I have a 16' wood drift boat that has been sidelined for a few years with a rotten bottom.

The bottom has been replaced and I'm getting ready to clean up the boat interior and brightwork (some red oak, some white oak).   Last time I renovated the interior I used an off white 2 part System Three paint system on all the interior surfaces (excluding brightwork which is varnished).   It looks nice, but on a sunny day its like sitting in a reflector oven.

I'm thinking I don't want anything too dark, but perhaps a light gray would tone things down a bit (?)

I'm curious though because it seems that everything is white on most of the offshore fishing rigs, center console rigs, etc.  I wonder if maybe the darker surfaces absorb too much heat(?)

I could 2-tone it.  Leave horizontal surfaces white, and paint the hull sides a grey color.  I think that might look a bit odd though.  I think most off the light reflection is off the interior hull sides, not so much the floor or the bow deck.

The deck on a  fair number of offshore boats is “anything but white.”

I would suggest a light grey color for the interior of your drift boat.

Or, if you wanted to get fancy, a slightly darker grey on the floor with a slightly lighter gray on the interior  hull sides.

Too dark and the boat will be an oven on sunny days.

Thanks, Light grey is where I'm leaning, I think.  They have a cheap 4 oz sampler I may order to test the color.

Going to be a bit of a pita since I have no-skid embedded in some of the surfaces.

We have a flat medium grey in our fleet of 16ft Mirrocraft rentals. This

is the OEM finish and it does well in cutting down the reflected sunlight.

Our old fleet of Carolina Skiffs were white and would almost blind you at

times.

Paint - grey or green.
I like natural wood in a wood boat. Epoxy finish or spar varnish. Epoxy holds up better.

I second the grey and might suggest the peel and stick gator hides. I seen one the other day with a creamy tan that looked pretty good. My Lowe has a mottled grey spider web color that I really like. If I ever get it out of the shop it might just get some gator hides to help muffle the aluminum noise.

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Exposed plywood in the front is the area I replaced.  That and the balance of the painted surfaces need to be a bit darker / less reflective.

All solid woods get varnish.  The rowing seat bench is varnished as well (I took it out to get better access to the bottom.)  Exterior is really dark green, almost black.  With oak gunnels and white oak chines / bow board.

Front fishing seat is an insulated dry box /cooler with oak trim.   I think I'll leave that white.  There is a front casting platform I've taken out so you stand flat footed while fishing.   Its also white, and I think Ill leave that be.

That's to pretty for Gator hides! Maybe a brown egg shell color or dark ivory?

I used a silica sand sprinkled into the wet paint for non- skid surface.   The 2 center panels in the floor including the oak runners have that.  The two side platforms also have it since they get stepped on a lot climbing in and out of the boat.

Its just something of a pita to sand.  Stiff brush and tsp followed by scotch brite pads is about all you can do with it.

Ordered a 4 oz sample of both a light tan and a grey.    The color charts show the tan as being similar in lightness as the white I used before, so maybe too light.  The grey looks too dark on the sample chart.   They have custom formulations as well that I haven't delved into.