What happened to colored Lasers?

Do you miss colored Lasers?

  • Yes, I liked the colors.

    Votes: 30 81.1%
  • No, I don't really care.

    Votes: 7 18.9%

  • Total voters
    37

sailjacks

Member
Among other things, one of my biggest gripes about Laser Performance in N.A. is that they have only made white and grey boats since 2008 or so. I understand that this makes the boats more alike, but I used to like how everyone's boat looked different with different colors across the fleet. It was sort of a defining personality characteristic of Lasers. Now it feels boring and sterile.

The first question is this: are we ever going to see colored Lasers again? Does anyone think that LP will eventually introduce colored-stripe hulls back into the rotation at some point?

The second is this: is there a way to permanently color-stripe a newer (2009-13) Laser in a way that wouldn't require regular maintenance? From what I understand, marine paints are long-lasting, but not the same way colored gelcoat is. If anyone has any expertise with this I would definitely like to hear it. Thanks in advance for the input!
 
I thought you could special order one in something other than grey/white, but at considerable cost.
 
Oh, and a note to whoever hopefully winds up with the rights to build Lasers in North America. Offer different colors. It will probably help sales.
 
@ Max, the yellow/dark grey was probably not their best choice ever. But yellow/white wasn't too bad though...

But is there a way to permanently color an existing white or grey laser? I don't know much about paint, but won't it need replacement as time goes on?
 
I'm not sure.. It's funny because the European boats and Aussie boats have always been white, or slightly off-white, so they have a good laugh when they come to NA to see the funny looking Lasers.
I've owned 2 70's orange boats, 2000 blue, 2006 dark blue, 2008 light blue and now all 2009,2010 whites... The whites are easier to gel coat damage.
 
I'm not sure.. It's funny because the European boats and Aussie boats have always been white, or slightly off-white, so they have a good laugh when they come to NA to see the funny looking Lasers.
I've owned 2 70's orange boats, 2000 blue, 2006 dark blue, 2008 light blue and now all 2009,2010 whites... The whites are easier to gel coat damage.
The Australian boats were at various stages, solid colours, coloured from above the water line, coloured diagonal stripes above the water line, 20% grey, a strong cream, powder puff blue and various tones of white. Decks have ranged from white, cream, 20% grey , powder puff blue. In addition, PSA does special orders. The boats are currently white with an off white deck, which has generally been my preferred choice for the last 30 years. The boat I spent half a season sailing on in the UK was lime green with cream decks, the same colour was available at the time in Australia when it was built.
Give me a boat that looks identical, why stand out on a starting line more than you have to.
 
It seems as if the Lime Green in the 70's were the fastest boats. I think that the colors add excitement and fun especially in candid magazine photos which might help in the long term promotion of Laser sailing in the recreational segment. If I had a choice in 2011, I would had bought the ice blue.
 
I think they're great regardless of what's on the bottom of the hull

The white is probably best for racing, I think rather than go back to the solid colors it might be nice to have some that have a design on them like the olympic boats ect

what do you think?
 
@ Max, the yellow/dark grey was probably not their best choice ever. But yellow/white wasn't too bad though...

But is there a way to permanently color an existing white or grey laser? I don't know much about paint, but won't it need replacement as time goes on?

A vinyl wrap is probably the best option to permanently colour. You would need to make sure it does not go below the waterline thought as this will probably contravene the class rules on altering the hull finish.
 
I would think some sort of vinyl wrap to add a bit of color could be a cottage industry. I wonder how well it would fit on a curved surface, but they same able to do it with cars just fine.
 
There are lots of places that do it round near where I live in the UK....I am sure a boat would be no problem for them. The material is quite forgiving and can be made to follow compound curves very nicely.

West Coast Custom....please Ryan pimp my Laser....
 
This certainly turns the idea of being anonymous on the starting line up on its end:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/21/sport/art-sails-london-mainsail/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

130118173200-fine-art-sails-gulls-horizontal-gallery.jpg
 
Many builders are going to white / grey only. I agree seem very generic. I have an MC Scow that is all white. Hard to find my darn boat on the dock in big regatas. They all look the same!!!

My Laser is a 2007 maroon. I LOVE it. Get many compliments on it from fellow Laser sailors.

Bring on the colors!
 
i like dawn/vela grey lasers there much faster to repair you just get the gel out of the jar catalyse it and slap it on job done where as coloured boats have to be matched and yeh you do get charged for the half hour - full hour that it often takes to match the colour when it goes in for repair because laser dont even sell / make the colours anymore :( . it is really easy though to put two colours on a boat when it is in the mold all you need is a piece of masking tape and a depth gauge to line it up but laser just can't be bothered anymore :( it all boiles down to money with laser now. but as jefferes said vynal think of the possabilities you could have anything printed on it i may do mine thinking about it while it's still new :) .
 
If you read Gary Hoyt's book "Go For The Gold" he indicates that a white hull is faster than a colored hull. Might be why at the Olympics even the boats brought in by the sailors were white (i.e. Star class).
 
I like my old (24877 from 1976) Red coloured hull, with cream deck. Although it may have gone a bit soft and gotten a bit heavy, it's still competitive because everyone knows red goes faster.
"Why stand out on a starting line more than you have to"; because intending to cheat by getting away with jumping the start is poor sporsmanship. I'd much rather have a good looking boat race fairly.
 
In Australia you can order a Laser in just about any colour you can think of. Naturally there is a cost aspect and you also need to consider matching gelcoat for repairs. With a huge number of our boats being recirculated charters, they do tend to be generic. Lasers are meant to be generic looking, I think :)
 
So what color (colour) is this baby?

I'm calling it light blue... But sure there's a pet name (or official name) for it.

image.jpg
 
looks like true blue with a dash of smoke grey but as with all colour matching you would have to clean up a patch with cutting compound as that boat looks really dirty. the other thing is you cannot really tell from a pc or a photo as the camera and the display settings could make it look like a totally different colour so its just a guess.
laser must have made literally hundreds of colour combinations almost every batch seems to vary, i think they just mixed whatever they had to hand so in that case there would be no official name for the colour and if there is and somebody knows what pigments or gel coat to mix together i would be very grateful for the knowledge.
 
You can still order a Laser in just about any colour you want, but it will cost more and you'll have to wait for production before you can collect it. Also, if it needs repairs it may take longer to source the correct gelcoat. Sails however are a different story and you'll have to accept generic white.
 
Not that I would do the same with my boat, but I admire the creativity and think it looks good.
 
Thanks Torrid... that boat was a total and absolute wreck. I don't know if we'd do it again.. but for this project it turned out really nice.

We are going to mate this to custom grey and tangerine radial laminate sails.
 
Just finished working on a 1974 vintage boat. Hull is a very manly robin's egg blue - yuk. When it is done, it will be fire engine red so as to be more easily seen. I have been told that Red was one of the original Laser colors.
 
Time to pick sails for this colored laser.. We are using hitech laminate in grey and tangerine.
 

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Thanks Torrid... that boat was a total and absolute wreck. I don't know if we'd do it again.. but for this project it turned out really nice.

We are going to mate this to custom grey and tangerine radial laminate sails.
A (transparent) Hansen sail would look great IMHO and bring out the 'interesting' deck colors.
I am assuming this is not going to be a 'legal' racing Laser/Torch.
 
Honestly, I think "white hulls" are nicer than many colors. But I could really dig different colored decks. Perhaps a black hull option as well.

If they were smart, whoever gets the contract would do a black and red hull with black and red sails.
 

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