What is a HullScape?
HullScapes are close-up photos of boat hull stains. They are rich in color and imagery, created by nature over a season to resemble landscapes and seascapes. The hull design often resembles the physical environment where the boat was moored. Photos were taken on Cape Cod, MA.
What Causes boat hulls to look like paintings?
The interaction of sun, water, ocean chemistry, tides, currents, pH, boat paint and other elements combine to form complex images across the boat at the water line.
Some boaters refer to this as a scum line. I prefer to call them “HullScapes”.
My First HullScape
My first experience with boat hull photography occurred unexpectedly as I walked past the boat in this photo. From a distance I thought an artist painted a beach scene on the side of this skiff. It looked exactly like the tidal marsh along our river.
As I got closer, I realized his boat had not been painted, I was observing, for the first time, a collaboration between nature and ocean chemistry.
HullScapes(TM) introduce you to the unseen world of boat hull art. After looking at these photos, you may never look the same way at a dirty boat hull.
