I'm going to apply some pretty large Decals to the sides of my newly painted boat. Does anybody have any experience with this. I understand you should wet the surface before you apply the decal. What do you wet the surface with and how wet do you make it. Any help would be apprecoiated. Rick G.

Soapy water does it for me. Then give it about two days in the sun to dry. Not a problem for you up in the frozen tundra!!

Get a chance to get those pictures out? I have been swamped with work I will try and reply to your email this evening.

Jon

Wet the surface with some soapy water. The soap acts as a lubricant. Depending on the size and complexity you'll either peal the backing in stages or all at once. You apply the graphic and let it float on the water. Position and adjust it until it is perfect. Now start in the center and squeege the water out working twords the edges. I found the little plastic body filler applicators would leave tiny scratches in the vinyl surface. By putting a piece of the backer between the vinyl and the squeege you won't scratch the surface or move the graphic around as much. That's a key thing. You'll want to stop regularly and look to see if you are distorting the graphic. Don't let yourself make that mistake. Don't let the surface dry out or the graphic will adhere. If you see things starting to get dry, stop and remist it. As you go along, try to work out the blisters and any wrinkles. The blister can be difficult to get out if you get too far past them. I had some luck using a hair dryer to dry the water allowing the vinyl to adhere.

This is a pic of our first vinyl job.

Here are some instructions that I downloaded off the web.

...continued...

...yet another one...

...final one.

Hey Cord,

Did you get those graphics from Raceline Digital? I was considering them for mine.

No. Those were custom designed by Ryan Beckley at Kinetic Animation!

Cord,
Do you have a shot showing all of the boat?