Color Match App

[Hoffmath]

I've been working on matching the current color (faded white) of my 25 year old faded Osprey for the past few days. Kept getting close, but not quite there. YES there's an App for that, it's amazing, and it's free. It's called Swatches. You take a picture of the color you are trying to match, it gives you the color content in Red-Green Blue. Once you get the hang of it you can see which pigment has what effect on your mix.

Prior to finding the app I had added some brown and a touch of blue. After I got the app i measured my mix and found it had almost equal amounts of the 3 base colors. I measured the boat finish and found it also had almost equal amounts of the 3 base colors but brighter. Added a half drop of black and it's damn near perfect.

[GoneFission]

Would you like to share the final formula?  It seems most boats would be about the same...

[Hoffmath]

Will do. Traveling this week. Ill post it when i get home.

[mshugg]

Would you like to share the final formula?  It seems most boats would be about the same...

Be careful with that assumption. Two boats gel sprayed the same day from same batch, 1 stored in sun, the other in shade,twenty years later = two different colors.

[Hoffmath]

I agree with mshugg, lots of variables. Also I'm no expert so take it for what it's worth. My experience on a 1994 200 Osprey is as follows:
1. Based on the "Swatches" phone app the RGB (Red-Green-Blue) content of my boat is very close to equal on all three.
2. Keep checking your boat color with the app each time you adjust your mix, it will shift with light and shadows.
3. Pre-mix 10 ml. of white gelcoat base with 2 small drops of black colorant in a small enclosed container. (Grey)
4. Add 3 ml. of the grey colorant to 100 ml of white gelcoat base.
5. At this point I was still too white and slowly added more grey until I got a match.

Notes:
1. The app reads wet gel coat much different than dry.
2. When you get close to a match add a drop of hardener to a bit of your mix and do a test on a piece of clean, waxed glass. When set, pop off the sample and dull it down with 1500 (or so) sandpaper.
3. Start comparing the RGB content to a section of the boat which is similarly dulled down.
4. If at all possible do your mixing and testing under a repeatable consistent light source such as a Daylight LED which should have an RGB balance of 255-255-255 or pure white.

Disclaimer: This is the experience of a guy who fixes elevators. Odds are I just got lucky...

Good Luck
Tom