Illuminated Signs

I'm liking your thought process on this PCUK, I also wouldn't mind giving this a go and can see this being a little summer garage project for me.

Any other hints or thoughts on how to do it would be appreciated.

I wish we'd called the boat something shorter than "Hollywood" now !

Andy
 
I'm forming up more of a plan how to do this but does anyone know... is the lettering spaced off from the gel coat at all to give a floating effect or is the back face of the lettering completely in touch with the gel coat ? Also are the side faces of the acrylic smooth/polished or more of a matt finish to dissipate the light and stop visibility into the fixing studs ?

As mentioned quite a bit of work involved in this but it might make a nice little project.

Thanks,
Andy
 
You do see ss letters stood off the gel coat on little posts, with LEDs behind. But that's not how the good ones are done. The yachtlite ones form a transom-acrylic-ss sandwich with no gaps. At night you still get a float looking effect of course. The edges of the ss are mirror polished and the acrylic is sort of milky translucent right through, so as to diffuse the light, avoiding you knowing where the LEDs are. Hence the acrylic edges are actually fairly smooth.
 
jfm said:
You do see ss letters stood off the gel coat on little posts, with LEDs behind. But that's not how the good ones are done. The yachtlite ones form a transom-acrylic-ss sandwich with no gaps. At night you still get a float looking effect of course. The edges of the ss are mirror polished and the acrylic is sort of milky translucent right through, so as to diffuse the light, avoiding you knowing where the LEDs are. Hence the acrylic edges are actually fairly smooth.
Click to expand...

How do they deal with curved transoms?
 
Brilliant, thanks.
Being close mounted on the transom sounds much more do-able to me than having them spaced off.

Sounds like the opacity of the acrylic is key to the look of the light output/fixings visibility.

I can see a trial letter being home made once I get a spare weekend afternoon and have researched the ss cutting and acrylic sourcing.

Thanks,

Andy
 
Thanks John... Its going well, but I had hoped to be under way by now... fingers are crossed for next week. The guys at PMYS are doing a conscientious job, and have to keep telling myself that I would rather have things done well than quickly... Ive always had 'previously enjoyed' boats, but wondering now if I might be persuaded to go new next time? Recently read the MBY piece on the two 78's and realised it was you! Fascinating projects.
 
A budget job - but it has worked well for four seasons now.

Mirror cut stainless steel letters, mounted on an acrylic sheet, with blue LEDS mounted behind. With a wireless remote control switch can be dimmed and switched on and off from the 500 metres away!

£200ish all in
 

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CLOUD9 said:
Just an update. Thanks for the advice. Yachtlite sign is on its way over for CLOUD9. She is still in Swanwick undergoing the refit. Its is, somewhat predictably, taking longer than hoped. Will post a photo when the name is fitted. Rick.
Click to expand...

Really pleased with the end result from Yachtlite. Thanks for the recommendations. Not the greatest photo, but as promised, here it is.
 
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