Boat Lettering

[tuggertoy]

My husband and I just purchased our first boat - Lil Toot - a Ranger 21 Classic . My question - does anyone have experience with ordering boat lettering? Do you have a favorite company that you have done business with over the internet? Is it better to stay local and not order over the internet? Are decals better than painted lettering or vise versa?

Thanks in advance,

Moria

 

[captd]

http://www.buildasign.com/VinylLettering


Works pretty well, Keep in mind the 1st letters will be the biggest on some style of letter. You ccan design your own on this site. We use it for business as well.

captd

 

[markm]

Congrats on your purchase. I have a classic as well. I would recommend you go local and have them install it as well. With computer graphics so percise you can find exactly what you wantm in the colors you want. Colors are hard to identify through the internet. Cost is much less for plastic lettering than painting. Mine are five years old and they look brand new and withstand power washing.

Good luck.

Mark

 

[captain's cat]

Also very easy through WM/Boat US. I have done several boats with their lettering (vinyl) and you can order it through the internet, many styles/sizes/colors and top quality. Easy to install yourself.

Charlie

 

[sparky]

We had vinyl lettering on a sailboat for 10 years, never a problem despite extreme sun and heat in Hawaii to cold and wet in Washington state, and trailering 3,000 miles across the country. We had vinyl graphics put on Starry Night (see album) while she was still at the factory in Washington. These "decals" hold up extremely well, but they can be carefully and painstakingly removed with a heat gun and goo-gone should you or a new owner ever want to change them. Can't do that with painted graphics.

Sparky

 

[tor2ga2]

Just had my new (to me) 21 renamed, TORTUGATOO plus hailing port and state, in 4 inch letters for the name including installation for $25. Same company did my C-Dory 8 years ago and the vinyl letters are as bright today as when installed. I'm a real fan of vinyl. Do let the pros do the install. I tried DIY and screwed one up royally.



Terry

TORTUGATOO
21'
Dade City, Fl.

 

[Lolly]

Now own a Ranger 29 - and am evaluating options for location of boat name. Was planning to put name in large letters on transsom to left of door to swim platform. There's a "interesting" bump/ridge in this area where transom changes direction. My boat lettering guy got a little nervous looking at it (I guess its easier to apply lettering on a really smooth area). Has anybody applied lettering that crossed this area with the "ridge" and does it look OK? Other options would be smaller lettering either above of below? Any thoughts? Michael Travis

 

[j&lgray]

We have done the BoatUS product twice now and are very pleased. Placing the letters was easy but we have it on a trailer and get to all the angles easily.

 

[tuggin aweigh]

I agree with tor2gu2. Vinyl letters, installed by the pros, are the way to go. As trailer boaters, we selected the name, color and style of letters at the local sign shop, made an appointment and had them installed. Tried installing once-almost screwed it up --for the price of one screw up it's cheaper and wiser to have a pro do it.

Tuggin' Aweigh

 

[tuggertoy]

We posted a while back in a new thread about our boat lettering and here is the link: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=666

The artwork of the two dogs was purchased on an online clip art site. Once we paid for and downloaded the image we were able to modify the artwork to suit our layout. My wife has a degree in commercial art so the design work comes easily to her. We contacted our local sign shop after my wife and I came up with our finished design and graphics on our home computer. After talking with the local sign shop who was great and made just a few tweaks to our design, which only helped to punch it up a notch, we placed our order. The whole job, including the clip art graphics, cost less than half of what many of the online lettering sites charge and the decals were done the same day. Most online sites don't offer any graphics capability or if they do it is very expensive.

We applied the lettering and graphics to the boat ourselves, which admittedly is a little intimidating, but if you follow the instructions that should be provided by the sign shop it is definitely doable by the average DIYer. I had past experience setting vinyl decals in my days of doing auto body repair but that was 25 years ago so I felt as if I was doing it for the first time and with my wife's help we did a great job and love the finished product.

Eric