Vinyl Wrap Your Sailboat

My 1985 S2 6.9 sailboat needed a little face lift. The hull of the boat had been buffed out several times but it still did not shine enough for my liking.  I never really liked the red boot stripe so I decided to give it a new look.  As a DIY kind of guy I thought I could maybe paint it but that would involve days of sanding, priming and painting.

Before Picture

I was starting to see alot of boats with cool graphic on them and with a little research I found vinyl wrap was being used to wrap boats of all sizes. You may have seen all these bass boats with cool graphics of all their sponsors. I was not going to get that crazy but I thought vinyl might work.

I went to Amazon of course and found a couple 25 foot rolls of VIVID white carbon fiber wrap on sale for $150. I purchased some edge tape, edge sealer and a few application tools and was ready to go.


















I next went to YouTube University and watched a few videos to learn some finer points of vinyl wrapping.  I found out that I also needed a heat gun and a lazer thermometer device to help in the application.

Starboard Side Vinyl draped

I started by cleaning the hull and wiping it down with acetone. I then applied the cutting tape along the waterline at the bottom of the boat. This would be used to cut the vinyl once it was applied.

I then draped the wrap along the hull hanging it from the toe rail. I started in the middle of the hull where it was fairly flat. I cut the backing paper every few feet (prior to hanging it) and started to pull and squeegee the vinyl onto the hull working toward the back of the boat. Where the hull is rounded I used the heat gun to heat the vinyl up slightly and pulled it to form around these areas. This takes some practice to learn how much to heat and pull making sure not to deform the vinyl.

I worked the vinyl up into the groove where the toe rail meets the hull and up and over the toe rail. I came back with a box cutter knife to cut it along the bottom of the toe rail.  This area was then sealed with some clear silicone to keep it from working loose.

I worked the rest of the vinyl towards the front of the boat. It got easier near as I got away from the belly of the boat towards the front where it got flatter. I then wrapped the vinyl around the bow of the boat. I also worked the vinyl down over the waterline and the cutting tape.

I then pulled the string out of the end of the cutting tape and pulled it along the waterline cutting the vinyl. This worked out very well in cutting it accurately along the waterline. I suppose you could try cutting it with a knife but it would be very difficult to do it accurately. The tape is the way to go.

I then used the heat gun to heat up the complete surface of the vinyl to activate the glue and seal it on the hull. I used the laser thermometer to make sure it was heated up according to the manufacturers specs.

Added stainless bow guard

I bought some 3M vinyl accent tape to add some sheer and boot stripes to the boat. I tried several combinations and spacings before I found some I liked. I used a combination of one inch and two inch tape. After carefully measuring I applied the tape to the vinyl wrap. The vinyl accent tape also sealed the bottom of the wrap along the waterline nicely.

Aft Starboard striping

Bow registration numbers

Completed Starboard side with new name JollyMon

Seams in the vinyl were needed on the front and back of the boat. There are techniques to overlap in some cases and butt the vinyl seems in others. Check YouTube for some vinyl application techniques. I also bought some seam sealer to seal up the butt seams.

New finished look

On the water

It was the first time I had ever wrapped anything. I think it turned out great and I am very happy with it. It is vinyl so you have to be careful not to hit the dock with it or it will tear and make a mark. With a few tools and some practice it turned out to be a fun project to quickly improve the look of the boat on a budget.  If I don't like it in a few years I can pull it off and do another color if I like.

Sail On /)
Mark