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It's be a several month long process, but I'm finally done with the graphics redo on my 209. I've always been a big fan of the original stars boats, but especially the 35th boat and the way the stars have "movement" on the hull. I was able to find a fellow TT member willing to trace the stars on his boat (thanks George!!), and Domed Numbers used those tracings to scan into their CAD software. They are now able to reproduce sets of the 35th stars for $250.
I also updated the large MasterCraft decals on the side and transom to match the white stars and choose not to put the "World Record Towboats" back on the transom. The biggest issue I had was that my boat is ceramic coated. So, just replacing the side/transom decals with stock would be no problem since there is no ceramic under them. But, the entire rest of the side had ceramic and not even blue tape would stick to it. I had to remove the ceramic coat by buffing and polishing the gelcoat. This is really the only way to get it off the gel. If you have ever done this, you know what a mess it makes. So, I masked off both above and below the red, and it worked great. Hit the gel with 3M finesse it (wool pad) and perfect it (foam pad), followed by an acetone wipe down on the areas where the decals would be.
Lining up the MasterCraft decals wasn't hard, just take pics before pulling them off to have reference points. One helpful trick I did was to lower the trailer jack until the bottom of the decal was level, then I knew that the new one would go back on level. Note that this does not mean the trailer is level.
Since I decided not to put the World Record Towboat back on the transom, there was some ghosting of those letters. That are had to be wet sanded 1000 and 1500 prior to buff/polish.
The stars on these boats are slanted on each side, and each is a different size. Domed did not mark them in order and they were printed in no order. It took a long time to sort them into the correct placement. I'm going to message them to suggest that marking them is done in the future. For the stars placement, it was a lot of measuring, trial and error, and measuring again. Since the hull drops down at the bow and stern, the distance from the star to the rub rail decreases as you move fore and aft of center. It looks a little wonky on the trailer, but makes total sense once the boat is in the water.
Once everything was done I hit the red with a new coat of the 3M marine wax, I'm not doing ceramic coat again.
Overall I'm super pleased with how it turned out.
I also updated the large MasterCraft decals on the side and transom to match the white stars and choose not to put the "World Record Towboats" back on the transom. The biggest issue I had was that my boat is ceramic coated. So, just replacing the side/transom decals with stock would be no problem since there is no ceramic under them. But, the entire rest of the side had ceramic and not even blue tape would stick to it. I had to remove the ceramic coat by buffing and polishing the gelcoat. This is really the only way to get it off the gel. If you have ever done this, you know what a mess it makes. So, I masked off both above and below the red, and it worked great. Hit the gel with 3M finesse it (wool pad) and perfect it (foam pad), followed by an acetone wipe down on the areas where the decals would be.
Lining up the MasterCraft decals wasn't hard, just take pics before pulling them off to have reference points. One helpful trick I did was to lower the trailer jack until the bottom of the decal was level, then I knew that the new one would go back on level. Note that this does not mean the trailer is level.
Since I decided not to put the World Record Towboat back on the transom, there was some ghosting of those letters. That are had to be wet sanded 1000 and 1500 prior to buff/polish.
The stars on these boats are slanted on each side, and each is a different size. Domed did not mark them in order and they were printed in no order. It took a long time to sort them into the correct placement. I'm going to message them to suggest that marking them is done in the future. For the stars placement, it was a lot of measuring, trial and error, and measuring again. Since the hull drops down at the bow and stern, the distance from the star to the rub rail decreases as you move fore and aft of center. It looks a little wonky on the trailer, but makes total sense once the boat is in the water.
Once everything was done I hit the red with a new coat of the 3M marine wax, I'm not doing ceramic coat again.
Overall I'm super pleased with how it turned out.
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