Boats are an expression of our personality. Our choice of a boat and its decoration, from the hull color to the name on the transom, says a lot about how we think of ourselves and how we want others to view us. And with the hull graphics available today, we can say more than ever.

Paul EsterleThe original artwork for the hull graphic to be created in vinyl. This desire to personalize our boats can be traced back to early sailing vessels, even warships. Vessels like the Vasa, a ship that was built for Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1626, sported elaborate carvings and vivid colors to demonstrate the power and majesty on display when the government built a vessel. Commercial and naval vessels from later periods were also decorated, making an art form of figure heads and trail boards.

These desires have carried over to the present day. While many production boats have a sameness, sporting vast expanses of white fiberglass, many companies have sprung up in recent years offering products allowing us to personalize our boats.

While wood carving has all but vanished, hand-painted transom décor has endured for decades and weather-resistant vinyl graphics, both generated and cut by computer, have flourished. They were at first limited to single color designs and later expanded their craft to provide multiple colors, shading, outlines and other effects. Today, if you can draw it, they can apply it to your boat.

Paul EsterleA final example of the proposed name and graphic. Printed out full size, it is ready to be taped to the boat as a trial run for the final project.ADDING GRAPHICS

My boat is a perfect example. I first named our small sailboat Ternabout back in 1985, but it wasn't until recently that I got around to displaying a name on the vessel. And I wanted more than just letters to adorn the stern.

After painting the hull, it cried out for some decent graphics. I looked at various suppliers of vinyl hull lettering. Frankly, I didn't think the cost of a custom, hand-painted graphic would be in Ternabout's price range, so I started looking at vinyl. There are a multitude of vinyl sign suppliers: local shops that do more than just boats, suppliers that hang out at boat shows and some available on the Internet.

Many online suppliers will allow you to design sample layouts with different fonts, colors and effects. I started using one of those sites, beginning with a red background similar to Ternabout's hull color. I then tried different colors for the letters to find the combination that would present best.

Some of the options offered, in addition to the font color, are borders around the letters and drop shadows. As I tried various combinations, I copied the samples to my computer and then printed them on my color inkjet printer.Paul EsterleA proposed layout taped to the hull for evaluation.

After I had exhausted all the likely combinations, I laid the most promising on the living room floor for comparison. There is a large selection of fonts available but many of them proved to be hard to read. Seeing the samples next to each other really helped narrow the field. In the end, a simple Arial font looked the best. White letters with black borders and a slant turned out to be the winning combination.

MEASURE FIRST

The next decision was the size of the letters. I had done vinyl lettering for one of our other boats and did it wrong. I ordered the lettering at a boat show, by memory, guessing at the sizes. I got the color right but the lettering was way out of proportion for the stern of the boat. I was determined not to make the same mistake.

This time I decided to apply the graphics to the aft sides of Ternabout's hull, as the stern was too crowded with the swim ladder, rudder and outboard motor and mount.

I scanned the original drawing I had made of some Tern heads into my computer and used it to generate a graphic to accompany the lettering. If you don't have a computer drawing program, good old-fashioned paper and markers will do the trick.

I used that graphic in conjunction with a banner program (the kind used to make signs for birthdays and other occasions) to print out samples in varying sizes. I then taped the samples to the hull and stood back to evaluate the sizing. As it turned out, four-inch high letters with a graphic sized to match worked best.Paul EsterleThe name in vinyl letters, drying on the hull.

I then packed off the samples and the graphics to my lettering vendor. I asked for a quote and delivery time. The website I used gave the cost of the base lettering, but the graphic required a custom quote.

INSTALLATION

Installation of simple vinyl graphics like these is straightforward. The first thing I did was wash the hull with soap and water to make sure all dirt, grease and wax had been removed.

The graphics came in several pieces. The boat's name was separate from the custom graphic, and each would be installed separately.

The vinyl comes on a paper carrier strip and is covered on top with another protective strip. I placed the boat name upside down, on a flat surface, and peeled off the paper backing. I had filled up a spray bottle with water and a little dish soap and sprayed this on the back of the graphic.

I also sprayed the hull where the boat name would go. While both the hull and the name were still wet, I placed the name in its proper location. The soapy water under the vinyl allowed me to slide it around until I was pleased with the exact location.Paul EsterleThe finished installation, both graphic and lettering.

Once the name was in place, I secured it with several pieces of masking tape. The graphics came with a plastic squeegee that was used to finish the installation. I used this squeegee to squeeze out all the water from between the vinyl and the hull and to ensure there were no air bubbles underneath the vinyl.

After thoroughly working over the letters, I let the name dry for an hour. This allowed the vinyl to bond to the hull. Once it was dry, I peeled off the top protective layer, folding it back 180 degrees and slowly pulling it away from the letters. I used the same procedure to install the tern's head graphic.

Installation was quick, only the drying time took any appreciable wait. The result is a custom boat name and a custom graphic – something completely unique to our boat.

COSTS

BoatU.S. has a web site that allows you to experiment with the layout of your graphics. Some of the options are type styles, letter outlines and colors, gradients (colors changes from bottom to top) and letter slants and arcs. The cost of two boat names, for port and starboard, was about $125. The cost of the graphic varies widely, depending if it is a stock design or a custom one. I did the graphic and supplied it to BoatUS, which in turn charged $54, for a total cost of $179.