Association Forum - Boat Name Vendors and Size

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 25 Specific Forum

Boat Name Vendors and Size

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

pikelhed
Deckhand

Member Avatar

USA
1 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/21/2015 : 11:38:29

Hi Folks,

I am about ready to order Port and Starboard lettering for a new name and have 2 needs:

1. A good and reasonable vinyl lettering company recommendation - there are a LOT of them out there!

2. A recommended height and width for the name for my 1985 C25. The name is going to be "Sailvation". Does 4" height sound right?

Thanks Dennis in Sarasota

Edited by - on

islander
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2015 : 12:08:44

Many here have used these people, I myself. If your a member of the Association you can get a 20% discount from them.http://www.greatlettering.com/ As far as size that's really up to you and how bold you want the lettering to be. 4" is very small ( mine are 8"). I suggest taking a walk around a marina with a ruler and measure other boats and see what you would like. Keep in mine that the letter size is from the very top of the highest letter to the very bottom of the lowest letter. In my case from the top of the 'L' to the bottom of the 'P' spans 8"

Edited by - islander on 01/21/2015 12:39:43

Davy J
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1511 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2015 : 12:08:56

Welcome from another Suncoast Floridian.....

For my C25 and for my current boat I used BoatUS graphics. You can play around with their design function and add colors, shapes and effects till you're satisfied.

https://www.boatus.com/boatgraphics/lettering.asp?t=BoatName

I think 4" letters might be a bit small. I "think" the letters on my C25 were 7" tall and about 38" long. On my Gemini the letters are 9" tall and the length is 55". And as an example my hailing port letters are 3.25" tall.

Edited by - Davy J on 01/21/2015 12:37:14

islander
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2015 : 12:30:00

To give you another prospective this is my hailing port lettering and they are 4"

Edited by - on

Davy J
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1511 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2015 : 12:38:30

Playing around with the BoatUS design tool, I picked a random font and applied similar effects to mine. Came up with this:

You could spend all day trying out different effects. Don't ask me how I know........

Edited by - on

islander
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2015 : 12:43:23

quote:
You could spend all day trying out different effects

Oh yea

Edited by - on

OJ
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4382 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2015 : 12:45:29

If I am remembering correctly, the "O" below was ~9" tall. I printed out the name in 27+/- different fonts before making a final selection

As for vendors, there seems to be one on every street corner these days. You might look for one that deals with boat lettering as they may be more likely to carry a larger selection UV or fade resistant vinyl.

Good luck and post some pix!

Edited by - OJ on 01/21/2015 12:48:44

DavidBuoy
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
707 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2015 : 14:05:49

I believe mine were 24" long, might be 36" though... Hope that helps!

lol

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3367 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2015 : 15:07:27

Same as Davy, I went with Boat US Graphics. They are also in my neck of the woods. My lettering was applied end of 2005 and still looks fine !

Edited by - on

WesAllen
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
222 Posts

Response Posted - 01/21/2015 : 18:59:37

I used 6 inch letters and wish I had gotten 8 inch because of the top of letter to the bottom of some letters. I believe you about how long you can play around with the different fonts.

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3367 Posts

Response Posted - 01/22/2015 : 05:12:44

Wes,

You bring up a good point regarding size of lettering. A good boat graphics dept will work with the customer to ensure the lettering is of proper sizing. I recall when I was considering size and font, the thinking at the time was the bigger the font size the better - Many undersize the lettering. It is best to view font size on other boats and then determine what size lettering seems sufficient so that your boat name can be read from someone standing a good distance away from the boat (So that others can read your boat name while sailing.)

I recall using Boat US Graphics online program to select the font, color, size and spacing. After I ordered the lettering, I recall their Graphics Dept calling me to ensure that I was aware that the font I ordered had unusually long tails to some of the capital letters and so picking out an 8" font, for example, the "R" and the "N" in "Robin's Nest" would each actually be about 12" in height and not 8". The overall length via the online program was something like 54" ! They indicated the length could be shortened a bit even going with the same font size and still look satisfactory.....and so we experimented with some spacing that was not per the online program.

The result was that I did go with the font with some of the letters well over the font size but adjusted the spacing making the overall length a bit shorter than my original order. Also, thru the years, I had smudged one or two letters while docking and so I went down to their Graphics Dept (located not from me) and they cut me for free some matl (metallic Blue) to use for minor letter fixings.

Photo below was taken about 2 years ago when my blister repair job was completed: (Un fortunately, photo is a bit oversized but shows the lettering pretty good.)

Edited by - on

awetmore
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1144 Posts

Response Posted - 01/22/2015 : 07:42:55

These graphics are easy to make yourself if you know anyone with a computer controlled cutter. They are popular among the crafty/scrapbooking set. Silhouette and Cricut are two popular brands.

I bought my own (a Silhouette Cameo) and have found it to be fairly useful to own. It was around $200, so not cheap enough if you'll only ever make one set of boat graphics, but worth it if you have other uses.

Edited by - on

dasreboot
Admiral

Members Avatar

803 Posts

Response Posted - 01/22/2015 : 11:39:12

mine was great lettering as well. 2 color 6 inches with reg numbers. cost $60. That was during their black friday sale. we still get 20% off however.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.