Dressing up your boat

[Ben Fuller]

I like to paint yaks and most of mine have non factory decks with single part poly.....

But I just found something new: tape. Seems you can get duct tape in great colors, fluorescent, non fluorescent. One inch wide stuff is what you need for turning that boring black strip joining hull and deck into something snappy. Two inch tape lets you put on hull stripes, something that works for chine boats. Tape is sold in rolls big enough to do a bunch of boats or peel and stick as the fancy strikes. The bright day glo stuff can also serious improve the visibility of paddle blades with out having to get out the day glo paint can which is what I have been doing. Check out Identi-Tape Inc. or www.identi-tape.com.

The fluorescent orange looks especially arresting on my all black boat.

Ben Fuller

North Bay

Nordkapp

Greenlander Pro

SOF

[jason]

I have been looking at different options of ways to make my boat more visible, (Once it makes it down from CA intact but thats for another day).

In my searches I have found a few different location with different products to make my boat more viable.

http://www.identi-tape.com/hi-intensity.htm

http://www.peak.org/~moco/ or more specifically the conspicuity tape http://www.peak.org/~moco/conspicuity.html

My ideal would be to find something that is very reflective and also glows in the dark like a remote control or clock dial.

-Jason

[Brian Nystrom]

Automotive pinstriping tape can also be used to dress up a boat. For a dual purpose stiping/protection tape, I've recently started using automotive tread tape. It's non-abrasive, but will protect the deck from scratches in high wear areas. There are pictures of it in the Deck Rigging album at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom

For those who don't want to hide the color of their deck, the tape is also available in clear. However, clear tape can be difficult to install without getting dirt, fingerprints, etc. on the adhesive side, so it looks best on medium to dark colored decks.

I've used prismatic reflective tape on paddles and there's no reason you couldn't use it on a boat, but I would thing that putting in on the fore deck could create an annoyance for the paddler on a sunny day. For nightime use, SOLAS reflective tape or the tapes used on trucks are probably the best. Reflective tapes now come in a wide variety of colors, including - believe it or not - black. That makes it possible to have an unobtrusive looking boat during the day that lights up like a Christmas tree at night, when a light is shined on it.

[jason]

I very much like how you protected the red boat, you have quite a few good Idea's I am going to definetly copy your "Paddle Re-entry protection" http://community.webshots.com/photo/74165007/209435033zjFdNO

Thanks -Jason