I have lost my mind over registration #'s

Blueone

Well-Known Member
SILVER Sponsor
Jan 24, 2007
13,688
Lake Erie, Ohio
Boat Info
2004 420 Sundancer
Engines
Cummins 6CTA 450's
I seriously don't care...I will drive the dinghy around with no Reg #'s ....but my wife is a rule person....and I am being kind she is a crazy rule person

We have a new dinghy... So I do this west marine sham

image.png


Seems innocent... Pay $35 get your little placards.... No info on how to attach your investment....so you email them....is glue included ?....no answer....No reply to your request on how to attach.... Then comes the box... Oh great...my wife will now get off my ass.... Instructions say go to Lowes, Home Depot, any hardware store and buy these products...... Nothing.... There is literally nothing to glue PVC ....wtf ? But their first recommendation is go to West Marine....and buy the most expensive glue on the planet.... $37 ..... More then the phuck'n placards?!?!....and the tube is smaller than a toothpaste tube....no way this is going to do two coats on the placard and one coat on the dinghy.... But phuck it.... I buy a hard brush and a putty knife just in case...... So now into $45 to glue a $35 sticker to a frickn dinghy..... Not a problem.... Got my son coming up with my first grandson....they will enjoy it....

So I have my placards.... That I have been flattening out for 4 days, got my acetone... Stiff brush... Forgot the cardboard....but thank God I loaded the fridge with a case of beer so I have a cardboard box to cut up and lay flat to spread glue on, got tape and sand paper.... I got this

Okay ....so now all you have to do is place the Plackard on the dinghy.... Tape around it....sand your dinghy so the glue can adhere ...put a coat on your dinghy....and two coats on your Plackard and you're good to go..

So time to hold the Plackard to the dingy so you can tape around it...... NOTHING frickn sticks to a new PVC dinghy NOTHING !!

You can't tape it to hold it so you can tape around it..... And the damn placard is a frickn potatoe chip.... The edges are all turned up....are you kidding me?,!,.?., and no tape will stick to hold it....I was surprised I had every tape on the planet on the damn boat and not one tape would frickn stick....

Again....I can't believe I got scammed by west marine again....

Last weekend I saw two new friends with just numbers attached to their pvc dinghys .... I wished I asked ....but I had my solution coming.

Does anyone know where to buy just the numbers that stick to PVC?....without a nightmare prep
 
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Don’t feel too bad. I got the ones with the glue already applied. Peel and stick. After one season I’ve removed them because the edges are lifting.
 
Don’t feel too bad. I got the ones with the glue already applied. Peel and stick. After one season I’ve removed them because the edges are lifting.

Don't leave me hanging.....what did you replace them with ?

And I thought I was smarter then to buy thAt option of the sticky tape...:)
 
Blue one, go to a local sign maker and have him cut you some numbers out of lettering vinyl. I have a friend with a plotter and is cutting some for a friend of mine for his West Marine 350 dink he just put together. Im having him do a Port of Call set for me too. These are what are on my Hypalon Achilles 350 and have been there for years. If you keep the dink inflated it should be no problem. I don't know how they will hold up if you deflate and roll up the dink.
Carpe Diem
 
I did all the research before I bought the placards, knew I had to buy the glue, and knew that the process is very humidity sensitive. The pair I had professionally installed were absolutely awesome, the pair I installed are lifting on the edges. But I’m not a pro. Overall, I am still happy with them.
 
Mike ???..... I can't get the damn duck tape, blue tape, electrical tape or masking tape to stick to hold the damn placard..to the dinghy to tape around them..are you telling me I need a professional?.... They left that off the damn box.... Who are these professionals? .. You have to go to school for this shit ? :)
 
Why don't you simply paint the numbers on and be done with it..... Defender and WM have stencil kits just for this.
 
I used a professional sharpie and a stencil after the WM placards came off my last dingy after 1 year. Needed to be touched up every year because sharpie fades but didn’t take much effort to do so. I think stencils with paint or sharpie are the only way if you are going to deflate it.
 
