# WHITE



## Pedalman (May 4, 2021)

Why are most motorhomes  ( and caravans ) white ?   Maybe if they didn't stand out like a sore thumb (different colours)  they wouldn't get so much attention.


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## jagmanx (May 4, 2021)

Just ask M Barrymore !
He said it will be  Allright !


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## SimonM (May 4, 2021)

It’s the one colour that suits all, if they were only red, you’d want blue, or green, or…….
However these days there are plenty of coloured units.


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## mariesnowgoose (May 4, 2021)

I concur, Pedalman.

I guess it is the 'vanilla' or 'beige' ideology that has come about over the last 2 or 3 decades, certainly as far as 'doing up houses' for rent or sale, and this extends to other areas of life, I guess? Booooorring! 

They usually talk about colours being a 'blank canvas', so SimonM is correct in saying white is the most neutral/non-offensive colour to have for a vehicle, especially a 'big ticket' item like a motorhome?

Me, if I could afford it and/or had the energy to do it myself (neither of which applies, unfortunately) I would definitely mega-paint jobby ours as far away from white as I could get!!!


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## n brown (May 4, 2021)

best heat reflecting colour


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## Fazerloz (May 4, 2021)

Stragely most boats moored for months on end in estuaries are white and how many moan about them.


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## mariesnowgoose (May 4, 2021)

n brown said:


> best heat reflecting colour



Not much use in the UK then, mr brown - I'm guessing black would be far more suitable here for 9 months out of 12?


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## GreggBear (May 4, 2021)

Pedalman said:


> Why are most motorhomes  ( and caravans ) white ?   Maybe if they didn't stand out like a sore thumb (different colours)  they wouldn't get so much attention.





Good point Pedalman, mines green & blends in nicely most of the time.




My trike's green too



I like green....


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## SimonM (May 4, 2021)

I also just reminded myself that I was fed up with the white on mine, although it was trying to escape all on its own accord, and so I had the whole front end painted


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## caledonia (May 4, 2021)

It’s the one thing I hate about my van 



the colour. Our old van was black and and always looked good. We are seriously considering spending £3500 to get the Crafter painted.


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## trevskoda (May 4, 2021)

I just like plain old brown, it reminds me of what I talk.


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## Pedalman (May 4, 2021)

n brown said:


> best heat reflecting colour


Heat reflecting is okay if you are always in Spain ( other hot countries are available)   Oh hang on,  no they're not.      I take your point though.
I'd say silver was also a good heat reflecting colour.  There's some nice colourful MH's camper vans on here .

Ten years ago I had a VW T4 converted and painted Ivory and metallic brown (Coffee & Cream) It was gorgeous but it kept getting the attention of thieves. So after five years I roller painted it Nato Green Matt ,never been broken into since.
Here's two pics of the same van in different livery.


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## n brown (May 4, 2021)

i lived in a converted bus in Portugal   ,i' taken out most of the windows and sheeted them over with galvanised steel sheets thinking they'd  reflect the heat . in fact ,they seemed to make things worse and drew the heat in ,it was only when i'd got a couple of coats of white on that it became livable


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## GreggBear (May 4, 2021)

Pedalman said:


> Heat reflecting is okay if you are always in Spain ( other hot countries are available)   Oh hang on,  no they're not.      I take your point though.
> I'd say silver was also a good heat reflecting colour.  There's some nice colourful MH's camper vans on here .
> 
> Ten tears ago I had a VW T4 converted and painted Ivory and metallic brown (Coffee & Cream) It was gorgeous but it kept getting the attention of thieves. So after five years I roller painted it Nato Green Matt ,never been broken into since.
> Here's two pics of the same van in different livery.


Looks much better in green.
Did I mention I like green....


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## Pedalman (May 4, 2021)

GreggBear said:


> Looks much better in green.
> Did I mention I like green....


Yeah, I like it in green now,  much better than Ivory .  I wish I had chosen green at the start, during the conversion they did give me the choice,  I could have had it done professionally .


