Boat decals questions

[Malc]

Here we go again.

I think that it's time I got the decals done for my kayak and wondered what tips you had or where to get them from, I have had a quick look and Funky Monkey was one of the first and seems simple to use. 

I will be putting it onto HDPE which is smooth and slightly curved.

[JonC]

19 minutes ago, Malc said:

Here we go again.

I think that it's time I got the decals done for my kayak and wondered what tips you had or where to get them from, I have had a quick look and Funky Monkey was one of the first and seems simple to use. 

I will be putting it onto HDPE which is smooth and slightly curved.

I replaced all mine this year, it was simple enough to do the names, you get a few bubbles but they can be chased out with a bit of patience. Funky monkey supply the little squeegee blade that helps out. 

Racing stripes are a whole different sport, we got in a bit of a mess with them, mine came supplied as a pair of parallel lines, which seems good but as you stretch around the profile of the boat one line can crease and the one being stretched becomes thinner, which looks odd. 
It also didn’t help that it was a particularly windy spell of weather and I was on a deadline because the boat was being lifted back in. 
 

[JonC]

I’ve just remembered that the Arvor decals and the stripes came from a guy that advertises on Facebook, Ryan Gibson. If you’re on facebook look him up. 

[Odyssey]

Funky money is great if you want go crest your own using their fonts. 
 

My better half designed mine and I got funky monkey to use her artwork. 
 

There is also Art and Sea based in Scotland who are very good, they do kayak decals too, maybe worth looking at 

[JDP]

On 1/9/2024 at 10:34 PM, JonC said:

I replaced all mine this year, it was simple enough to do the names, you get a few bubbles but they can be chased out with a bit of patience. Funky monkey supply the little squeegee blade that helps out. 

Racing stripes are a whole different sport, we got in a bit of a mess with them, mine came supplied as a pair of parallel lines, which seems good but as you stretch around the profile of the boat one line can crease and the one being stretched becomes thinner, which looks odd. 
It also didn’t help that it was a particularly windy spell of weather and I was on a deadline because the boat was being lifted back in. 
 

Did you try and get the gelcoat back up to its original colour and shine before putting them on ? The gelcoat looks lacking in lustre. I just did a 50ft cat before Xmas which hadn't been polished in over 20ys which came up extremely well even after being exposed to the harsh sun over here. 

[JonC]

Just now, JDP said:

Did you try and get the gelcoat back up to its original colour and shine before putting them on ? The gelcoat looks lacking in lustre. I just did a 50ft cat before Xmas which hadn't been polished in over 20ys which came up extremely well even after being exposed to the harsh sun over here. 

Last year I nuked the gelcoat, to get back to the original colour. I gave it a quick run over but there was no product on the gel at this time, I cleaned everything off with acetone prior to doing the copper. 
This is the colour difference To get back to the original dark colour was so much work with various grades of paper that it has put me off of ever owning a coloured boat again. Life is too short to waste time polishing stuff. This year I just ran over a few passes with cutting compound then sealed it with wax. 
My new decals were different to the old ones, I can still see a slight ghosting but it only shows if you look for it. And I had forgotten all about it. Thanks.