Do You Cruise with Product Logos & Advertising?

[Hudson Force]

Like most US Americans I have many hats and T-shirts with favorite sports teams or travel locations, but I've always felt burdened by ads on my personal stuff. I used to take the dealer tags and stickers off my cars and even remove the car model name & number if I could. I've never liked clothes with designer names shown. If my boat had a manufacturer's name running down the side I'd go to great effort to remove it.

Many may think this is petty, but to me it's part of making my boat's appearance please me. I have not yet found the best way to remove or cover the "Caribe" sign on my dinghy, but the dinghy outboard has all the stickers removed.



My wind generator's manufacturer's logo is also gone.



I'm taking on my radar next, but I'm wondering if there is any quality to the paint or vinyl on the radar unit that would alter it's function.



What are the thoughts from the radar knowledgeable people? Will my choice of paint or decorative stickers affect my radar image?

[MarkJ]

Agree with you. I dont give people free advertising. And i dont wear shirts with horses on them...

[h the boat]

You do not need to worry about most paints on the radar dome, use what ever you like, as long as it is not METALIC based. If it is, it may absorbe some of the radiated power, or even block it totally. That is unlikely, as the radiated power from a Radar scanner is a similar frequency to a microwave oven, and it would burn the paint off fairly rapidly. By the same token, dont use metalic or foil stickers. In your post you show a Furuno dome. You can remove that name very easily with almost any type of paint stripper, or even rub it off with 600 grade sand paper. H the Boat.

[Arthur Garfield]

Hudson Force,

I entirely agree ! Branding-yuck.En francaise-"De-classe",cheap,common,stultifiing.........

My things and/or my person are not billboards.Well,if payment high enough
perhaps I give it a thought.Though personal/private never permit.

As far as radar antenna housing-I'd give the offending name a sanding away
then recover with suitable deck paint.Additionally,turn newly painted housing cover to rear, 180 degrees.



All the Best

[Orion Jim]

Never even thought about it before reading this. Hmmm.

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

...I've always felt burdened by ads on my personal stuff. I used to take the dealer tags and stickers off my cars and even remove the car model name & number if I could. I've never liked clothes with designer names shown. If my boat had a manufacturer's name running down the side I'd go to great effort to remove it.

Many may think this is petty...
the dinghy outboard has all the stickers removed...
My wind generator's manufacturer's logo is also gone...
I'm taking on my radar next...

Dear Compulsive,

Don't be so overly concerned about the impression you make on others, and how others will judge your brand choices. You can remove all the labels but, if you cheap out, everyone will still know it.

Be who you are. And quit hiding behind your generic brands.

signed,
a

[nimblemotors]

That is just UnAmerican, you lefty pink commie.
Show your Harlay Davidsun tatoos.

I like to see the brand names defaced, Fur-No, more funny to me.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

Dear Compulsive,

Don't be so overly concerned about the impression you make on others, and how others will judge your brand choices. You can remove all the labels but, if you cheap out, everyone will still know it.

Be who you are. And quit hiding behind your generic brands.

signed,
a

Good, but confusing. I never considered a quality of the brand when obscuring advertising. My purpose is exactly to "be who I am" and not a presenter of some corporate logo, irrespective of quality. What are the "generic brands" that you refer to? My purpose is not to conceal, but to make things pretty,- like polishing, painting or decorating.

[h the boat]

This post is becoming a bit personal lets change the subject to something humourus. I am one of those wrinklys born middle of last century, que'd up at the bank this morning," she said Blackberry or Apricot" being a little confused, I said Blackberry. She immediately gave me a small package and the guy behind pushed in front. What do I do with this I said, ask your grandchildren he said and walked away. I was about to ask the clerk again, the other people pointed to the end of the que. And I am not even a customer at that bank, just went in to get change for the parking meter.. Forgot the car, walked home to ask Ryan, my daughters 4 year old. "what do I do with this". Easy Peasy he said, Get it unwrapped first, its an eye pad. OK, so now with great difficulty I've got the plastic off, what do I do with it, Look at it, talk to it, or wear it.---

[valhalla360]

One time my mom bought a pair of black reboks for my dad. As soon as she got them home she pulled out the sharpie and carefully filled in the white lettering because she wasn't going to have him walking around advertising for rebok...we started keeping a closer eye on her after that.

I get your point but it's not something that will keep me up at night.

Of course the down side is when it comes time for resale, you probably just shaved 20-40% off the price for a lot of these items because people are going to question what was wrong that you had to redo the paint?

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Of course the down side is when it comes time for resale, you probably just shaved 20-40% off the price for a lot of these items because people are going to question what was wrong that you had to redo the paint?

Ya but have you checked the value that "gear" brings to the price of a boat these days? You are usually far better off stripping off the "cruising gear" and selling it at a flea market than thinking it will increase the valve of your boat.

[RTB]

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After two years of anchoring, "the supreme" stickers are mostly worn away.



If we repaint the topsides, Hunter will be left off. I don't want the snobs to dinghy over and trash talk my boat......



I am really tired of looking at the huge placard on the Lifesling. Hopefully by now, my wife doesn't need to look at the instructions.

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Not sure I care to paint over the engine cover.



I have a big bitch with West Marine about those big blue stickers! After two years, they are stickey, messy things. The blue goo gets on clothes, hands, and ends up on the tubes. Yuk!

Ralph

[sailorchic34]

Not to mention that for some of us, the boat will never be sold, least while we still breath.

Maybe we should look at it from the opposite direction. Maybe we can get paid by advertisers to mount custom billboards, or sails on boats displaying the latest crop of consumerism , and get paid to go cruising....

OK Madison ave, give me a ring.......

[Stu Jackson]

Gee, all this time I though my boat's name was "West Marine"

[tomfl]

Wish this was the most important thing I had to worry about on my boat. When I set priorities on my do do list this ranks right before looking for big foot.