Bertram Restoration Shines With Quantum Custom Paints

A fateful meeting between Chris Sullivan of MacDougalls Cape Cod Marine Service and Tom Orr of Quantum Paint at the Newport International Boat Show last September began a collaboration that produced the unique, stunning custom Quantum hull color on the restored Bertram 31 you see here and the application of other Quantum topside paints on the cabin house/flybridge and deck.

“We had worked with Quantum on previous paint jobs and were very impressed not only with the high-quality finish, but also with how easy it was to apply,” Chris Sullivan said. “We had a hard deadline to get the Bertram ready for the New England Boat Show in February and I was confident that with the strong commitment to customer service by Tom and the rest of the Quantum team, we could get it done,” he added.

Last November, Tom Orr went to MacDougalls to walk around the soon-to-be-restored Bertram and to get Chris’ vision for the restoration project. “We looked at the hull and even in its distressed state, we both could see its potential," Tom said. “Knowing what the Bertram would look like structurally-wise gave us a sense that we would be working with a minimum of three separate areas receiving color - the hull, cabin house / fly bridge and the deck. We had to choose the hull color first as that would dictate what colors we would use for the superstructure, deck and smaller accent areas like the boot stripe and rub rail,” he added.

The Quantum lab dialed in the hull color into the desired shade and then made color chips so Chris and Tom could begin picking the superstructure color, deck color, boot stripe and rub rail. “By having chips or sample panels made, it allows us to put colors side by side and view them under different types of lighting,” Tom said.

Tom Orr was on hand at the MacDougalls New England Boat Show booth to talk about the paint job and answer questions about the Quantum custom paint process. “Chris Sullivan and I were very pleased with the response to the Bertram restoration and we’re planning two more Bertram restores in the near future,” Tom said.