Illuminated Signs

CLOUD9

CLOUD9

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7 Apr 2005
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Home in Bath, Boat in Cala d'Or, Mallorca
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Our 'new to us' Princess 58 should be ready for handover to us in May after a number of jobs have been completed. The previous owner kept the name for his next boat so we have had to rename her. I was wondering if anyone has experience of any of uk companies specialising in illuminated names? I know its not to everyones taste, and Im still deliberating (my view has always been that it looks great on anything over about 25 meters!) but wife is keen, so Im investigating. Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated.
 
I used Techstainless for SS lettering, not illuminated, but I believe they offer that option. Illuminated can look really good too.

Congratulations on your new boat. Did I miss the pictures? :D
 
I have fitted a few yachtlite signs and a few cheaper ones. The Yachtlite ones still have not failed unlike the others. They are a bit more expensive but worth the extra. Go for the polished edges as the non polished ones can be a bit sharp!
 
View attachment 50332

Thanks. No decent pictures yet as Ive only managed to see her out of the water so far. She is on her way back from Mallorca in the next couple of weeks. (I know many on here will say 'why on earth are you bringing her back to the 14degC summer drizzle', but it suits us to have a few seasons in the UK).
I will use this opportunity to work out how to upload a photo...
 
I've used Yachtlite x2 (both mine are on their website gallery - "Match") and they are excellent and reliable to deal with, though expensive.

You need to remember that most sellers are middlemen. They buy from someone behind the scenes and add margin. So if you can get to the source, it is cheaper.

I think Yachtlite are half in this bracket, but they do the design work and closely monitor the manufacture so are not useless middlemen. Also many of these things are euro made and UK suppliers are likely holding their GBP pricing, so if I were you I would buy from a Euro supplier. Yachtlite is euro - you deal with them from their German office by email and they mail the product straight from Germany. Don't let that put you off - they are so efficient they might as well be a mile up the road from you

If you want something a bit custom then Yachtlite are good - as a simple example they did the red top to one of my letters that you can see in their gallery

Mine, at IIRC 1200mm x 250mm or thereabouts and 5 letters, were €4k

In 5 years of having Yachlite, left turned on 24/7/365, they have never failed nor had any glitch whatsoever
 
CLOUD9 said:
View attachment 50332

Thanks. No decent pictures yet as Ive only managed to see her out of the water so far. She is on her way back from Mallorca in the next couple of weeks. (I know many on here will say 'why on earth are you bringing her back to the 14degC summer drizzle', but it suits us to have a few seasons in the UK).
I will use this opportunity to work out how to upload a photo...
Click to expand...
Good start, many thanks. I'm sure she is gorgeous!
 
jfm said:
I've used Yachtlite x2 (both mine are on their website gallery - "Match") and they are excellent and reliable to deal with, though expensive.

You need to remember that most sellers are middlemen. They buy from someone behind the scenes and add margin. So if you can get to the source, it is cheaper.

I think Yachtlite are half in this bracket, but they do the design work and closely monitor the manufacture so are not useless middlemen. Also many of these things are euro made and UK suppliers are likely holding their GBP pricing, so if I were you I would buy from a Euro supplier. Yachtlite is euro - you deal with them from their German office by email and they mail the product straight from Germany. Don't let that put you off - they are so efficient they might as well be a mile up the road from you

If you want something a bit custom then Yachtlite are good - as a simple example they did the red top to one of my letters that you can see in their gallery

Mine, at IIRC 1200mm x 250mm or thereabouts and 5 letters, were €4k

In 5 years of having Yachlite, left turned on 24/7/365, they have never failed nor had any glitch whatsoever
Click to expand...

Just been looking at Yachtlite's gallery. The shape of the red top on the match is really clever.

But my eye was also caught by "Apostrophe". It would be so nice to think the owner's next boat was called "Apostrophe's"

Apols for drift.
 
Thanks chaps. Thats all really helpful. The feedback on Yachtlite in particular. The job they have done for 'Match' looks great jfm. My instinct is to try to keep things British, despite the weak Euro... but quality is the most important criteria with this sort of thing.
 
CLOUD9 said:
Thanks chaps. Thats all really helpful. The feedback on Yachtlite in particular. The job they have done for 'Match' looks great jfm. My instinct is to try to keep things British, despite the weak Euro... but quality is the most important criteria with this sort of thing.
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Haha, yes I see and share/feel your sentiment there, but having spent a number with 2 commas in it on the products of a UK yard I think we are both ok just to buy a little bit from our friends in Germany :-) The actual LEDs might come from downtown china for all I know :-)
 
benjenbav said:
Just been looking at Yachtlite's gallery. The shape of the red top on the match is really clever.

