Boat Name Decals

Hi all,
Finally getting around to putting my boats logo and name on her. Does anyone have any suggestions for good shops to get these cut in the Seattle or Anacortes area? For the name on the back I’m on the fence if I should have them install it, thoughts on how difficult it is to get a good looking final product?

Attached is a picture of the logo.

AC

I like your logo.

Thanks!

Did mine 5-6 years ago. Bought the graphics from boatus. They did a good job. 5-6' long. Wet application. Worked off swim platform. Just followed the directions - boatus had videos. Probably spent a morning doing it. Only PIA is getting rid of bubbles. Letters have held up well. The way I'm usually docked at home puts the stern squarly in the summer afternoon sun - letters still there, still look good. Only - the "gold" metallic infil of the letters is now more of a dull bronze.

The logo's great.

Highly recommend Prizm Graphics. They are located in George Town area.

I used Do It Yourself Lettering.com

https://doityourselflettering.com/

But any place that does vinyl or "gerber" lettering should be able to take your graphics file and make it in vinyl. Putting it on yourself is no trick, just takes a little patience.

Trying to see if I can upload a picture of a name

Any good sign shop will have the capability to produce vinyl lettering in a wide range of styles. Look into the vinyl they use, get the best you can. As far as application, it's a DIY if you're meticulous about prep and patiently apply it per the vinyl manufacturer's recommendations.

It's helpful to wet sand the bare surface with 600 grit and compound it well to remove all the "ghost names". Your supplier should be able to give you tips on working with the specific product. Mine has an outline, it's applied 1st, the gold leaf simulated vinyl applied over top of that. It requires careful alignment, but it's not hard with a bit of Dawn in water to wet out the surface. Air bubbles can be a disconcerting by product. In many cases, they're not air but mostly water trapped from the wetting, most will dry out on their own and disappear after a few days.

Still, if easy access, there's something to be said for having it done by someone who does it every day, removes a lot of doubt!

Thanks all, I’ll look into shops to do it, without a swim grid and having a canoe stern I’m less confident in my abilities.

Did any of you also do icons to call out fins and thrusters on your waterline? I was also thinking about strap locations but almost prefer each shop is responsible when they haul for where their straps go.
Thoughts?

Boatus does a great job and will replace the name even if your the one who screws up.

No fins or thrusters on mine. Sling points were labelled by mfr at the sheer line. Used a heavy flexible PVC (?) membrane embossed with "sling here" or somesuch and screwed between rub rail and hill. Been there 40 years and still presentable and readable.

For me, and with the builder's determination of sling points, I insist on compliance when she's hauled. Amazing how many times the haulout crew wants to freelance.

Sign shops can do multi color layups. That way you only have one decal to put on, not each color separately. I'm surprised that the Maerin decal was individual decals that needed to be aligned.

Yeah, my lettering is similar (regarding infil) to maerin's. Boatus sent it in one piece - one application.

I love your logo but if I had a KK54, I'd put that bear in the crow's nest.

Prizm has the ability to print on vinyl. This gives you one layer and the ability to do fades and blends. The printing is colorfast and won’t fade any faster than solid colored vinyl.

They are located in south seattle and specialize in boats. Just ask Pu Hana, they wrapped his boat.

In Seattle, Reid Sign and Fab – Signs, Graphics, and Unique Fabrications does fantastic work, and they are easy to work with. The price they quoted me I thought very reasonable. Call and ask for Chris.

Had a local sign shop cut the lettering. The install was much tougher because the transom is a compound curve. Played with it dry for about 15 minutes and decided I needed a professional. A local graphics artist who also paints boat names came to the marina and spent over an hour doing the layout and essentially had to set each letter individually. Charged me $20 and apologized for taking so long. I gave him $40 and thought it was some of the smartest money I ever spent.





Ted

ssobol said:

Sign shops can do multi color layups. That way you only have one decal to put on, not each color separately. I'm surprised that the Maerin decal was individual decals that needed to be aligned.

Click to expand...

My sign guy recommended it because of the simulated gold leaf material, plus the font has no straight edge line to align. Said it was better to do it separately rather than double it up, plus the cutting at the door. I've had others done multi-layup, the separate layers wasn't a big deal, there's plenty of slide to get them perfect before starting to squeegee the top layer.

Came out well, Steve. Nicely done.

AC,
I realize these Ladies are on the opposite coast but they do great work.
Boat LETTERING | Decals | Names | Vinyl LETTERING | Graphics | Long Island |CUSTOM-design your own
They did both of my boats. They do very professional work and are extremely nice as well. I will post the pictures when I can get to a computer that has them.

If you're up for DIY, we had great results using Signs.com for our boat lettering (stern and on each side of the Portuguese bridge). We had some ideas on fonts up front but I used their free design services and they delivered exactly what we wanted to measured spec along with installation instructions and a squeegee.

They can also handle much more complex designs that we required.

All up I think everything cost about $150 delivered. Great service, online proofs and fast.

Installation was actually pretty easy once we established the line and location we taped the middle of the decal and one side. Then we installed the left side, followed by the right. Not counting removal of the old stickers and some sanding, buffing cleaning the job took about an hour.

Has anyone ever put vinyl letters over a varnished name board and then varnished over the vinyl ?

Arthurc; in your area near Anacortes is an exceptional family-owned small business called Jamies Signs, who did our transom and at the time we understood they had done over 8000 boat names for customers. They go far beyond just lettering and of course do elaborate graphics if you like.
Our name with a silver inlay was still less than half a boat buck so I was happy to let the professionals install it rather than sweat over alignment and everything to ensure it looks right.
When we did it, Jamie himself sat down with us in front of his large PC screen and quickly laid it out with some kind of AutoCAD program, very welcome to our feedback and made adjustments in real time until we were happy. Also built photoshop-style mockups to ensure we knew what the end result would look like.
I believe Jamie has retired but his family continues with the business and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone.
His actual shop is right off Hwy 20 between Burlington and Anacortes at the intersection with Christensen Rd.

Here are the pictures of the work Boat LETTERING | Decals | Names | Vinyl LETTERING | Graphics | Long Island |CUSTOM-design your own did for me