Boot Stripe Paint Color - Interlux #4316 Dark Blue
Bill Bassler of the CCABC asked me about the boot stripe color for the Commander series, and I thought I'd post the info here too. THe Essential Guide indicates "black" is the "proper color" for an original boot stripe. I selected the darkest blue I could find that would still read "blue", just as a personal preference.
Since the Essenential Guide has been found on many occasions to be more "essential" than "accurate", I can not be sure Commanders didn't actually come with these dark blue stripes. When compared to black, I think the very dark blue looks very sharp and elegant.
This is "the can" of paint used to paint the boot stripe. You can see where it is smudged lightly it shows the blue, but where the paint is thicker it looks very dark, indeed, even in the illumination of the photo. This is an Interlux product, which I find to be a spectacular line of paints for wood or fiberglass use!
Boot Stripe Tip of the Week !! If you’re going to do a repaint like I did, and your stripe is straight and true and you like it. Here’s the best way I know to get it back right like it was before. For this example I’ll use the dimensions of my stripe, which is a 1-1/2” stripe. Measure down 1” and put reference marks with a marker that won’t bleed through the white paint. Do this at intervals of about 3 or 4 feet all around the boat. That way when you install new blue paint above the line, as we did, which requires an overlap of the old waterline boot stripe………………..and when you lay on that copper bronze and overlap part of the boot stripe, you’ll be able to use that reference mark to place your easy-lift tape exactly where it has to go. I made up a card with an arrow at the 1” mark so all I had to do was place the card on the reference mark, place the new tape at the top of the card, and the bottom tape went at the ½” mark below the reference mark. I hope you get the idea, it worked great. See results below.
Here’s my helper taking a break. As you can see we’ve got the tape in place and the first coat of white Interlux Polyurethane put down. Two coats were put on with a specialty foam roller intended for this kind of paint. At first we were concerned about all the bubbles that appeared on roll out, but they soon disappeared and the paint flashed out nicely.
Here we’re removing the tape. The blue has been on for a few days, and that last coat of copper went on a day ago. The easy-removal striping tape worked great. We actually removed one line of tape at a time, very carefully.
After the tape was removed, naturally there were some areas where the white bled up or down into the blue or copper. This is where an expert painter comes in to play! Attention to detail makes the product look a LOT better.
Here’s the boat with the cosmetic work essentially done. I’m pleased with the color combination, it’s closer to stock but still with a little bit of a custom flair. The Interlux dark blue we used looks almost black in some light, but it is clearly a blue, and looks great.
The new shafts went right on in with a little soapy water. Strut bearings are nice and tight. Because it was so hot today, I decided to kick back and take a break this afternoon and hit it again at sunrise when it’s so nice out. I’m looking forward to getting everything bolted back together and giving those 4-blades a whirl.
Regards, Paul
FXA 38 3004 R
1966 38 Commander
Original 427 power
