Lewis paint

[screwit]

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

[DaveD]

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

[Greg]

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

[bootlegger]

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.