Vinyl decals instead of paint?

[Liberator*21]

ive been doing this kind of work for 23 years, as far as 1/15th the cost of paint, lets just say you get what you pay for, personally i think the 3m has gone downhill, and when they say a 7 year life for high performance, there are factors that affect that both ways

Liquidsign;
Here's a question for you, can a "WRAP" be done only on a section of a hull. like applying a decal for graphic effects (above the water line) and how durable would it be againist peeling up at the edges ??????

[brockshydro]

hear is the hydrostream logo as a vinyl graphic on my vking yt

[liquidsign]

hey Lib, you can wrap a portion if you want, it should stay put if its installed right

[oregondunes]

here is a great link with many sources for ideas http://www.performance-boating-and-s...-graphics.html

[gamble1]

Had mine done a few weeks ago. LOVE IT!!!

[HIMAGAIN]

Here Is my cowl Done a few weeks ago I would have no problems doing a warp on my boat

[waterboy222]

My boat is wrapped and I hate it. When you tie up to the dock or another boat, the fenders moving up and down rub holes HUGE HOLES in the wrap. Plus going from salt to fresh and back again causes staining that you cant get out. Plus you cant get the shine that you get with wax on gel or paint. Peeling mine off this winter and going with paint. I LOVED the design, hated the product.

[omcnut]

Im restoring a boat my grandfather gave me years ago. 78 Ranger 1750 Aztec. It was the king of kings in 78 but is terrible in appearance, and not fish friendly nowadays. Im jacking up and extending the fishing decks, repainting the hul and top brilliant white and I have a buddy that owns a custom vinyl shop thats cuting my striping. were going metallic red, maroon, and black just like the new 2011 z comanches. he fugured a few hundred dollars in mat and labor. Also gonna cut my decals for the windshields and trailer. Gonna lay the striping, and install the rubrail over the top so ya wont be able to tell. Pretty cool idea, and yes itll work, cause hed a told me otherwise if he was unsure.... cant wait to take the before pics and get started

[SWEET EMOTIONS RACING]

Guys interesting view points. My graphics partner is also a custom airbrush artist. The wraps are cool and probably cheaper, but when you take a wrap off the adhesive from the wrap dulls your OEM hull gelcoat, and you will have to wet-sand the entire boat after you peal it off. Its also cool if you sell it and the buyer doesn't like the wrap. Paint is more durable and less money to me. Ive done graphics and I also do painted graphics. I feel wraps are a Fad and will fade out eventually. you see these pro anglers getting new wraps every year? its because they don't last and tear up easy, Ive seen a wrap unwrap on a bass boat from water at high speeds, you will not see paint do that. Anyways great post. For you hydro-stream owners I make the decals with the arrows

[Cougardriver]

For what its worth department: I just bought a 1994 Bullet 20XD that had a Full wrap, everything except the hull. The wrap extended down the gunwales and folded over just underneath the turn to the hull. The wrap had been on about 3 years and was in pretty good shape except a few places where it had gotten torn up from going on and off the trailer and topside on the uppers where it had gotten worn. I wanted it gone so as soon as I got the boat home I proceeded to remove it. It was a good wrap, done by a sign shop that specializes in this work. However taking this thing off has proven to be a bitch of a job! If you think it is just a peel off and walk away you are sadly mistaken. It has taken me hours and hours to get rid of the thing. I actually got 99% of the wrap off in about a day. The rub comes when you realize that the wrap once removed has left all sorts of patches of glue all over the boat. I tried about 6 different chemicals to get the glue off and nothing has worked except laquer thinner and even that requires a ton of elbow grease and a lot of rubbing and scraping and grief. To make matters worse, when they put the wrap on they used some sort of cement along the edges to keep it from curling up and so far even laquer thinner won't touch it. Luckily the strip of glue is only about an inch wide just under the point where the gunwales turn to the hull but I just cannot get it to come loose! I know if I don't get this stuff off it will produce a drag on the hull which will hurt the speed of the boat...I think. I have also found out that if you leave a wrap on a boat for 5 years or more, the stickum on the wrap will dry out and you will almost NEVER get the thing off. Thank God I got after mine right away. My vote on wraps is NO HELL NO. You get what you pay for and I would rather pay a good painter to do his thing. At least you know you can get the paint off if you want to change the color or decoration scheme. If you are gonna buy a boat that is wrapped I advise you to do some dickerin' on price cause you are gonna invest a lot of time and grunt work getting the thing removed if you want it gone. I will grant that having the wrap on does protect the finish underneath.

CougarDriver in Jax, FL