Does an Oliver have to be White?

[HDRider]

The bright moon this morning cast a shadow perfectly at the line of the bottom hull making it look dark.  It looked good.

I don't know anything about fiberglass.  How hard is it to make it a different color?

I wonder if a color, especially at the water line, would attract more buyers?

[Steph and Dud B]

The fiberglass shell can be manufactured in any color and, in fact, Oliver made a few colored units in the early days. Changing the gelcoat color after the fact would be difficult, if not impossible.  However, some people have put wraps on their Olivers, some of which are really cool. A much better option if you want to change the color.  

[MAX Burner]

Casita is offering new 2-tone models - the white upper hull looks cool with the light gray lower hull, IMO....

As noted earlier, there is always the "wrap" option which could have unlimited variations for an owner.

[topgun2]

Jelly Bean Restore 2 6-2016.jfif

[ScubaRx]

Fiberglass can be painted beautifully. Look at the last 70 years of Corvettes. I’d have it professionally done. All three of the colored shells shown above were painted. Oliver never used a colored gel coat. 

[routlaw]

@ScubaRx you beat me to it. I also suspect a painted Oliver might be easier to maintain vs the gel coat which constantly needs waxing, ceramic coatings etc. No doubt it would also cost a good sum of money to have one painted properly too.

[Steph and Dud B]

1 hour ago, ScubaRx said:

Fiberglass can be painted beautifully.

I just learned something. 

[jd1923]

7 hours ago, ScubaRx said:

Fiberglass can be painted beautifully. Look at the last 70 years of Corvettes. I’d have it professionally done. All three of the colored shells shown above were painted. Oliver never used a colored gel coat. 

Thanks for this Steve! Our Hull 113 built 9 years ago, having lived a lot of outdoors in the SW sun, is pretty dull. Some shine on the curbside, which is nice since it is the side where live when we camp. Ours will be the flat one at the Texas Rally!

For CGI’s service, their website states price “Starting at $3,000” and thinking they’d want more given the condition of our hull. Also, they suggest re-servicing on a regular basis. They’re also too far away for us.

Though I’d be worried about paint chipping on the front and paint can turn into a nightmare if removal is needed.

BTW, the colors above are not the best of choices, can I say awful? IMHO. I do like the Casita two-tone, if it was an exact match to the two-tone white-gray of our truck. Thanks @MAX Burner!

[ScottyGS]

Here are some pics I took of the "Jelly Bean" before being owned by Brandi and Winston Schaffer and becoming the Bean.  I guess Oliver was restoring this trailer and brought it back beautifully. 

Not all Olivers are white.  

Enjoy,

Scotty

[Rivernerd]

Just think how pleasant it would be to hang out inside the black Oliver on a 100+ degree day, particularly with a Demonic air conditioner.  We like our Oliver white, and we love our Truma AC.

[Patriot]

A white object reflects all wavelengths of light, so the light is not converted into heat and the temperature of the object does not increase.
I bet Oliver took this into consideration when designing the first Oliver.
 

I like the white and will keep it OEM.

[routlaw]

I agree with @Patriot and if I were going to paint mine it would be perhaps a pearlescent white the main reason not having to deal with the gel coat issues. From my experience and others may disagree maintaining a painted vehicle is much easier than maintaining a gel coat over fiberglass. 

[Doug S]

Just a quick comment on this proceeded by "it would need to be measured.", and I believe it's likely that a white Oliver would be cooler than one that was painted or had a darker color...but... The term used to describe the absorbtion or radiation of energy is emissivity. The highest (perfect) absorber or radiator has an emissivity of 1.000.. A perfect reflector has an emissivity of 0.... Close to 40% of the sun's radiated energy is in the visible area of the spectrum, but nearly 50% of the energy is in the infrared. So, while the white is reflective to our eyes, most plastics and normal paints are very dark in the infrared. You'd like a lower emissivity number to both keep heating from the sun to be low and to lose less heat at night. The ideal direction would be something like highly polished aluminum (but not anodized). Shiny white and clean fiberglass is much easier to maintain, and probably much lower cost. And white of the same material would likely have a lower emissivity compared to a color - particularly a darker one.

[jd1923]

I used to truly dislike paint, like as a teenager when my mom wanted me to paint over the natural pine paneling in the stairwell and lower hallway going to my bedroom. You can never get the wood back, but of course Mom was mom, Yes Ma’am!

This thread makes me feel confident in letting our fiberglass sit in the AZ sun another 1-2 years without worry or care, love it! Then when I get some $$$$ saved, I will paint it the Dodge color codes of my truck. Not selling the truck, not selling the Oliver. This would look cool and the upper shell would still be white, but a little brighter white.

The picture was taken after sunset, so it’s very dark. The upper portion is bright white.  Notice the center rib which looks a lot like the joint on the Oliver between upper and lower shells. This would look awesome, IMHO.

Edited October 20 by jd1923

[SeaDawg]

Any good boatyard can paint fiberglass. 

