We’ve gone green.
Although we loved our original colour scheme, of dark blue with a maroony red trim, it didnt take us long to realise just how much heat a dark coloured boat holds when it’s baked under the summer sun. Yes I’m sure we could fry the proverbial egg on the sliding hatch if we’d been daft enough to try. The red had worn through and faded badly. The blue had become blotchy with patches of the red mix showing through.(It was an old style coach paint)
The pale grey roof paint washed off and ran down the sides causing grubby streaks, and we couldn’t wash the sides without ending up with a blue cloth. There were flakey bubbles and rust spots. In short Firecrest was looking shabby. But professional boat painting doesn’t come cheap. We debated long and hard, shall we splash the cash or not. OK it was actually an easy decision, we don’t know how long we shall continue to live aboard Firecrest, but we wanted a smart looking boat. In October ’23, we had seen enough lovely boats bearing the PaintShed logo that we approached Nick from N.B. Marine Services and asked him to repaint Firecrest. 2025 was completely free, so we booked ourselves the March slot.
Of course we had no idea what colour scheme we wanted, only that it had to be paler than the original. Over the next 15 months I filled up the memory card on my phone camera, snapping boats in all colours of the rainbow. Eric refused to allow me to go Barbie pink, but some pretty shades of purple were considered, teals and turquoises are always a head turner, but they didn’t quite fit our name Firecrest. I was adamant I wanted a joyful bright coloured boat in preference to a subtle but elegant one. Brunswick Green seemed to fit the bill.
Then of course we had to choose which of the three Brunswicks, light, mid or dark… and a contrast trim. We settled on
Light Brunswick Green, BS225 for the main colour,
Sea Green BS217 for the panels
Current Red BS539 for the Red accents (I’m sure that ought to be currant red, but it says current on the tin)
Biscuit BS 358 for the coach lines
And Coat Grey BS 7076 for the roof.
Mixed from Supertune Automotive coach enamel
In January we booked into Uplands Marina, where the Paintshed is based.
And whilst we were waiting for our slot we (Eric) did some serious tinkering on board, enlarging cupboards (thankyou Kevin for your help here), tackling some blackened woodwork, and removing 5 of our solar panels. The panels were showing signs of deterioration so it was an ideal opportunity to replace them. We loaded the car more than once with boxes and boxes of “stuff” with the intention of sorting, and decluttering while we enjoyed the home comforts of “unlimited” storage. And as Nick and Lee were going to remove the portholes so they could apply the spray paint, we took them home so Eric could polish and lacquer them.
We met with Robin Wagg our sign writer, and agreed upon a stylised image of a Firecrest to add to our name panel. We’ve decided to remove the Braidbar logo panel and replace it with something more descreet. We think Rob’s done an amazing job.
And of course, we also needed new canopy sides to complete the look. So Kinver, who fitted our original covers were called in to make us some more.
The green fabric isn’t a brilliant match but its good enough, As you can see we have a Yorkshire rose emblem on the bow. I wanted a Lancashire rose painted on the other side and a tudor rose on the button but was talked out of it. Despite dire warnings about choosing paint schemes at Eric is proud to be a Yorkshire man, and we both liked the simplicity of the design so I accepted defeat.
After a glorious few weeks of perfect cruising weather while we were under cover, we were finally ready to wave goodbye to Uplands Marina and the Paintshed, dodging the showers under grey skies.
But we weren’t downhearted. Neither of us can stop smiling each time we look at our shiny boat.
Roll on many more years cruising the canals. Give us a wave if you see us. Many many thanks to Nick and Lee at the Paintshed. You’ve done an amazing job and we’re a pleasure to work with.
Bye bye blues.
