Patching vinyl wrap

[Bowlerhat]

Does anyone have any experience of patching scuffs in vinyl wrap without replacing the whole thing? I’m thinking of touching up with paint, or potentially using a patch of vinyl wrap (although I have no idea how to colour match it). The boat is a quicksilver 855 weekend Centenary which has a dark grey wrap, but I have no idea of the colour code. Any advice welcome!

 

[hinch]

probably cheaper / just as quick to have it re-wrapped tbh what with fading and stuff cutting a section out and patching will be very difficult

 

[AllanG]

Why not ask a Quicksilver dealer if they can find out the colour code, and possible methods of repair?

 

[Bowlerhat]

Why not ask a Quicksilver dealer if they can find out the colour code, and possible methods of repair?

I fired an email to a couple of dealers a few days ago. Nothing back yet. A new wrap will be north of £1000 and it’s not faded yet. It’s a cosmetic touch up only to add to the winter jobs list. I’ll probably try a little paint. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Rappey]

Cut a little out where it needs replacing and take it to a place that does vinyl?

 

[Mr Googler]

put the 3m colour chart next to it

https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media...ies.pdf?fn=1080%20ColurCard_2015_RZ_LowRes_sp

 

[PCUK]

Get a car paint supplier to bring along a spectrometer and get a perfect match.

 

[jrudge]

I had a wrapped boat. Never again.

The way I did it was to cut out circles of wrap using a side or dinner plate as a template.

If you have sharp edges it will lift off. I am sure an "expert" can find a better way but that was my solution.

However if the person was that "expert" they would never recommend wrapping a boat in the first place!

 

[malcolm2]

Hi,

Whilst we are not in the hull wrap market. (purposely). We are manufacturers of self adhesive graphics for the marine industry. eg Fairline.

I assume you have tried to find out who did the wrap. They should be able to tell you the material colour and manf, and supply material to repair it.
If you are unsuccessful then unfortunately I would not be over optimistic in achieving an exact match, particularly if the wrap is not recent.

If its any help send us a pm as the offers there in that we might be able to identify the colour etc from receipt of a small scrap of material.

Last resort probably is spectrometer reading and paint match. As special custom matched vinyl would be an arm and a leg (several).

 

[Bowlerhat]

Thanks everyone for really helpful advice. The long-haired Admiral is a huge fan of the colour, hence the wrap stays! I hadn’t thought of marine self adhesive graphics. I reckon a closely-matched colour would be good enough, but if I can peel off a bit easily I’ll send it to malcolm2 (I haven’t got the boat yet!). Thanks again.

 

[Hurricane]

I had a wrapped boat. Never again.

The way I did it was to cut out circles of wrap using a side or dinner plate as a template.

If you have sharp edges it will lift off. I am sure an "expert" can find a better way but that was my solution.

However if the person was that "expert" they would never recommend wrapping a boat in the first place!

Do the patches that you cut to make the repair shrink over time?
Recently, I looked closely at a wrapped repair and a patch larger than the repair had been applied.
Is that because the repair shrinks?

 

[jrudge]

I don’t think so. But making a patch fit 100% is tricky.

 

[n.herring]

I don’t think so. But making a patch fit 100% is tricky.

Lay one on top of other and cut through both, perfect fit, trick is not scratching gel coat underneath

 

[malcolm2]

Having taken a template of the area to be repaired. The repair patch could be to the exact size. But ignoring the trickyness of placing the patch spot on in exactly the right position. Over time there would be a degree of shrinkage. So you could end up with an unsightly halo of bare GRP around the damaged area. To avoid the possibility of this the patch needs to be slightly over size.

Damage to self-adhesive vinyl on a boat hull is not usually a clear sharp "knife" cut. More likely to be a scuff or a "tare" with a raised edge, where the boat has scuffed a pontoon or something similar. You need to carefully cut back from this rough edge otherwise the repair will stand out a mile.

 

[PalmaTarga]

Personally I wouldn't go the paint route for touch up just as it's more permanent than vinyl so may cause issues later.

I'd recommend using vinyl cutting tape which you be able to lay for detailed cuts and allow you to up-cut rather than use a scalpel and damage your gelcoat.

Here's a youtube that give s a quick demo

. You'll probably find it on Amazon, if not I use mdpsupplies.co.uk. MDP will probably send you some vinyl samples too from their car range. It is different to boat wrap but I'm sure it would be fine for small patches.