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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?




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.

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.

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.

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.