I'm in my fifth year of simply having them hang on a placard from my handles. Never had an issue, still the original letters. But surely not as clean, elegant as what you guys are doing.

48495309991_9a79bf6f1f_c.jpg
 
I can't offer too much specific help here as I only have experience with one inflatable... and where we use it, it is pretty remote so you can probably guess what my thoughts are on registration numbers for it... ;)

Another thought... you can get "stiff" plastic placards. These have holes in them for mounting. If there's a way to do it with your dink, you can use zip ties or even string rope through it.

Edit: 'Course, if I didn't take so long to type, I would have noticed Stee's post and he used a picture to explain it! Cheater. :)
 
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I can't offer too much specific help here as I only have experience with one inflatable... and where we use it is pretty remote so you can probably guess what my thoughts are on registration numbers for it... ;)

Another thought... you can get "stiff" plastic placards. These have holes in them for mounting. If there's a way to do it with your dink, you can use zip ties or even string rope through it.

Edit: 'Course, if I didn't take so long to type, I would have noticed Stee's post and he used a picture to explain it! Cheater. :)
That works until you snag it or swim and dive off the inflatable and it becomes frustrating trash. We lost one placard first time snorkeling for Conch and the other loading the dinghy back on the boat. I painted the numbers and never gave it another thought.....
 
FWIW, this is what the paint and stencil app made for dinghies looks like after 5 years. We took the paint with us on the loop and trip south in case it needed touch up. No need.
I have had no issues with the law men with the reg sticker on the outboard.
BE157C8F-938F-44F3-A084-06F8ACE2CD3A.jpeg
 
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Mike ???..... I can't get the damn duck tape, blue tape, electrical tape or masking tape to stick to hold the damn placard..to the dinghy to tape around them..are you telling me I need a professional?.... They left that off the damn box.... Who are these professionals? .. You have to go to school for this shit ? :)

Thanks for the morning laugh on this one. LOL I saw and read the instructions before I purchased and then received the following instructions with my placards.

https://j.b5z.net/i/u/2161213/f/Hypalon_Inst.pdf

Wolf’s Marine in Saint Joseph Michigan has a dive shop and an inflatable boat repair shop. When I took my old zodiac up a couple of years ago to have the floor reglued I had them install the numbers and they held perfect. So the pro grade job is definitely better than the job I did.
 
I used a professional sharpie and a stencil after the WM placards came off my last dingy after 1 year. Needed to be touched up every year because sharpie fades but didn’t take much effort to do so. I think stencils with paint or sharpie are the only way if you are going to deflate it.

I tried that method on my first one and got tired of having to redo it every year because it faded really bad in the sun and from cleaning.
 
I'm in my fifth year of simply having them hang on a placard from my handles. Never had an issue, still the original letters. But surely not as clean, elegant as what you guys are doing.

48495309991_9a79bf6f1f_c.jpg


Apparently your Coast Guard station has more important things to do than the one down here. They will write you a ticket if they’re in the mood for not having them “permanently affixed “
 
Don't leave me hanging.....what did you replace them with ?

And I thought I was smarter then to buy that option of the sticky tape...:)
For now i'm just using the placards that hang over the sides. Thinking of having a local sign shop make up some vinyl numbers. I spent 2 bottles of acetone cleaning up the old glue so I'm not in a rush to stick anything else to it as I may be selling the dink so may leave that to the next owner.
 
Apparently your Coast Guard station has more important things to do than the one down here. They will write you a ticket if they’re in the mood for not having them “permanently affixed “

Yeah but that's orange paracord from Amazon. As permanent as anything :)
 
Mike ???..... I can't get the damn duck tape, blue tape, electrical tape or masking tape to stick to hold the damn placard..to the dinghy to tape around them..are you telling me I need a professional?.... They left that off the damn box.... Who are these professionals? .. You have to go to school for this shit ? :)
Just get a good staple gun and permanently affix them. :)o_O:D
 

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