Striping replacement- paint or vinyl?

wprice0511

wprice0511

New Member
Jun 9, 2008
31
Hello all,

The striping on my 85 Sundancer 260 looks bad and I'm hoping to replace it this season. Any thoughts on vinyl versus paint? Has anyone repainted their striping? How did it turn out?

I'm also looking to have the cockpit upholstery recovered. Has anyone gone through that. Any recommendations on upholstery folks on Western Lake Erie?

Incidentally, I took the boat across Lake Erie from Mentor to Port Clinton, Ohio this past Friday. It was a four hour trip and the boat did very well in what started out as a very choppy and windy day. We then headed to Put-in-Bay and spent the weekend. We got back to Port Clinton before the t-storms hit on Sunday.

To the other classic sea ray owners on Western Lake Erie, we ought to consider a get together or classic Sea Ray regatta. Might be fun.

Thanks in advance for any advise on the striping and upholstery,

Warren Price
MARINE WOLF
1985 Sundancer 260
Port Clinton, Ohio
 
Stripes are a pain to deal with. Paint will look better but when you detail the hull next year, that will be one more thing to try to work around. Imron looks great, but I wonder how it will hold up to polishing and waxing with a wheel. If it were my boat, I would probably restripe with vinyl. Seems like I was forever doing this with my SRs because any bit of debris in the water would take a small piece of the tape off.
 
I considered this project when my boat was out of the water last month. The yard I deal with uses Imron and sprays them on in their indoor paint booth and they look incredible compared to the tape. Very expensive though... (about $2K for my boat)
 
Warren,
I replaced the 2" main stripes running down the bow of my boat a couple of weeks ago. The hardest part about this job is getting the old ones off. Some will tell you to use a heat gun but for me this didn't work as the stripes were original from 1980 and cracked to all hell. I used a razorblade carefully and it seemed to work fine. Heres a tip, take the old stripe off when its raining. Makes this Job 1000% easier. I started it on a hot day and it was extremly hard but when I did it on a cool rainy day it came right off no problem. Then to remove the glue use a mixture of acetone and paint thinner (50/50) and a greenie scrub. Takes it right up. Putting the new strip on is a bit of a pain in the ass as you have to keep pulling it very tight to get no air bubbles underneath. Use soapy water to spray on the boat before you stick the vinyl down, and then use a squeegie to get all of the water out of the sides when it is in place. This will allow you to move it around a little bit too. I found it easier to start at the back of the boat and move forward, cutting the design (rounded and pointy ends) when you get to them. You may want to do this on a cloudy day as well. I had one of my sides bubble up pretty good after I was done from being in the direct sun. You can't notice it unless your looking for it but to me it looks like hell. If you do get airbubbles and cant push them out to the sides, take a needle and pop them and try to push the bubble down to smooth out.

After all that being said, I would paint mine them on if I could find a paint that I could brush on and would last a couple of years. If I ever get my boat repainted I will have all of the boat stripes painted on :)

Billy
 
I replaced my stripe with Vinyl the beginning of last season. It still looks OK from a distance, but I noticed little pieces missing when I was detailing it before putting it back in the water for this season. I'm sure I'm going to have to replace it again in another season or two.
I've thought about painting it on, but the paint will probably need to be touched up at the very least every season or two depending on how careful I am with it when I detail the boat.
I think that either paint or vinyl will require some amount of maintenance and the one you chose doesn't really matter all that much.
 
I appreciate the advice from everyone. I'm definitely removing the 2" stripe that runs along the sides. It looks awful. From what I'm hearing, I'd probably rather paint it on, but that may wait for next season.

The hull looks nice (although I find myself wishing it was white), so I may just remove that stripe and not replace it for now, of course, I'm sure the gel coat under the stripe will probably be brighter than the rest of the boat.

This all certainly gives me some things to think about.
 
Warren,
Thats what I wanted to do as well because after I took off the 2 " stripe I thought it looked pretty nice without it. Of course the woman wanted the stripe on there so on it went. Anyway if you take some 3M restorer wax to the hull around the stripe you can get it to look pretty close.
Billy
 
:thumbsup:Vinyl Rocks! I did a Marine Wrap from the waterline up and ditched the stripes Taking the old stripes off was a HUGE PITA though.

Ainokea05.jpg
 
Last edited:
had it done here at by a local sign shop (Signs and Display Designs 503-654-7670). It only set me back about $800 installed and has a 7 year warrenty against fading. I am REALLY HAPPY with it.

I was looking into paint when I learned about this Marine Wrap (Orcal) thing. Paint was nearly 10 times the cost of Marine Wrap.
 
awesome!!! I was going to ask if anyone knew where I could get vinyl done at. Does this supplier have a website? Do you know if they do even more simple designs? I just want to replace the vinyl on my 160; keep it the same as factory... just new.
 
NateRW21 said:
awesome!!! I was going to ask if anyone knew where I could get vinyl done at. Does this supplier have a website? Do you know if they do even more simple designs? I just want to replace the vinyl on my 160; keep it the same as factory... just new.
Click to expand...

Click here to go to the manufacturers website and get more info on the Oracal 3951 Marine Wrap ( they even have photos of boats that a wrap in different schemes)>>>> http://www.oracal.com/products/product.asp?seriesID=208
 
I redid mine in vinyl. It was easy because mine came with just a pinstripe around the beltline.
l_ea14ee5ad6c61d29854d65eb785178bd.jpg
 
wprice0511 said:
I'm also looking to have the cockpit upholstery recovered. Has anyone gone through that. Any recommendations on upholstery folks on Western Lake Erie?
Click to expand...

AMISH, AMISH, AMISH!!!!!!! If you haven't heard the name Jonas, just ask anyone who has been around Ohio boating for a while. He and his son, Sam, do Wonderful canvas work.

To do the vinyl, his younger son, John, broke away from the Amish lifestyle and now runs a shop out of his own place. He did my cockpit upholsetery on another boat several years ago and did a wonderful job. I took my dinette seating to him 2 years ago and my seats look GREAT!!! I get lots of compliments on them.

Johns' phone # is (419)929-1400.

If you want to get to Jonas's farm, email me at mtmullins9@excite.com
I'll get you there.
 
Man, Doublenutz, that 260 is beautiful. I hope I get mine to look that good some day.
Back to the original topic of stripes, 3M makes a rubber wheel for removing vinyl graphics from automotive paint. I have used them to remove the 30 year old graphics from my hull. Use the wheel to buff off the vinyl, then use 3M's vinyl adhesive remover spray to take off the sticky stuff. Just be careful not to burn the gel coat. I bought the wheels on eBay.
 
I did my bootstripe & deckstripe in vinyl back in 2002. 6 years later it still looks pretty good but there are a few nicks in the bootstripe, probably from sticks in the water. If you trailer the boat you might prefer paint but if it is slipped all the time vinyl is the bomb.
 
I recently took all the stripes off my 260 weekender. Took a long time but 3m sells a product just for this. It looks like a big eraser that attaches to a drill then you just rub it off. This weekend I'm gonna finish buffing above the rub rail then apply my new 2 inch vinyl.
It is all a PITA-should have paid someone to do it. I did get my v-berth and dinnete reupolstered/cushioned. Expensive but well worth it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,154
Messages
1,427,384
Members
61,060
Latest member
Danileo
Back
Top