But my eye was also caught by "Apostrophe". It would be so nice to think the owner's next boat was called "Apostrophe's"

Apols for drift.
Click to expand...
Tee hee yes! In similar apropos nothing randomicity, there is "Turquoise", backlit in amber LED. What is that about? And I often follow any random 50m superyacht in open water at 15 knots when setting up stabilisers, putting the boat I'm on longways on the superyacht's "main" wake wave that comes out diagonally from its quarters, so as to induce massive roll. Sometimes the crew on the superyacht shoo me away, a bit annoyed that I'm too close. My ambition is for this to happen with following Follow Me on page 2 so I can radio them and say "But you said...! :D :D.

MWeiss's boat is a couple after mine btw, on P1 of the gallery - Gentileschi
 
Used Yachtlite for our first boat name and although not back-lit we were very happy with the product and the speedy and helpful service that came with it. Just ordered the same for our new boat and everything has been as per the last time! Even with the Euro / Stg rate you'll notice the cost but the finished product is well worth it!
 
Another vote for Yachtlite, not the cheapest certainly... but a high quality product with a very professional and very friendly service. And like 'Match' my 'Gentileschi' is on page 1 of their gallery too .. bottom right to 'Match'.
 
Front s/s face 4mm thick CNC laser cut from s/s sheet, edges and faces polished

The illuminated part is CNC milled, in exactly same shape as s/s letters, from c12mm thick translucent Perspex/acrylic. Then on the upper face of the acrylic (that touches the s/s) they mill/rout c 6mm wide x 4mm deep channels to take the LED strips. The LED strips are inserted into these channels, then fully sealed by some special 3M tape. The power wires project out of the back of the acrylic, waterproofly, to align with holes that the installer drills in the transom. M4 fixing studs are welded to back of the s/s letter faces and these pass thru strategically located holes in the acrylic, and then thru the transom, so that the acrylic is the filling in a sandwich whose bread is the s/steel and the transom. The LEDs are all encapsulated in the acrylic and can't possibly get wet from the transom side

They CNC cut a sturdy drilling template for all the M4 studs + wire holes. You tape this to transom, get the position right, then drill away. This is a very nice Yachtlite touch and one reason installers love them. There is a separate power lead to each letter and you wire it all up to a power supply driver box that goes inside the transom
 
jfm said:
Front s/s face 4mm thick CNC laser cut from s/s sheet, edges and faces polished

The illuminated part is CNC milled, in exactly same shape as s/s letters, from c12mm thick translucent Perspex/acrylic. Then on the upper face of the acrylic (that touches the s/s) they mill/rout c 6mm wide x 4mm deep channels to take the LED strips. The LED strips are inserted into these channels, then fully sealed by some special 3M tape. The power wires project out of the back of the acrylic, waterproofly, to align with holes that the installer drills in the transom. M4 fixing studs are welded to back of the s/s letter faces and these pass thru strategically located holes in the acrylic, and then thru the transom, so that the acrylic is the filling in a sandwich whose bread is the s/steel and the transom. The LEDs are all encapsulated in the acrylic and can't possibly get wet from the transom side

They CNC cut a sturdy drilling template for all the M4 studs + wire holes. You tape this to transom, get the position right, then drill away. This is a very nice Yachtlite touch and one reason installers love them. There is a separate power lead to each letter and you wire it all up to a power supply driver box that goes inside the transom
Click to expand...

On a point of nerdiness, what sort of logic do they follow for the positioning of the studs? Eg if you take the 'A' of 'MATCH', is there a stud at the top point of the A, and then two more, one at the bottom of each verticalish stroke of the A? Or do they not position the studs at the extreme ends of the strokes in order to avoid creating shadow lines from the studs?
 
I asked myself that q as I typed it because I can't remember. I think they place the M4 (by about 80 long) studs to one side of the 6mm wide channel that runs down the centre of the 20mm wide block of acrylic. In other words, the 20mm dimension is the font thickness so to speak, and each of the channel sides is therefore 7mm say, and they drill the 4 dia hole thru that 7mm wide part. They get away with no shadow lines by virtue of the translucency of the Perspex (it is milky white and bounces the light around to fill in what would otherwise be a shadowed part) combined with thin studs ie M4
 
PCUK said:
Couldn't it all be bonded with Sikaflex? Sounds fairly straight forward - if time consuming!
My local SS machine shop does 4 inch letters in any font for £1.75 each so that's half the battle.
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Ask them if they can run the same CAD file and mill 12mm thick acrylic to go behind the s/steel, and polish the edges. Or send the CAD file to someone who can. That would be 2/3rds of the battle. I agree you could just glue it.
 
Okay to glue with Sikaflex if you are absolutely certain that you will never want to remove it surely? Maybe not so good with LED lights that might need to be replaced at some point?
 
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