Help with new tubes.

[stingraymax]

Hi,

Well I need new tubes for my rib and am still deciding on the color but am doubting between Yellow , alpine blue or ocean ( dark ) blue. And grey rubbing strakes and wear pads. Or dark blue tubes with orange / red wear pads.

But if I would go with dark blue will I need pressure relief valves ?

Also can somebody tell me if the yellow and alpine blue tubes get dirty quick and difficult to get clean ?

Thanks in advance,
Stef.

[Rogue Wave]

Dark blue is by far the best colour and stays looking good/ keep the boat covered.

The other colours you mentioned will require more cleaning

My darjk blue toobs did not need pressure relief valves

[Ribshop]

Yellow is by far the most stable colour, more fade resistant than blue by a mile! Yellow may show the dirt quicker than blue but when cleaned always comes up looking good, especially if you use the correct products for looking after them. http://pristinemarine.co.uk/cleaning_products.html

It is a good idea to use pressure relief valves on darker colours. and a necessity if you are luck enough to be operating in warmer climbs.

[stingraymax]

Thanks for the reply's but now I am doubting even more :-)) I was almost sure of it that yellow would be the most fragile color and that cleaning would be impossible....

Anybody here with the lighter colored ribs that can give their experience.. ?

[LeewayComposite]

We made a two tone white top with blue under side. the white on top was a nightmare to keep clean but looked fantastic when clean.

[Ezgoing]

Had yellow

impossible to keep clean,

it marks very easily from rubbing strake

[Mrdeli]

I'd go with grey and blue 'patches' - looks nice & easy to keep clean!

[rubberjoey]

I’ve got ocean blue. Two disadvantages worth weighing up:-

Darker colours expand & heat up more, height of the summer, make sure your bird wears shorts, or she'll burn her ass.

Also the pressure drops in the evening and become softer than lighter colours. This maybe because I have smaller diameter and tapered tubes, not sure if the larger diameter suffer from this.

I would probably go for yellow next time, perhaps a light grey strake to avoid black streaks when cleaning. You just have to keep away from other black fenders.

[stingraymax]

Thanks for the reply's, well I'll cross out dark blue tubes ...
I'll check grey But I still tend towards yellow or alpine blue

[stevetheboat]

Hi Stef,

here are a couple of pics of a Shakespeare 620 in Alpine with grey - looked superb when new. It appears to be fairly easy to keep clean and much less prone to heat induced expansion.