Boat Name on Transom: Paint or Stick-on ?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Pete7

DH, the colour has just started to disappear from our stick on letters but they must be 20 years old now.

This website should keep you entertained for a few hours designing your new letters.

We used them for a previous boat (rib), they delivered quickly and they stuck well to the tubes even in the spray and waves etc.

Funky Monkey Boat Names - DIY Vinyl Lettering

Pete

Superb lead -- thanks a million.

[FrankZ]

Another advantage stick on is you don't end up running out of room cause you free painted a name too wide to start with.

I used BoatUS to get the current set. You can input how tall the letters are, then how much horizontal space you have to work with. If you are using templates to paint you may have a hard time getting ones that are the right width if you need to scale horizontally.

I suspect painted on has gone by the way side as the stick on ones are just too easy. Things that make life harder don't normally catch on as well.

[sarafina]

it's a little sad... Our boats always had really stunning transoms... beautifully finished mahogany and gorgeous graceful lettering arched across them...

the current hole in the water has really nasty stick ons from the office supply. like black block lettering for a poster when the pta has a car wash.

yech.

that will be changing when we get the restoration done.

[Solitude]

I would still mock up some letters to check the size on your boat. You don't need to worry about spacing between the letters except around swim ladders…..

I'm only suggesting this as I have seen some ridiculously HUGE lettering on small transoms and some very small lettering on large transoms. Its hard to see this online....

[Roaring Girl]

Ours is stick on from a local guy and we have a spare set in case we ever get around to painting the topsides (hah!) and they've done really well for six and a half years. The stick on also allowed us to us the boat logo on the transom, and there's no way we could have painted that or wanted to pay someone who could!

[MarkJ]

Do your artwork on your own computer and take it into the signwrites... they shove your thumb drive up the bum of a big machine and out pops the best looking script + graphics you've ever seen for about the same as a can of paint.

[daddle]

If you sit in the home marina all the time you can use a headache-inducing curly-q font with glitter paint. If you actually cruise you should use clean readable large block letters like the boat in the photo above. Please?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by daddle

If you sit in the home marina all the time you can use a headache-inducing curly-q font with glitter paint. If you actually cruise you should use clean readable large block letters like the boat in the photo above. Please?

Yes, certainly -- readability and conservative good taste -- yes. Curlicues -- no.

[motion30]

most important use a name everybody can pronounce...please

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by motion30

most important use a name everybody can pronounce...please

That's already thread drift, or perhaps, an uncontrolled thread-gybe -- but ditto on that. My favorite is "S/V Koyaanisqatsi" -- NOT!

So getting back to the point -- does no one disagree with the broad consensus that stick-on letters for transom boat names is ok?

[Solitude]

Not just OK but preferred

[goldbeard]

stickers

you don't use your boat harder than they do,

although the stripes are painted on at a 64 degree angle...

[David_Old_Jersey]

Me? None sticky letters removed, will be replaced by same in due course

One thing to remember about paint is that depending on paint used parts can polish through so whilst still perfectly readable overall looks tatty. Me father's old (wooden) boat had a name board, so could unscrew and drop off at the sign writer - makes a lot cheaper

[Prerequisite]

My boat name spans about 4'... I think it cost about $75 total to get the names for both sides and it went on SO easily. Any boat project that costs less than $100 and is easy is kind of hard to argue with in my book.

Jeff

-p.s. I used Great Lettering Blog The website isn't the greatest, but the name arrived quickly and the font seems to earn a lot of compliments. I'll be using them again for my new boat.

[s/v Beth]

We just removed the stick on letters with a heat gun- it was easy. On the white we could see outlined the prior hailing port, and the hailing port before, and the hailing port before... Looks like my boat has been using stickon lettering for at least 20 years...No damage done.