One morning, several years ago, I looked out the shop window to see a vibrant, bright green Friendship sloop sitting at the dock. The contrast between it and the sea of white yachts surrounding it was so dramatic that I couldn’t help but introduce myself to the owner to find out more about the boat. I asked him where I could find topsides paint in such beautiful colors, and he told me I should call George Kirby down in New Bedford, Massachusetts.The rich palette offered by the George Kirby Jr. Paint Company is distinctively different from other marine paints, and over the years I’ve kept coming back to Kirby paint because its high quality is what the beauty of a hand-built boat deserves. The customer service is outstanding, there are 55 stock colors to choose from, and they can color-match anything.
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Looks like I could be sold. To heck with Interlux and others. Designer boat colors. Could be a color change in the future for my Seaford Skiff. It’s almost like hiring a hull decorator.
I will definitely check it out on my next trip to Acushnet and Freetown. Both are minutes from New Bedford.
Thanks!
Kirby paints are excellent. The customer service is fantastic. I even used their paint on some wicker furniture that needed to be refinished.
GRATEFUL, my Penobscot 14, wears #3 cut 2:1 with white. The stuff is luscious to apply, and durable. The only drawback to her party dress results from all the admirers I have to talk with every time I pull up to the launch site.
Kirby’s is amazing. When I wanted an alternative to white-lead paste, with which to bed my boat’s new canvas deck, they invented a new, unleaded product for me. And they tinted it to match my custom color, in case there was any bleed-through. My custom color is also Kirby’s, of course. I couldn’t find a chip of exactly what I wanted, so I sent them two commercial house-paint chips, asked them for something in between, and they hit it perfectly. Their paint is thicker than I was used to, and it took me a bit of practice to get the application right, after years of Pettit, Z-Spar, etc, but I’ve now got the hang of it and it goes on well with either brush or roll-and-tip. It looks great, wears well, and is easy to prep for next year’s maintenance.
Using some Kirby on a Sunfish, it goes on smooth and covers well. The #4 Orange it brilliant, just what we wanted. We will be ordering more. And customer service is great.