Original Color - Hatch Clue

The Main Sand Box for bertram31.com

Moderators: CaptPatrick, mike ohlstein, Bruce

Post Reply
HotSpot
Posts: 131
Joined: May 9th, '18, 12:03
Location: Illinois/Wisconsin

Original Color - Hatch Clue

Post by HotSpot »

Hey All,

What do you all make of the paint on the underside of this battery hatch? It was uncovered after sanding away some badly flaking white paint. Does this look like a color that could have been the original interior and/or hull color?

Image


LEGEND HAS IT (The second owner told me) that the boat was sent back to the Bertram factory to be repainted white after going unsold for a couple years when it was new (could explain why such a low-number hull is titled as a 63).

Fast forward 40 years... during sanding/prep for a planned refurbishment, they found the original blue gelcoat showing through. So, they changed the game plan and "tried" to match it.

Now I am wondering how close they attempted to get to the original color.

Does anyone know if the original hull could have been a very dark flag blue, or would it have been more like the underside of this hatch?

It's fun peeling back the layers.
HotSpot - ‘61 25 Sport Convertible - Hull# 25-109
Amberjack
Posts: 574
Joined: Jul 15th, '15, 13:32
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Original Color - Hatch Clue

Post by Amberjack »

That might just be the generic paint Bertram used under all their floor panels. My bilge itself was never painted. In those days they seemed to use whatever was to hand for applications like this. My under panel color is not too far off from your picture, maybe a little lighter, and I know mine is original because every floor panel has the hull number written in pencil on that paint. These boats were all individually fabricated.
Doug Pratt
Bertram 31 Amberjack
FBC hull #315-820
Tony Meola
Senior Member
Posts: 7036
Joined: Jun 29th, '06, 21:24
Location: Hillsdale, New Jersey
Contact:

Re: Original Color - Hatch Clue

Post by Tony Meola »

If I remember correctly some of the early boats where not always white. Way back when I read the Hull #1 was a tangerine/orange color.
1975 FBC BERG1467-315
HotSpot
Posts: 131
Joined: May 9th, '18, 12:03
Location: Illinois/Wisconsin

Re: Original Color - Hatch Clue

Post by HotSpot »

Amberjack wrote: Apr 27th, '21, 17:50 That might just be the generic paint Bertram used under all their floor panels. My bilge itself was never painted. In those days they seemed to use whatever was to hand for applications like this. My under panel color is not too far off from your picture, maybe a little lighter, and I know mine is original because every floor panel has the hull number written in pencil on that paint. These boats were all individually fabricated.
So, it seems there was an interior color choice, or at least variation between builds... This writing is on the inside of cockpit panels. Color and hull ID.
Image
HotSpot - ‘61 25 Sport Convertible - Hull# 25-109
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 130 guests