repainting yacht name

[rogerroger]

I need to re-paint the name and port on the stern of my boat.

I prefer the look of painted names but reckon stick on letters might be the way to go.

For painting I was thinking of knocking up a large graphic in Photoshop, printing it on a plotter, cutting out the letters and using it as a template. However, will the paint bleed under the paper ? Am I better off using the template to draw outlines in pencil and paint by hand ?

Failing this - where's a good place to get stick on letters ? ( wish I had a short boat name!!)

cheers


Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[pandroid]

Like you, I preferred painted but gave up trying to get a signwriter. Instead I got a stick-on from one of the big reprographic houses advertised in PBO (forget the name but I can dig it out if you want). Dead easy. Infinite range of styles, colours and sizes. Overnight service. Comes as a complete name sandwidged between two bits of plastic. You just take of the backing, stick it on the boat, then remove the (clear) top, and the letters (all pre-spaced) are just about indestructable. From more than a foot away, you cant tell the difference (well, the stick-on usually looks better....)

 

[rogerroger]

Actually I've just phoned a printer - I can design it myself using Illustrator and email it to them - they reckon about £15 which sounds like good value to me.

I'd still be interested in talking to the place you used if you come across their details.


Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[pandroid]

Turns out I used SAC Graphics. (www.sacgraphics.co.uk). Its under the 'vinyl lettering section

 

[Trevor_swfyc]

I have stick on names on my yacht, but made a template using word, put this on card and then cut it out. This was to enable me to put the name on fenders and the tender, the use of felt tip pen worked best. The use of paint as you point out gives a poor edge due to paint bleeding under the card.
The pre printed stick on names would be expensive just for the tender but well worth it for your yacht.
PS I have just finished painting my steel keels with red lead and then International garage floor paint which I had left over from painting the garage floor. I wonder if anybody else has tried this, looks great so far!
All the best
Trevor

 

[Boatman]

Roger

Go with the pros, £15 sounds ok any company doing stuff for van & commercial lorrys etc will be able to do it, with regards to tender etc the way to stop bleeding is to use a transfer glue to put the templates on I gather it's available in most DIY stores.

I used a pro org here and it was great for the boat but failed badly on the tender ended up using rubberized paint & templates.

 

[zefender]

I used a guy called Martin Hickson - email: gighouse@waitrose.com. These are stick on jobs (though he did the whole job, coz I'd only mess it up!) but to an agreed colour, font etc. I'm not sure what it will cost but names on bows plus transom and SSR to coachroof and transom plus 2 for the tender plus another for horseshoe cost me about £95. He's mobile, doing the name at Sparkes, then the SSRs in Port Solent once I got the numbers through.

 

[aitchw]

Roger,

It might be worth a phone call to your nearest sign maker who does vinyl lettering.

Have chat with them about it and see if they think it will be durable and if you could use a sealant (varnish) over it once applied. This type of lettering stays on vehicles pretty well and you could use a typestyle of you r own choice or even do the artwork for it yourself.

Let me know if you do it.

I would be interested.

Cheers.

Howard

 

[dah]

Like Pandroid I used SAC Graphics when I had my boat name (10 letters) and port done about 6 years ago. It was all done in gold and so simple to do ( for even the most kack handed). 6 years later they still are as new. SAC Graphics have an advert on page 178 of March PBO. Would recommend heartily, Good catalogue and good price.

 

[Guest]

Try Wet & Wild Graphics at Hamble (www.wild-graphics.co.uk)
Very reasonable prices and a great web-site that you can play around with putting in your boat name & changing fonts colour etc.

 

[ccscott49]

In my experience the name will bleed under the template. You would be better drawing it with pencil then painting by hand, if you are a signwriter! It's a bloody sight more difficult than it looks! Stick on letters are fine, they can be obtained in lots of different styles. Altenatively you can get the letters cut in negative, that is as a template, then stick them on taking care of the edges, paint the letters, then take the stuck on negative off, I've done this on a inflatable, it was fine, no bleeding, but you need to be quick! Good luck.

 

[aztec]

try ringing round local sign writers, you'll be suprised how cost effective it can be compared to sheet lettering. we used proper sign writers all the time on the lorries.

 

[rogerroger]

thanks for the recommendation - I tried their web site but it only seems to cater for single word names - it wouldn't let me use First Magnitude, it kept chopping it off to just "First" which was a bit poor.


Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[burgundyben]

Highly recommended

Wet and wild are very good and only really do marine stuff I think so are very used to working vinyls onto curved sufaces, water wind and sun attack etc. They do lots of racing power boats and volvo ocean races yachts etc



burgundyben, coolest of men, by all I'm called, cool burgundyben.

 

[Guest]

Strange that it will only accept one word. You could try putting a hyphen in just to see how it looks

 

[rogerroger]

I had an email from the developers this morning telling me they've fixed it - I'll try again...

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[rex_seadog]

I used one of the many local (to Birmingham) companies that advertise computer generated vinyl lettering in the Yellow Pages to produce my boat name and port. Done while I waited (large choice of fonts and colours) and at a very reasonable price - much cheaper than those advertising in the yottie mags at the usual inflated yottie prices. I was assured that they use the same materials and equipment as the so-called yottie specialists. In any case the lettering is still in as new condition after 4 years and stuck well despite an annual clean around it with a cutting paste. I also produced a Dufour logo on the PC (Photoshop) for a friend's boat, saved it in on a floppy and they knocked it out in vinyl for a few quid.

 

[rogerroger]

I think that's what I'm going to do - I can use Illustrator and email the file to a local printer. The printer knew what I was talking about when I used terms like the "stern" so probably does graphics for river boats here on the Thames. He estimated 15 quid for "First Magnitude" - then "Chichester" whereas on the wet & wild graphics site it came to 32 quid for the name alone!

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[brian_neale]

I cannot believe that there is anything special about the vinyl used. About 10 years ago I made up a multi-coloured "picture" for the back of my Drascombe Dabber (called Dabble, hence picture of ducks dabbling in water amongst reeds - hope it amused drivers following boat when on trailer!) - that lasted without any noticeable deterioration for several years before the boat was sold. My present boat has had its name in a fancy font on the back for 8 years, afloat all summer, again with no noticeable deterioration. Total cost of materials for both was probably about £2, using "sticky back plastic" from the local hardware shop, who sell it by the inch or 10cm or something. My technique needs a computer and printer plus Pritt stick or similar, a sharp pair of scissors, an hour or two of time, and gives results every bit as good as the professionals. Probably not suitable for feet-long logos for racing boats, but fine for boat names.

Writing this makes me think of the section leader I used to work for in Marconi many years ago, who spent so much on his boat that when someone diagnosed his car's rough running as a spark plug problem he saved money by buying one plug and trying it in each position until the problem went away...

 

[castaway]

It you do try to cut yr own template, stick it onto the tramsom then use something clear to seal the edges down like varnish or what ever is compatable, any varnish that does creep wont be visable....... this will stop the paint creeping under. Of course this goes lots of jobs that require masking tape