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## Pedalman (May 4, 2021)

n brown said:


> i lived in a converted bus in Portugal   ,i' taken out most of the windows and sheeted them over with galvanised steel sheets thinking they'd  reflect the heat . in fact ,they seemed to make things worse and drew the heat in ,it was only when i'd got a couple of coats of white on that it became livable


I suppose the metal galvanised sheets  would heat up and act like radiators.  I previously thought silver would be a good reflector but now I realise that silver is a much darker colour than white. you would probably need a chromed finish to reflect better than white. 

I seem to remember watching a prog on TV where a van manufacturer ( maybe it was Ford ? )  did a sales campaign to promote "the white van" on the premise that it did reflect the suns heat and therefore was cooler inside . The sales strategy worked and also saved a fortune in production costs in the paint shop.....you can have any colour as long as it's white.


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## alcam (May 4, 2021)

***** said:


> In hot countries, it does help reflect the heat away. Even with white the inside can be near to 40 degree at times. No way would you want a dark colour then
> metallic colours such as silver and oyster are also good and don't tend to show the dirt .
> We have had both and a few white.
> Our choice would be  metallic oyster


How many degrees different say between white and grey ?


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## n brown (May 4, 2021)

i was very wary of my black car  ,i wish i'd tried to fry an egg on it ,i'm sure it would have cooked . but bizarrely ,all the old ladies wear black clothes and plenty of them ,and i know for sure they're no more used to the heat than i was


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## GreggBear (May 4, 2021)

Pedalman said:


> Yeah, I like it in green now,  much better than Ivory .  I wish I had chosen green at the start, during the conversion they did give me the choice,  I could have had it done professionally .


Looks fine to me, diy & save a shitload of money! 
I painted mine with industrial skip paint, applied with a 4ins brush then rolled over with a small foam roller to take the brush strokes out. Looks OK, & total cost of under 30quid....


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## trevskoda (May 4, 2021)

Paint heathens.


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## n brown (May 4, 2021)

i bought a green iveco once that was ugly af  ,2 coats of grey  Dulux Weathershield  soon sorted that  . i used a 9inch roller for the big areas and a smaller roller for the tricky bits. quality


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## Red Dwarf (May 5, 2021)

My van’s red. Previous vans have been green, blue and cream, red, orange, yellow, green and cream.... I guess white isn’t me.
There again, I don’t live in a grey house full of grey stuff, every room’s a different colour.


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## mark61 (May 5, 2021)

Last van was a lovely green, current one white. 
Couldn't make up my mind on colour.


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## Pedalman (May 5, 2021)

Fazerloz said:


> Stragely most boats moored for months on end in estuaries are white and how many moan about them.





mariesnowgoose said:


> I concur, Pedalman.
> 
> I guess it is the 'vanilla' or 'beige' ideology that has come about over the last 2 or 3 decades, certainly as far as 'doing up houses' for rent or sale, and this extends to other areas of life, I guess? Booooorring!
> 
> ...





mark61 said:


> Last van was a lovely green, current one white.
> Couldn't make up my mind on colour.
> 
> 
> View attachment 97166


The green one is easier on the eye, is that a periscope sticking out of the roof ?


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## Tookey (May 5, 2021)

mariesnowgoose said:


> I concur, Pedalman.
> 
> I guess it is the 'vanilla' or 'beige' ideology that has come about over the last 2 or 3 decades, certainly as far as 'doing up houses' for rent or sale, and this extends to other areas of life, I guess? Booooorring!
> 
> ...


Maybe you need to take my wifes attitude to the prepping stage....

(Unfair, she worked really hard to be truthful)


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## GreggBear (May 5, 2021)

mark61 said:


> Last van was a lovely green, current one white.
> Couldn't make up my mind on colour.
> 
> 
> View attachment 97166


Love the green one, almost the same green as mine....


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## n brown (May 5, 2021)

also ,as mrs b reminded me ,flies are attracted to dark colours more than white


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## Phantom (May 5, 2021)

n brown said:


> also ,as mrs b reminded me ,flies are attracted to dark colours more than white


Flies just love yellow.


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## Phantom (May 5, 2021)

n brown said:


> best heat reflecting colour


Why are radiators white?


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## n brown (May 5, 2021)

Phantom said:


> Why are radiators white?


they're black on the inside ,so the heat goes out through the  skin and can't get back because of the white paint . i may have made that up but it's pretty plausible


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## n brown (May 5, 2021)

Phantom said:


> Flies just love yellow.


they like dark coloured vans because  ,in a fly's eyes , they look just like a big pile of poo


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## Mick H (May 5, 2021)

Phantom said:


> Why are radiators white?


