Thompson Paint Schemes

By Andreas Jordahl Rhude

(originally printed in the Glacier Lakes Chapter newsletter, At the Waterline)

When most people conjure up an image of a wooden era Thompson boat, they picture a lapstrake hull with white painted sides and stained and varnished mahogany decks, transom, and interior trim. In a way, this is the quintessential “Thompson.” These seaworthy clinker beauties truly were only a small por- tion of the production of Thompson. However, they have come to symbolize “Thompson.” They were emphasized in only their last fifteen years of making wooden boats. For decades prior to the switch to lapstrake construction, strip- built hulls along with canvas covered boats were the Thompson forte’.

White was the typical hull colour of the lapstrake boats made by Thompson Bros. Boat Mfg. Co. at Peshtigo, Wisconsin and Cortland, New York as well as boats made by Cruisers, Inc. in Oconto, Wisconsin and T & T Boats in Wausaukee, Wisconsin. Thompson of Peshtigo and Cortland departed from the traditional white in their 1957 model year. Muted pastel colours were standard for the majority of the models with white being an option. The 16-foot Sea Coaster came standard with “mist green,” a pastel mint green colour. The little 14-foot Sea Skiff came with standard paint of “ice blue” shade. The 18-foot Off Shore, the biggest boat in their line-up at that time, was white as standard. The new 17-foot Sea Lancer came standard with white and an option of lemonade yellow in ‘57. The Lap-Chine models were offered in five standard tones: ice blue, mist green, dusty rose, chartreuse, salmon, and lemonade. These were paints from the Pettit line.

By 1958 white was standard on all lapstrake boats with the exception of the Sea Lancer with her pale lemonade yellow tone. In 1963 the Lancer’s standard colour became “gull gray,” a battleship gray tone.

With the earlier era of strip built and canvas covered boats and canoes, many varied shades of paint were offered. A large palette of greens was offered along with blues, yellows, and reds. The typical TVT cedar strip boats could be ordered with almost any paint shade. Tuscan red was a shade used for a number of years. “Special Thompson Green” was obviously utilized on many of the boats.*

A 1952 TVT Runabout model could be painted with blue bottom and yellow above the spray rail. The spray rail was white or red.

With the strip hulls, Thompson recommended annual painting by the owner. This was the means to keep the boat watertight. Therefore, the owner could change colours to suit their own personal tastes.

Cruisers, Inc., like Thompson, typically used white for their lapstrake boats. They did, however, customize colours and schemes on their boats at customer request. Pete Thompson showed me pictures of several Cruisers, Inc. boats at one of their publicity shots. Several boats had varied patterns with accent colours other than white. The 1950s Holiday models by Cruisers had sweeping accent paint in blue or black on the upper portion of the hullside.

Cruisers used Fisherman Grey on the 20-foot Vacationer model staring in 1962. The following year paint choices for this model were white, sand tan, or tide blue. While white was standard on most models in 1964, you could special order other colours such as tan, tide green, and fisherman grey for your boat.

As far as can be determined white was the only hull paint colour offered by T & T Boats.

Grady-White Boats also typically featured white hull paint. The Capri series were painted G & W blue with a white top strake. The Adventurer inboard model came painted in green mist with a dark green top plank. Most of the Grady-White models utilized red accent paint astern of the chromed logos on the hullsides.

Like Old Town Canoe and many of the major canoe builders, Thompson offered several colour choices and decorative designs. Greek key and diamond designs were common. Light green, moss green, dark green, and Tuscan red were typical paint choices for canoes in 1930.

In 1922 you could purchase a quart of paint from Thompson from $1.00 to $1.25 depending on the colour. Offered were: bright red, bright yellow, orange, green, white, buff, dry grass for hunting boats, and medium slate for interiors. Bright orange was the standard colour of the Baby Stepper race boat with blue and orange-stripped decks in 1928!

Do not be alarmed if you see a minty green Thompson lapstrake scooting across your path. Also do not panic about the “correct” shade of green for your TVT strip fishing boat. Original options were numerous and any shade appropriate for the period of your boat is suitable.

*This author has a can of Interlux paint marked “Special Thompson Green” dating back to the 1950s.