip red looks almost as good as new.
Run, don''t walk, from a boat with a dark gelcoat!
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