Monday, September 01, 2025

Is a shiny roof a good thing?

Is a glossy boat roof a bad thing because of the sun's reflections dazzling the helmsman?  I'd be glad if anyone can enlighten me.  

We've always gone for a matt or satin surface, mostly raddle, but I have a suspicion that it might not be so hard wearing and is more susceptible to grime.  I do notice that when we wash Herbie's roof that the run off water takes on some of the raddle colour. I don't know, but I imagine a gloss surface might not do that so much.

The gentleman a few boats across from Herbie has just repainted his roof with International Toplac Plus which is a more modern formulation with the advantage that you can just roller it on withouth having to lay it off with a brush.  He certainly made short work of it and got a good finish with just a foam roller.  It does however produce a gloss finish.

I know some hire fleets use gloss paint on their roofs, Wyvern and Heyford spring to mind.  These folks would go for hard wearing I suppose.

If anyone can venture an informed opinion, I'm all ears.

It would take a great deal of persuasion for me to change from Craftmaster paints on the cabin sides, which are of course gloss. It's such lovely stuff to paint with and goes on easier and covers better than anything else I have tried.  However, I have a problem because they no longer offer the Light Grey colour we previously used, and I don't have sufficient left of the old paint to complete the job. I suspect they might have abandoned that shade because it did change colour after a while, presumambly from the action of UV light.  Our old Light Grey has taken on a distinctly blue hue.  



I some lights it can look extraordinarily blue like here:


That was at our lovely mooring spot at Ventnor marina, which wasn't so lovely in that that flippin' weeping willow tree draped wet leaves all over the roof in winter and played havoc with the paintwork.  Which brings me back to my earlier question. Would a hard gloss finish survive that sort of thing better?

5 comments:

Mike Todd said...

The majority of our roof is painted as non-slip so not properly glossy - and part of the rest is covered with solar. Not sure I'd risk a shiny roof all over!

Herbie Neil said...

Mike - Good point, I see what you mean. However I never walk on the roof these days so I'm not concerned about grip.

nb Bonjour said...

Hi Neil, like Mike's our roof is largely non-slip coating (always a good idea if your yourger relatives might go on the roof!) and the colour is mid to light grey, not gloss though - more likely satin. It is not reflective and the light colour seems to keep the boat slightly cooler in hot weather than the raddle red we had on Chuffed (I used to have to wash my red knees if I'd been cleaning the roof and then wipe the runs off the sides too!). The paint that was on the boat when we bought it is Symphony. Best wishes, Debby

Marty said...

I prefer a gloss roof because it is easier to clean. We don't walk on the roof. I think roof paint wears out more quickly.

Vallypee said...

I use non-slip deck paint on my decks, engine room roof and back cabin roof because we have to walk on them. I used to use gloss paint, but it didn’t last any longer. I’ve come to the conclusion boats take such a beating from the weather it makes little difference what I use. I always have to paint some parts of the barge every year.