The Broads steamers were generally painted a cream or yellow colour and all but one of the photographs of the Waterfly in the family archives give that impression. Photographs of Waterfly are black and white or sepia toned, as practical colour photography was rare at the time, but we can guess that at one time Waterfly's hull was painted red. There is one photograph showing the hull a dark colour, compared to the rest of her and there is a coloured drawing of Waterfly made by one of John's young daughters, probably Nora, that is coloured red. The rest of the drawing is quite accurate, apart from the number of portholes, and we can assume Nora coloured it in the correct colour. The drawing shows Waterfly on Breydon with Humber