Paint/Color for Darkroom Sink

[Peter Lewin]

I'm about to repaint my marine plywood darkroom sink. The original coat of epoxy paint is crazed/cracked. I have no desire to fiberglass it since it has worked well for many years. I plan on using marine topside paint, which should have good resistance to chemicals and water. So my possibly "worry too much" question: should I stick with traditional white, or would medium grey be better in terms of bounced (safe)light and possible fogging? Does it make a difference? Thanks for your advice.

[David Starr]

I used a light gray on mine. I don't know if white would cause a problem or not. I used marine topside paint on mine & the only "problem" I had was C-41 developer staining it.

[steve simmons]

Gordon Hutchings had his sink lined like a pickup bed with a medium gray. Swears it is the best thing possible. There has been a little staining but otherwise he is very happy with it.

steve simmons

[Michael Daily]

I have my 27in. x 8 ft. CDX plywood sink coated with a couple of coats of exterior grade polyurethane and I have to recoat it about every 15 years -- done twice so far.
Michael

[David Schaller]

In fact I just put the first coat of black epoxy paint on my sink this afternoon. Pratt and Lambert Palgard industrial strength. I would have had no problem using white.

[Brian Ellis]

I painted my plywood sink white (with a Benjamin Moore product called "Moorelastic"). It worked very well for many years. I don't think the color of the sink makes any difference from a fogging standpoint, just conduct a proper safelight test as you should do with any darkroom.

I never liked darkrooms that were predominantly black or gray, I find them depressing. My darkroom had white walls, white ceiling, white sink, white everywhere except the floor, which was brown tile (only because it was already there when I built the darkroom), and the area behind and on either side of the enlarger. That area was black to reduce reflections from any stray light.

[Harold_4074]

Grey seems to be a nice compromise between black (a bit gloomy, if only when the lights are on) and white (which allows the odd spot of fixer or developer to dry invisibly into crystals which will later stealthily transfer to someplace unfortunate, such as undeveloped film).

"Hospital green" is supposed to be easiest on the eyes, but we're talking about darkrooms here, and a sink the color of old split-pea soup seems to lack a certain something in visual appeal.

[Eric Woodbury]

I just painted mine white. My other sink is grey plastic. The white one almost glows it's so bright. Need to use lower wattage bulbs on that end of the darkroom.

By the way, it has been about 5 weeks and I can still smell it. It spent 3 weeks outside in high heat and low humidity. Hope your ventilation is good.

[Tony Lakin]

Hi
My sink is glassfibre on marine ply and is a luscious deep blue, I dont think it makes any difference what colour it is as, as you can chose the colour of the dishes you use within it.

By the way I live on the Isle Of Man where Lewin is a 'local' name, do you have any Manx connections?

Best wishes.

[Herb Cunningham]

When I built mine I went to a professor at NCSU who said polyurethane resin was the way to go. I did that and then two coats of black epoxy. Overkill, but no worries, I have a deep sink at the end of a 12 foot sink and put a lot of really heavy ss tanks in it, so I wanted to be safe.

Herb