Kayak Nose Art

Here's something I did back in August in honor of Dan's Shark Attack and the Discovery Channel's Shark Week.  I showed it off at Elk, but it didn't last.  I used adhesive tape that wasn't sticky enough.  I guess I'll just have to paint it on next time.

I've seen things like stickers, decals, and screen names like "MOOCH" and "FisHunter" on the nose of other yaks.

Let's start a thread of interesting kayak nose art pics here.  If you got'em...post'em here:

Awesome!

allen

I was just thinking about stickers on kayaks today.  How do you apply stickers to kayaks and keep them there?  Does the water wear them off? Or do you coat the stickers with something to keep them on? 

Chuck, I wish I would have thought of the WWII type teeth on the bow first.  It looks awesome!

I've been looking for a way to apply my avatar logo to my first kayak.

The Hobie w/ Zeelander graphic.
Now on to the Xfactor... 

I want to paint my Hobie to look like a Spitfire some day (Winter project). 
-Matt (HobieSport)

Hmmm ... that looks pretty cool!

The Hobie w/ Zeelander graphic.
Now on to the Xfactor... 

Zee... that's a sweet graphic.  How did you produce the decals?

What about painting the bottom to look like a school of chovies.
Chuck are those urchins on your fence?

Was that set of teeth meant to ward off sharks or imply, "LET'S GET IT ON!"

Early in the salmon season, when I was heading out of Moss in the dark, I wanted something that the PBs could see better than my dark green Prowler with a tiny 360 light and headlamp.
 So I took some vinyl shelf "paper" and painted it yellow (not a lot of good color choices in shelf paper) with vinyl spray paint and cut out 4" circles and pressed them to the yak.  The first attempt failed to stick, but after that, I'd wipe the yak off good with denatured alcohol and apply the circles, then heat them with a blow dryer and press them on harder.  I put them on the part of the side that is smooth, not pebbled, like the top.

Most of them stayed on all summer, and a couple came halfway off and I glued them with contact cement.  They get scratched and torn as I move the yak around either on launches or landings or cleaning it off in the drive, etc.  That's the reason I used small circles - I could replace them easily.
   I checked Kinko's and they had some decal material in wide rolls, and maybe it would stick better, but I haven't tried it.
   Zee or anyone else who's had some luck with something else, please let us know what it is. 
I don't want to get arty until I know it's going to stick better. The black NCKA decals stuck pretty well, and Great White decals were 50-50, but I don't think I heated those on.

The Hobie w/ Zeelander graphic.
Now on to the Xfactor... 
Zee... that's a sweet graphic.  How did you produce the decals?

Thanks Chuck. I actually sketched out the design w/ a Sharpie (they erase super easy) and then went over it again w/ a model paint pen. The paint pen kind of worked but I sprayed about 7 layers of clear coat over it to try and seal it up. It chipped when I knocked it against something but like Mol said, chicks'll dig it. Luckily it's in a place that doesn't get much contact so it's lasted for over a year.

There has to be a better way but so far from what everyone has been saying nothing really holds. The only thing that has worked for me so far have been certain stickers that have a good industrial adhesive on them. I think that route is the best bet since paint needs to semi melt the paint to stick well and our super linear polyethylene is just too waxy of a plastic even if it does melt.

Z

I used a HIGH-TECH, Xtra-FAT  *ElMarko!!  first dryrun w/pencil and then ClearCoated it(areosole can)

note.....I want the set of Jaws&Teeth ala chuckE for my next layer. 

Flames over fiberglass




I'm not sure anything would stick to poly very well.  Because of the rotomolding process the materials used need to be able to release from the mold easily thus the "greasy" nature of the plastic yak.  I think the market is ready for some limited runs of impregnated custom artwork though.

I'm gonna look into the various adhesion promoters and painting processes out there and see if I can come up with something that'll stick.

I've been thinking about decorating the 'yak, too. Following the report of Dan's encounter, I thought about painting the bottom of the boat to look like an Orca. I will let you know how that goes . . .

John

Go to Orchard Supply and get the glow in the dark letter stickers. They stay on there for quite a while. Make sure you clean the surface area before you adhere the stickers. I made the mistake of not cleaning the area and lost one letter "O" from "MOOCH".

I think it's good to be able to have some sort of identification on everyone's kayak. We mostly paddle in groups but tend to separate at times. If we happen to came across a kayak with no one on it, at least we can identify who we are looking for.

It's interesting to note that while larger boats seem to have a seperate identity, (usually female) and name, kayaks are associated with the paddler... 

Our yaks are part of us, in other words, instead of a seperate entity.