For the record -- I have nothing against oil-based paint -- the Old Town Ideal in my avatar is covered with a good oil deck and porch paint and when the time comes, will be repainted with it. There are a variety of pros and cons for various types of paint,.
High gloss paint looks great, at least when new. However, dings and scratches (inevitable the way I use a canoe) and the unfair lumps and bumps that are usually present with an old hull, are much more apparent with high gloss than with a satin or semi-gloss paint. Canoes with satin or semi-gloss paint generally suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune with a bit more grace than those with high gloss paint. Also, visually, high gloss paint is, in my opinion, just much less effectively shiny with medium and light colors. And subsequent spot touch-ups are generally less apparent with less glossy paints.
When I bought out yellow 15' Old Town, it's paint was in only slightly better condition than Bruce's shown above --
but to the eye it did not
look as bad because of the light color and much less glossy paint. (And on both canoes, much of the damage would be invisible in use, being below the waterline.)
Good oil paint is increasingly hard to find -- Benjamin Moore no longer makes the oil paint on our Ideal -- I got some of the last of it a couple of years ago, in quart cans -- oil paint is generally very hard to find these days in gallon cans. Some folks believe that oil paint is more durable than water-based paint. I don't have any direct comparative experience, but I have been satisfied with the durability of water-based paint, not only on the yellow canoe, but also on wood and concrete porches and sidewalks. The concrete in my Brooklyn front yard, painted with water-based deck and porch paint, gets much harder use than I ever hope to inflict of my canoes.
And there are two-part marine paints -- a whole other category of coating -- more money, probably more work, maybe more durability.
Of course, one of the chief benefits of water-based paint is ease of clean up.
No dogma from me about the kind of paint to use.
Greg
