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boat wrapping

mann

Inactive Member
has anyone had any experience with wrapping a boat instead of painting? any input would be appreciated.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
In a conflict between vinyl signage plastic stick-on material vs. UV, the later will always win...
(Maybe not a problem for a power boat kept in a garage on land or in a boathouse on the water.)

It would be kinda like all those stick-on graphics that car/truck builders used to put on their fancy kid-oriented models a few years ago. Remember how fast the sun would lift the edges and expose the glue? To be fair, the large vinyl side graphics on my '80 Sundowner model Mazda truck *did* make it to eight years looking OK, and then I sold it. That truck did not have vinyl on the hood to curl and peel, like the Toyota 4X4's did, though... :rolleyes:

Just be prepared for a horrible/massive cleaning and maybe a sanding/painting job to get rid of the glue residue someday down the ol' watery road. :p

Sorry to be a bit cautionary, but you seemed to be soliciting "opinions"...
:esad:

Loren
 
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sleather

Sustaining Member
Short Term!

What Loren said, Plus most vinyl graphics are meant to be "short-term-solutions". The ones shown on the web-site are tournament fishing boats and those guys "flip" their boats every year or two. It's fairly easy to remove after sort term useage(@ resale), but it's a "bear" to remove after it's been on awhile! Vinyl "might" be a solution for a boot stripe but the whole hull? I doubt it would conform well to a "curvy" Ericson hull.;)

I've got a marine 1" multicolor stripe that's held up amazingly well but it's tucked-up under the rub rail where it's protected from damage and the worst UV.

Get quotes on both and I'm sure the difference won't be worth the questionable longevity. Can you even get shinny vinyl? Most of it is matte finish.
 
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u079721

Contributing Partner
When we bought our Ericson in '94 we put large (16" letters?) vinyl names on both sides. Looked great at first. But by 2002 it was looking tired enough that we replaced it with new ones. That's less than 10 years, in a northern climate, only on the water 4 to 5 months, in fresh water. Not too durable.
 

Guy Stevens

Moderator
Moderator
Depends on the vinyl

The cheap vinyl is just that cheap, go with the 3m high quality stuff and it should last ten years, is easy to remove, and you can do stuff with it that would make a painter cry at night.

Get good vinyl (Most places don't use it, cause most signs are only around for a couple of years before the owners want changes.), and you can't go wrong.

The vinyl name on my last boat was over 10 years old, looked like new, and had been over 30,000 miles of ocean. But it was high grade vinyl, not the cheap stuff.

Guy
:)
 

Guy Stevens

Moderator
Moderator
How to get the good stuff

I had a friend in the business, so he always cut mine and my customers out of 3 M high quality with a 10 year guarantee. The only way would be to ask for it by brand name. You would have to trust the people cutting it to really give you the good stuff. Other than that I don't know how to go about it.

Guy
:)
 

mann

Inactive Member
the wrapper wouldnt return my calls, and the boat painter stood me up 3 times. so i am going to paint it myself. i have been sandblasting off the bottom paint and i think it is made from kryptonite. 1000 pounds of sand and i am almost halfway through. but i am still on track to be in the water inside of 2 weeks.
 

Chris Miller

Sustaining Member
I have to say, I'd be up for it if they put that hooters girl on it... although the skipper might be less than thrilled. She's not really into Hooters Girls.

Check with your local municipal bus company to see who they use for their allover graphics...

Chris
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
A song for Chris

I have to say, I'd be up for it if they put that hooters girl on it... although the skipper might be less than thrilled. She's not really into Hooters Girls.
Chris

Reading this reply, I could almost hear that song by the old "Holy Modal Rounders" !!
:cool:

"... They're big and round, they're all around...."

:)

Loren
 

treilley

Sustaining Partner
No photo link but I found them via an earlier post.

She looks great. What paint did you use and how did you apply it?
 

Lucky Dog

Member III
There was a thread about this a year ago or more

If I can recall correctly, more than year ago some one from Florida asked the same question; about wrapping his sail boat like the big "miami vice" speed boats. I think he discovered that it would cost just as much as good paint job and won't last as long or follow the curves of a sailboat.
fww

ml
 

mann

Inactive Member
the paint i used was made by prism. it is car paint but 100% poly. so it is supposed to last a while. everything was sprayed. I gave up on wrapping shortly after starting the thread. I still have a little more non skid to put on the deck, but it is getting there.
 
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