Making a spray paint stencil

[CarvedTones]

I am going to paint my sail boat soon and when I finish, I will finally put a name on it (Kohanna - means "little flower" in Japanese and kind of has my youngest daughter Hannah's name hidden in there), put the license numbers back on and make a reasonable facsimile of the original label ("Newport 17") by making stencils. At least that's my plan. Any recommendations for material to use to make stencils? The surface I need to put them on will be near flat but not perfectly flat.

Thanks!

 

[Mike Davis]

I would make a very good tracing and take it to a sign shop. They can cut vinyl letters and show you how to adhere them to the boat. It will look better, take less time, last longer and be easier to remove if you ever need to.

If you insist on doing it your self, use self adhesive vinyl shelving paper, adhere it to the boat, cut the letters out, spray, wait for the paint to tack up but not dry completely, then peel the vinyl off. That's how I used to do the lettering on company trucks and cars.

Or I could come over and brush the lettering on, I don't think I've lost the touch.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Ditto what Mike said.

Since you will likely paint your boat again in a few years, I would use vinyl lettering for everything- it holds up surprisingly well and can be done in any color. Sign shops can do all the lettering on a single sheet of vinyl using a computer driven cutter so the letter (and logo, etc.) alignment and spacing is perfect (unlike in the pics below where I applied one letter at a time :embaresse ) and it all stays together for easy application. They can likely do a stencil the same way if you are determined to paint it. A local sign shop quoted me $35 for two sets of 12" high, 5 digit, black vinyl, sail numbers for my Hobie Cat.

I stenciled the sail storage tube ("Storpedo") I made for my Hobie Cat trailer using store-bought vinyl letters and logos I cut out of vinyl shelf liner. Since I was going to paint the green PVC tube gray anyway, I did it a bit different. I first sprayed light gray in the area where I wanted the stenciling. I let that dry thoroughly, then applied the vinyl letters and logos. I sprayed over everything in a dark gray. When the dark gray was tacky I peeled off the vinyl, revealing the lighter gray stenciling.

 

[CarvedTones]

The alignment is one of the issues I am concerned about. I got a quote of about $60 for what I need done, but I wasn't sure that was with the alignment backer (is that "screed"? something like that).

 

[RandyJ]

If you insist on doing it your self, use self adhesive vinyl shelving paper, adhere it to the boat, cut the letters out, spray, wait for the paint to tack up but not dry completely, then peel the vinyl off.

Hi Mike,
If you apply the vinyl then cut, how do you cut the letters out without damaging the finish on the vehicle/boat?:dontknow: Is it a trade secret? Will you have to kill me if you tell me???
Inquiring minds want to know...at least this confused mind wants to know!

Thanks

 

[CarvedTones]

If I understand him correctly, he is suggesting that I not do this, but it sounds like that you would samage the finish only where you were removing vinyl; where you will spray paint, which is new finish.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

The alignment is one of the issues I am concerned about. I got a quote of about $60 for what I need done, but I wasn't sure that was with the alignment backer (is that "screed"? something like that).

$60 sounds about right for what you described. I would think that would include whatever is used to hold it all together/aligned. The sign guy would supply my sail numbers that way. I think they cut the vinyl, then put a piece or strips of tape across the top to hold everything together/aligned until application.

It is possible to carefully pry the vinyl up at the edges with a razor blade or other sharp object held at a low angle to the surface. I think Randy is talking about damage to the boat's surface that would be caused by Mike's method of cutting out the letters after the vinyl sheet (or shelf paper) has been applied to the boat.

 

[Mike Davis]

One think at a time, I'm a slow thinger. :rotflm:


At the sign shop they will set up the computer art, cut the letters, peel the waste vinyl then apply a carrier sheet.

When you are ready to apply the letters you will align the letters, you can see them through the carrier sheet it is translucent, tape the top edge so it stays in place, spray a mixture of 10% windex and water (NO AMMONIA very important) on the boat so you can make adjustments, start at the top corner and peel back part of the paper backing sheet, peel down and out from under the letters and backing sheet while squeegeeing the letters down to the substrate.

Sounds complicated but a 6 year old can do it with 10 minutes practice.


OK, now the secret to cutting live stencils in situ.

BE VERY CAREFUL to cut only the stencil and not the paint. The knife has to be surgically sharp and you have to feel the stencil cutting and the drag of the adhesive just before the knife cuts the paint. This is a skill that is developed with weeks or months of practice. Don't try this on your Daddy's Cadillac!

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

I saw a video on Youtube or somewhere, just as you described it.

 

[CarvedTones]

I am leaning toward getting the vinyl, but here are a couple of thoughts that had me thinking of painting...

I don't know how likely it is that I will repaint soon. The boat is 30 years old and I will be painting over the factory gel coat (which is way too "tired" to just buff out). I do think it likely that it will need touching up from time to time from minor scrapes and whatnot. A lot of time those scrapes tend to come at dock heights, which is where the letters are. If they were painted, they could be touched up if needed.

The name on the transom will be just above the swim ladder; not exactly a low traffic area.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Something else to consider- you can fix lettering and stripes with paint. The original black and gray stripes on my '86 Hobie 16 were really faded and somewhat scratched. Rather go through all the hassle to remove them, I just painted over them. The existing stripes provided an excellent reference edge making it easy to mask. I painted one stripe at a time and just sprayed them with rattle can enamel- came out great. The stripe and space widths are all uniform though it doesn't look it in the pic.

 

[CarvedTones]

The factory model name labels were like a bumper sticker that was mostly clear but had yellowed; so they were less like individual letters and the yellowed clear coat wasn't a good surface for paint. My registration numbers are the regular off shelf stick on type. I never thought about touching them up (they didn't need it yet; I got new numbers when I bought the boat last year).

I think I will go with vinyl; I just posted my thoughts in case it made one of you guys who talked me out of painting see it differently.

 

[Mike Davis]

Check with the sign shop and see if there is a discount for getting multiple copies made. Hold a set in reserve in case you need to replace part or all of them.

I think you be be far ahead in time if not cash at the end of the day.