Because radiators are designed to radiate heat, not reflect it. Simples, really!


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## Mick H (May 5, 2021)

Phantom said:


> Flies just love yellow.


I well remember when it was purgatory, to wear a yellow high vis jacket, whilst working, because of this problem, but the rules made it mandatory.


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## trevskoda (May 5, 2021)

Phantom said:


> Why are radiators white?


WE used to shotblast and recoat in many colours for folk, esp kitchens and bathroom ones, also the ones folk made a ba--ox of with house paints and brush work.


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## GreggBear (May 5, 2021)

Mick H said:


> I well remember when it was purgatory, to wear a yellow high vis jacket, whilst working, because of this problem, but the rules made it mandatory.


I used to drive a rubber duck on the motorways, middle of summer you'd be covered in midges but if I hung my hi viz vest on the rear view mirror they went for that & didn't come into the cab.....


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## Phantom (May 6, 2021)

Mick H said:


> Because radiators are designed to radiate heat, not reflect it. Simples, really!


But white radiators for same size have the least Btu output, even chrome has more, maybe black is the most efficient?


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## tidewatcher (May 6, 2021)

Never let science stand in the way of fashion. Don’t get me started on the early rectangular headlights....  As for yachts being white we always reckon it was to make them look like a breaking wave when trying to spot them in a storm. Then again bright orange is a bit of a visual challenge in a marina.....


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## trevskoda (May 6, 2021)

tidewatcher said:


> Never let science stand in the way of fashion. Don’t get me started on the early rectangular headlights....  As for yachts being white we always reckon it was to make them look like a breaking wave when trying to spot them in a storm. Then again bright orange is a bit of a visual challenge in a marina.....


Yes like fancy car tail light clusters costing £600, really gets my monkey up, what was wrong with Laylands little round tail and winker lamps at a fiver .


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## st3v3 (May 6, 2021)

Phantom said:


> But white radiators for same size have the least Btu output, even chrome has more, maybe black is the most efficient?



Are you sure????


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## Mick H (May 6, 2021)

We learnt that white was used for reflecting heat, and black, for absorbing heat, in Physics lessons, many years ago.
A well known example, was why cricketers wore white.
As regards radiators, if you are interested, just Google " Why are radiators white", and you will see the explanation.


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## Tookey (May 6, 2021)

Mick H said:


> We learnt that white was used for reflecting heat, and black, for absorbing heat, in Physics lessons, many years ago.
> A well known example, was why cricketers wore white.
> As regards radiators, if you are interested, just Google " Why are radiators white", and you will see the explanation.


I did and google definitely doesn't explain it. To me it reads that any physics involved in colour reflection/absorption are so minimal that passing wind would have a greater impact on ambient temperature

The colour white doesn't clash with any colour scheme, my guess is that's why rads are traditionally white. Possibly white was also the cheapest paint colour but I will let the elders comment on the 60/70's paint cost situation


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## davep10000 (May 6, 2021)

Ages ago I asked the boss of the Land Rover demonstration team why they chose white Defenders - it was so they didnt show all the marks and scratches they picked up, Same with white vans I suppose...


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## trevskoda (May 6, 2021)

davep10000 said:


> Ages ago I asked the boss of the Land Rover demonstration team why they chose white Defenders - it was so they didnt show all the marks and scratches they picked up, Same with white vans I suppose...


Dose that go for the old white underpants.


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## Phantom (May 7, 2021)

st3v3 said:


> Are you sure????


No, that was slightly wrong due to conflicting info. Another source says that there is only about 1% output difference between white and black radiators whilst chrome is 25% less efficient.


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## Snapster (May 7, 2021)

Ours is silver grey and white.....but mostly white....


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## tidewatcher (May 7, 2021)

I think white was the colour of choice on grp for a long time as many of the darker colours “chalked” after a while. Also it was easier to have white as a base and tart it up using decals and the like. Easy to say when our van is a nice deep metallic grey..... still on trend even after all these years.


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## wildebus (May 7, 2021)

mariesnowgoose said:


> Not much use in the UK then, mr brown - I'm guessing black would be far more suitable here for 9 months out of 12?


