Paint or Vinyl pinstriping?

[Cpt. Jon]

Hi all,

I've been trolling these forums a while, and now have a question so I created an account. I own a Hunter 25.5 and don't really like the colors of it. When I bought it, the previous owner said he thought the same thing and always wanted to remove the old fading vinyl striping and when he got a sail cover, roller furling, bimini, tiller cover, winch covers, and lifeline covers, he did them all in pacific blue planning for the future.

Well, we've owned the boat a few seasons, and I finally started removing the vinyl striping that above deck and will remove the striping on the hull when we haul in the spring. I want to either paint or put new vinyl striping on the boat and wonder if anyone has experience with this. I would think that some new vinyl striping would be the easiest, but I guess I worry about the adhesiveness of it a little or wonder if there are other things I should be worried about. With paint, I would worry about cracking, chipping etc and having to touch up all the time.

Here is basically what the boat looks like now, with the exception of the sunbrella is all pacific blue and not maroon. http://www.stationr.org/water/images/Hunter255/anchor.jpg

And attached is a picture or what I think I want to make it look like.

 

[GKuffner]

Paint or Vinyl pinstriping

I think that you can't go wrong with either paint or vinyl, but I do think that vinyl would be the easiest to do in terms of finding a company to do it. I just had a guy put the name and registration number on my boat in vinyl this year and he was able to match the lettering to the existing colors. I was concerned about durability but after a year and some tight rubs between the dock and fenders the vinyl still looks like new. I think that redoing your pin-striping is one of the best ways to freshen up a boat. Conversely I think that one of the easiest ways to tell the age of a boat is to look at how faded the pin-stripes and other colors are on the boat.

Gary

 

[Tim R.]

I would go with the paint. This is the easier of the 2 options to DIY. Remove the existing striping, compound and polish the entire topsides, mask off where you want the new stripes and apply(roll and tip) using a 2 part Urethane like Interlux Perfection. If you ever need to redo, the paint will come off easier than the vinyl. Paint is also easier to repair. If you gouge the vinyl, you will have to replace the entire piece to make it look right(fading and seams wise).

Painting also lets you make it look "correct" easier. Proper boot stripes are not uniform. they change width as they wrap under the curves of the hull. When you look at the boat from afar, they should look even.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Paint or vinyl, excellent question.

Having done both too many times you would think I might know the answer. Nada, nein, nope. I think, though, that I lean toward paint. Even if I do get the vinyl for free from a good friend who works for 3M.

If you like the original and they are multiple stripes then painting is a slow go. The vinyl stripes on my H37C were part of a complete topside refurbishing. I don't have pictures of how bad they look after one transit of the Erie Canal. However I do have some of the roll left and can piece in sections that will not be too noticeable. I do like that it captures the original look. Painting those would have been a real bear.

I think for one solid stripe that paint is the way to go. The really hard part, at least for me, is getting the masking tape straight and parallel. In October I repainted my bootstripe. That's 74 feet of tape on each side! By the time you get it taped you are too tired to paint. Paint her and good luck.

 

[Stu Jackson]

How To sources

The trick, however you plan to do it, is going to be keeping it level and as noted at the stern. Don Casey's "This Old Boat" book, I recall, has a How To on this. You could also Google "bootstripe" and find material on line. Good luck.

 

[Bob Poff]

I would paint the stripes.

On my boat the stripes, name/port, and the graphic (one each quarter) you see in my avatar were done in vinyl. After a few years in the sun, the vinyl has now started to curl along the edges.

I'd think that UV would have much less an effect on paint.

 

[Tim R.]

A laser level can help you to both get the stripes straight and the shape right. You use the WL as a reference and then move the level up to the low spot and tape, then up to the high spot and tape again. You will have to do the boat in sections but this method should help you get it right. I did this to estblish a WL on my CD10 dinghy after marking the hull at the bow and stern when floating.