ren3

John, take a look at racelinedigital.com. They are in Canada but ship all over. I have done two large (6'+) models with their graphics. Much less expensive than paint, and there are multiple pieces depending on the design and color, so if one gets damaged the whole graphic does not need to be replaced. I painted my 28' center console with vinyl lettering and decals that I had custom made. Good luck. Bob.

erik1976

I had a full wrap on my old 25 Talon. I would never do it again, good from far, far from good and it ripped just looking at it. It was done by a professional company. Purely my experience.

getrdunn

iTrader: (7)

Pretty cool. I think I've come to the conclusion that I may just paint yellow and use black wrap for stripe down the middle of deck and one down the side that would look similar to my 28 challenger in the avitar. It will still save time and expedite the overall finish as well as break things up a little in which case I have an imperfection here and there. Tks guys.

502ss

iTrader: (3)

It's all about expectations and depth of pockets. I have a wrap on my 31 year old scarab and would do it again in a heartbeat. The gloss is really good but you are right it is not like 10 coats of clear. It also doesn't cost $10K+. If you have the artistic ability you can make the design as mild or wild and the price stays the same (unlike paint). Yes you need to treat a wrap with potentially more care than paint but again I don't worry about as much about it because I don't have the cost of a small car tied up in a paint job on a 31 year old boat!

Again it's all about expectations!

ezstriper

when it comes to wraps, there are TONS of material out there, the 1st thing everybody is all about is price, so hence the low gloss, not laying down etc. its all about the $$$$$ you want cheap, going to look that way, we have found that we ONLY use 3M 1080 on color change wraps and base material for printed ones, also the lamanate is the gloss, just like clear on a paint job, put less cheap clear, you get lower gloss, use high gloss good quality lamanate, you get the nice glossy finish. if you want to buy price online to install yourself, be warned, may as well take your **** to maaco !!

getrdunn

iTrader: (7)

Ya the gloss yellow that is almost a spot on match to gel bottom is surprisingly glossy. I had s company send several swaths / samples and not disappointed with the gloss or color what so ever. I get the pros and cons and just want it done already. Considering the boat it's going on I'm not going to treat it like a new skater or top gun. Like the old saying goes why put perfume on a pig. The boat is a cool old wave crushing hull and basically that's exactly how it will be treated. I live practically on a lake with Lake Michigan access so the boat will pretty much be an afternoon run here and there and a nights stay a few times a year. So really vinyl wouldn't get beat up much at all however could from an occasional rafting with other boats. I just wanna get out and run the lake shore again without spending a bunch on an old boat that is going to be used temporarily as a fill in btwn boats.

getrdunn

iTrader: (7)

I think I may at least order enough 3m wrap to try it out on my Hardin Marine style blower scoops. If I can do those flawlessly then I'd feel pretty good about taking it to the next step.

getrdunn

iTrader: (7)

Maaco is what I assume to be like an earl scheibes here in MI. They use to paint cars dp for like 150 bucks and it looked like it. Well unfortunately I worked in a body shop for years during school and learned two things. How to paint and how much I didn't ever want to do it for a living. It's really not a matter of the how much I wanna spend but more so it's for a temporary project until one of my homes sell or golf course sells. I doubt the boat would see water more than a season so perfection isn't huge concern. Something I was going to keep long term or sell would be completely different.

Was kinda trying to get more if an idea of how difficult it is to apply more so than how it looks etc. I realize pros cons but if it's not something I should tackle I will just paint it. That I know I can do.

Baja Rooster

iTrader: (1)

How many friends do you have? I'm thinking at least one on each end with one or two in the middle working the squeegee out. It's not a one person job.

Crude Intentions

iTrader: (1)

I bought a wrapped boat. Have since peeled the wrap. 50 footer is the truth. Pain in the ass to remove. I would never wrap anything and I certainly will never buy a wrapped boat again. Good luck with whatever you choose.