Red,White, and Blue

[capngeo]

Not flags, but boat colors!
A friend approached me as to my opinion on hull colors affecting heat collection inside the boat. Is there any factual research on the subject? A google search only yielded a lot of opinion backed by little fact.

Common sense would lead me to believe darker colors collect more heat, but assuming we are only talking hull sides, not the top, the solar radiation will mostly strike a glancing angle... Is the energy collection significant or trivial?

[SecondBase]

Ask.com will give you the basics. My non-scientific opinion is that Island Packet has balanced the tradeoff about right with the tan -- low heat absorbtion while not glaring out the eyes on a bright day.

Thats a practical viewpoint but I bet we've all seen shimmery dark blue hulls that we'll never forget.