I dunno.
White is Good.
Black could be good for half the time though?

I know the answer ..... 
On the serengeti of Berkshire ... 



IMG_20180701_155418 by David, on Flickr


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## Wully (May 8, 2021)

White paints always cheaper than coloured paint and if like everything else concerning motorhome builders it’s probably saving them a couple of pennies so they’ll use white.


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## Snapster (May 8, 2021)

We have a white car too!  Most cars round here are white black or grey, they are the cheapest colours and the French just seem to want a car, not the latest brightest or flashest, so we fit in well.


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## trevskoda (May 8, 2021)

Most common form of transport here is in gray, this is the open sports model.


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## Wully (May 8, 2021)

Trev that’ the RS model with the black exhaust that cost an extra sack of tatties


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## trevskoda (May 8, 2021)

Wully said:


> Trev that’ the RS model with the black exhaust that cost an extra sack of tatties


Strange thing is there are still many working to this day.


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## mariesnowgoose (May 9, 2021)

Many moons ago, an uncle of some (southern) Irish friends of my mother & aunt regularly used the back of his open top porsche to ferry around pigs and other farm animals.


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## mariesnowgoose (May 9, 2021)

***** said:


> Talking about pigs.
> We often went to the aire at St Antonin Nobel Val in France and again a few times we met a Brit driving a French M/H with a French Wife. His house was in Bulgaria and he had a BIG black Pig and a BIG black Labrador with him.
> The dog guarded the Pig when it was grazing and the owner had a ramp so the pig could get into the van.
> He did tell me the pig was clean and the Guy himself was always clean and tidy.
> ...



The Irish pigs I mentioned were off to make sarnie fillings etc., definitely not pets! 

Wonder if your Frenchman's pig was a Vietnamese pot-bellied? They are often kept as house pets.


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## jann (May 9, 2021)

Silver or grey is my favourite, doesn't show the dirt as much as white


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## Alf (May 15, 2021)

Ours is Green....Here’s our Auto-Sleers Trooper in the Dales.


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## trevskoda (May 15, 2021)

mariesnowgoose said:


> Many moons ago, an uncle of some (southern) Irish friends of my mother & aunt regularly used the back of his open top porsche to ferry around pigs and other farm animals.


I bought this which was owned by a farmer and traded in where i worked, all carpets and seats had to be binned as they were thick with rear end depossits,
I was almost sick taking it home, but once sorted I got years out of it before selling for £100, cost me £300 at 3 years old with low miles.


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## mariesnowgoose (May 15, 2021)

trevskoda said:


> I bought this which was owned by a farmer and traded in where i worked, all carpets and seats had to be binned as they were thick with rear end depossits,
> I was almost sick taking it home, but once sorted I got years out of it before selling for £100, cost me £300 at 3 years old with low miles.View attachment 97621



Aw! I was expecting a piccie of a porsche or another sporty vehicle there, Trev.

I should have known better!


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## trevskoda (May 15, 2021)

mariesnowgoose said:


> Aw! I was expecting a piccie of a porsche or another sporty vehicle there, Trev.
> 
> I should have known better!


Its a poor mans Porche.


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## Dowel (May 19, 2021)

jann said:


> Silver or grey is my favourite, doesn't show the dirt as much as white


Dark grey is rather smart, perhaps the Berkshire? 
But the ginger Tamworth  looks very sporty.
Oink oink


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## barge1914 (May 19, 2021)

I repainted the the deck of our barge with red non slip paint. In the sun it got so hot it burnt bare feet. The room below became like an oven...Needless to say I painted it white again.


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## QFour (Jun 4, 2021)

caledonia said:


> It’s the one thing I hate about my van View attachment 97138View attachment 97139the colour. Our old van was black and and always looked good. We are seriously considering spending £3500 to get the Crafter painted.


Probably cheaper to get it wrapped. It can always be put back if you decide to sell.


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## Funlovers (Jun 5, 2021)

Pedalman said:


> Why are most motorhomes  ( and caravans ) white ?   Maybe if they didn't stand out like a sore thumb (different colours)  they wouldn't get so much attention.


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## molly 2 (Jun 5, 2021)

They paint them white  because it is the cheapest way to paint


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