Many types of  paint for fiberglass still require waxing and care. Others don't. Awlgrip paint  warns against wax, and most boat owners report 5 to 10 years of a beautiful finish, some even many more, with proper care. (Keep it clean, use non abrasive cleaners as recommended,  etc.) If you decide to paint, have a long conversation about pros and cons of various available coatings. Paint is often much harder to repair than gelcoat.

A wrap is honestly probably less expensive,  and easier maintenance.  Proper paint job on a fiberglass hull is many hours of arduous work. And, attention to detail.

Many beautiful boats are painted hulls, but, they don't face rock chips. They do deal with abrasion from dock lines and docks, but not highway and gravel  

Serious consideration here. I wouldn't paint mine, honestly. 

Edited October 20 by SeaDawg

[Corvus]

During our recent rescue Oli from the hurricane trip #3 or 4, I'm loosing count, I noticed how dingy it looks. The TV is "polar white" and they used to match pretty well. Maybe all the tannin from oak and hickory tree detritus has taken its toll.

I would like to paint wrap ours white, or maybe add yellow, red and blue  dots and nickname it Wonder Loaf.

COE East Bank Campground on Seminole Lake, near Chattahoochee, FL.

 

Edited October 20 by Corvus
Clarification on location.

[SeaDawg]

6 minutes ago, Corvus said:

I would like to paint wrap ours white, or maybe add yellow, red and blue  dots and nickname it Wonder Loaf.

Can't wait to see the wonder bread wrap. 

[jd1923]

13 hours ago, Corvus said:

I noticed how dingy it looks. The TV is "polar white" and they used to match pretty well. Maybe all the tannin from oak and hickory tree detritus has taken its toll.

I would like to paint wrap ours white, or…

Our TV is also a brighter white, but our TV is 24 years old and the whites are now pretty close. The front fenders and hood of the TV could use some paint too. Sunlight UV rays do take their toll. I’ve got a painter, a retired pro who has a paint booth on his property and does reasonable side jobs at half todays shop rates.

[srthomsen]

On 10/18/2024 at 5:34 PM, jd1923 said:

Thanks for this Steve! Our Hull 113 built 9 years ago, having lived a lot of outdoors in the SW sun, is pretty dull. Some shine on the curbside, which is nice since it is the side where live when we camp. Ours will be the flat one at the Texas Rally!

For CGI’s service, their website states price “Starting at $3,000” and thinking they’d want more given the condition of our hull. Also, they suggest re-servicing on a regular basis. They’re also too far away for us.

Though I’d be worried about paint chipping on the front and paint can turn into a nightmare if removal is needed.

BTW, the colors above are not the best of choices, can I say awful? IMHO. I do like the Casita two-tone, if it was an exact match to the two-tone white-gray of our truck. Thanks @MAX Burner!

Ours is a bit dirty. But it seems that procrastination is my middle name.

[HDRider]

On 10/19/2024 at 7:24 PM, jd1923 said:

I used to truly dislike paint, like as a teenager when my mom wanted me to paint over the natural pine paneling in the stairwell and lower hallway going to my bedroom. You can never get the wood back, but of course Mom was mom, Yes Ma’am!

This thread makes me feel confident in letting our fiberglass sit in the AZ sun another 1-2 years without worry or care, love it! Then when I get some $$$$ saved, I will paint it the Dodge color codes of my truck. Not selling the truck, not selling the Oliver. This would look cool and the upper shell would still be white, but a little brighter white.

The picture was taken after sunset, so it’s very dark. The upper portion is bright white.  Notice the center rib which looks a lot like the joint on the Oliver between upper and lower shells. This would look awesome, IMHO.

You got exactly what I was trying to say.

 

The lower hull in another color, or another shade of white would look very good. 

[jd1923]

On 10/21/2024 at 5:27 AM, srthomsen said:

Ours is a bit dirty...

How dirty can a 1-year-old Oliver be?

We got to the Texas Rally, where I thought our older hull would be the ugly duckling. Wow, there are some glossy Olivers here, some with recent CGI service. I was happy to see a couple Olivers with the dull & dirty look like ours. Don't they say, "It's what's inside that counts!"

[Coastal Aggie]

11 hours ago, jd1923 said:

How dirty can a 1-year-old Oliver be?

After a 3 month trip to alaska and back I'm finding dust in places I didn't know could get dusty. 

If I ever get a wild hair doing a wrap with a different color for the bottom half is on my list of probably someday projects. I kinda like the idea of doing either a teal or red on the bottom half to give it kinda a retro look but a grey to match my silver truck would be pretty rad. I just find the giant white egg look a little odd when you come across it tucked away in the woods.

Edited October 23 by Coastal Aggie

[Jason Foster]

I may actually do a camo wrap so I can lose it in the woods.

 

[SeaDawg]

I'd do a wrap, if i did anything. Maintaining paint, as a secondary solution,  just doesn't appeal to me. 

We've done several coats of paint on our 40+ years old fiberglass dinghy, over the decades. It's a pita.