vinyl boat wraps

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Wet Willie

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Anybody have any experience with this? Commonly used to display advertisement or sponsorships on boats,it's becoming a cost effective alternative to refurbishing gelcoat or paint. I had one of our work vans vinyl-wrapped with our company graphic / info. Came out fantastic! Company I used is doesn't do boats yet. They know others that do, but I would like to get some real-life input from someone here who has already; "been there, done that!" Thanks in advance,
Bob
 
These must not be a very hot item. over 100 reads and zero responses!
 
alot of the race boats use them and they hold up under those conditions.
i know 2 local race boats that have them and they havent had any issues
 
Thanks Mike,
That was my initial exposure also; race boats.The owners and crew members I've talked to about this claim the same as you, good durability. But these types of boat don't stay in the water too long. I was hoping to hear from a member who had it done and keeps his boat moored in a slip a few months out of the year.
 
Bob, having trouble visualizing what you mean by vinyl wrapping. You said you had a company van done with graphics & info. Is this the same vinyl used for decals & boat lettering ? I was in the vinyl industry for 23 years. The company I worked for made a reversed printed clear with a wood grain pattern for station wagons. It could have been any color we chose. It was decorative but could chip from flying stones or neighbors car door if hit hard enuff. It was semi rigid and only 4 mils thick.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Bob J

Bob, having trouble visualizing what you mean by vinyl wrapping.

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these are all boat that have been 'wrapped'.

edgewaterwrap.jpg

vinyl-boat-wraps.jpg

starcraft.jpg

Boat-wrap.jpg
 
Mike, from your pix, I'm guessing this vinyl is just about the same as the wood grain pattern my company produced for station wagons years ago. It could be any pattern; didn't have to be wood grain. As I said it was reversed printed; meaning on the back side of the vinyl. That way the ink was protected by the thickness of the vinyl.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Gregory Saracco

Pictures or a link would be great.

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Greg,
I see Mike has posted some pic's already (Thanks Mike!).I've made some inquiries and gotten good responses from a company called "Sign Zoo". The local guy who did my trucks basically bought the "wraps" done with the graphics from Sign Zoo and then installed them at his shop. Flat sided vans are one thing, boats are another! Sign Zoo did provide me with a price, complete with installation for less than then I could have had the gel-coat on my boat repaired and re-furbished.Think about that; in one day (required to do my 32' express cruiser)your boat looks like new again. Could even be a different color scheme or have a cool graphic like some of those shown in the pics Mike posted.Sounded like it was worth looking into at the very least.Sign Zoo and 3M cover it for a min of 3yrs to a maximum of 5yrs, adhesive and fading.
Mike Ryan? Is this something you are thinking about getting into?
 
Thanks Bob. Pretty interesting stuff. Do you want to tell us what the $ is?
 
quote:
Originally posted by Bob J

Mike, from your pix, I'm guessing this vinyl is just about the same as the wood grain pattern my company produced for station wagons years ago. It could be any pattern; didn't have to be wood grain. As I said it was reversed printed; meaning on the back side of the vinyl. That way the ink was protected by the thickness of the vinyl.

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Hey Bob J,
From what I've found out so far, your guess is basically correct.Since then 3M has come out with a product that is much more durable with improved adhesives. They now use the same "wrap" for building exteriors,semi-permanent bilboards / signage and the previously discussed vehicles and boats. I'm sure a projectile rock could still do some damage,but most of it will now occur in the vinyl only.Which, in regards to boats, might offer additional gel-coat protection.It's a good point though, and one I've already posed to the vendor; can a gouge or tear in the vinyl wrap be repaired? And how costly would it be?
 
quote:
Originally posted by Gregory Saracco

Thanks Bob. Pretty interesting stuff. Do you want to tell us what the $ is?

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Your welcome Greg,
For our PowerQuest 320LSC (basically an express cruiser) a 47" wide wrap around the entire boat (excluding transom), shipping and installation in my indoor heated facility was quoted at $4100.00. I went with the 47" width because it kept the edge above the water-line which increased my warrenty to 5yrs for adhesive and fading.If you don't keep your boat moored in a slip from April til October like we do, the coverage increases. Still have some un-answered questions here so we haven't pulled the trigger yet. Quite frankly the gel-coat on our boat is still in pretty good shape. I'm thinking of doing this not only to jazz it up a bit, but also to protect the gel-coat. They promise the wrap will come off after 4yrs with-out damaging the surface underneath it.
 
Wet Willie, re damage to gel coat after 4 years....the only thing that comes to mind is shadowing; like when you remove boat name or striping. If it's 100% coverage that obviously wouldn't be the case. Just where there is covered area next to exposed area.
 
That's a good point Bob J,
If I do this I'll try to keep that covered area / exposed area clearance as minimal as possible.
 
Is the entire wrap opaque or are there some areas translucent to UV? This may leave shadows.

I had a price quoted for about $2500 for a Ford E-250.

Some other things I would like to know:

- Will shrink-wrap scratch (chafe) the vinyl?
- What damage does the heat from a shrink-wrap torch cause?
- Is a scratch more noticeable in the wrap than just gel coat?
- If you somehow scrape along a piling or floating dock, is it possible that will a large piece of the vinyl comes off?
 
The way it was explained to me the entire wrap is a colored base (Bob J. provided a good explaination of this in an earlier post). Graphics are infused into tha base color so there is no base hull exposure to damaging UV rays. Constant exposure to the sun will fade the ink base though.It is estimated that under harshest conditions fade will be apparent with-in 3yrs.
Not sure about the shrink wrap damage questions. I've seen crudely installed shrink wrap damage gelcoat!
How noticable scratches are depends on the base ink color to hull color matching. The vendor I'm discussing this with claims that a shift or tear in te vinyl wrap can be repaired by a qualified tech. Drawback is that seam or repair joint area will be thinner than the area around it; making it susceptable to fading quicker.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Gregory Saracco

THanks. Sounds like you're doing your homework.

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I've got to Greg,
If I'm going to get this "Admiral Approved", I need to have all my bases covered!
 
Crownline 242, re your questions:
- Will shrink-wrap scratch (chafe) the vinyl?..It could if severe rubbing againt the vinyl.
- What damage does the heat from a shrink-wrap torch cause? it depends on how much heat comes in contact with the vinyl wrap...That's the way decals & striping is removed from fiberglass.
- Is a scratch more noticeable in the wrap than just gel coat? Depends on how deep. If it goes thru the vinyl to where it actually digs into printed area, you will see color of fibrglass.
- If you somehow scrape along a piling or floating dock, is it possible that will a large piece of the vinyl comes off? Just the portion that was scraped. Have no idea how you would repair it w/o noticeable seam or edge.
Just my 2¢.
 
A follow-up on this;
any rip, tear or gouge that has only penetrated the wrap (not scratched the hull)can be repaired by removing that section of the wrap that is damaged, full width. Matching replacement piece runs about $10.00 a square foot; even if matching a graphic.
Tricky part is the installation and are you brave enough to do it yourself!
Luckily I've found a guy in Northern IL. that does quite a bit of this type of work.
At this point we are comparing pricing on having the nicks, scratches and fades (some from us, some from the previous owner) in the gelcoat repaired, or getting the boat wrapped.
Happy New Year Everyone!
 
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