Classic Australian Wooden Power Boat Association

What is the paint that was used on the Lewis hulls, being a red - brown it looks to be transparent . Is it clear with a tint in it or is it some thing of the shelf. My smaller boat has the same paint on it
Ross

Hi Ross,
I believe the magic recipe has been posted before but may have been on the old bulletin board. Greg may have it.
I reckon it was a mixture of oxides to get the colour then thinned out and ragged on.

I redid the transom on Jayme II after sanding it back to plain wood, just by mixing Cherry Red & Black until I was happy with the colour, then thinned with Turps, ragged on. I did a couple of times until I was happy with the coverage & depth of colour.
You can still see the woodgrain through this.
Finished with Goldspar Original Varnish.

PS - I did try some of the off the shelf stains but they didn't seem to be anywhere the right colour.
I also practiced on some other pieces of wood to see what the colour looked like once applied before ragging on the transom.The type/colour of the wood will also affect the finished colour.

Dave

I don't have the recipe, but I think Dave P might. I can
remember someone mixing some stain that brickies use to colour mortar. It was quite successful by all accounts.
Greg

We mixed red brickies oxide into varnish and painted it on. You dont need much. A lot of the original lewis,s I have seen have been a solid red oxide colour. Definetely two of my skiffs are like that.