What you need to know about vinyl boat registration numbers

Vinyl Boat Registration Numbers

One of the first things a new boat owner must do before they go on their first ride is to apply their new vinyl registration numbers. Now I know the new boat owners may think it’s more important to put their vinyl lettering on their new boat for their name and port, but your vinyl registration numbers are an equivalent to your license plate on your car. So, if you don’t have them on, you could be fined by your local police and coastguard.

A couple of pointers on those vinyl registration numbers are;

• You first must take off the old vinyl registration numbers that were on the boat (that is if you did not purchase a new boat). The vinyl registration numbers are located on both sides of the bow or front of the boat.

• Make sure your vinyl boat registration numbers are 3 inches high

• Your new vinyl boat registration numbers should be block letters, in other words no fancy fonts. Your vinyl letters and numbers should be in one of the following fonts; Ariel, Helvetica, Avant Garde or something like them.

• Here is one a lot of new boat owners miss; your vinyl registration numbers/letters should be contradicting colors, in other words dark to light.

For example, if you have a dark colored boat, then your vinyl registration numbers/letters should be a light color. However, if your boat is white or light colored, the vinyl numbers and letters should be dark colored. If you use dark vinyl letters on a dark colored boat, they will be hard to read and you could be fined as a result.

To remove any vinyl numbers or letters(whether it be registration numbers or just the name of the boat), the best thing to use is a hair dryer. Use the hair dryer or (DO NOT DO THIS AS BOAT IS IN WATER)over vinyl (move back and forth) after a few seconds you should be able to start peeling the vinyl off. Then after the vinyl is off, clean the surface with a cleaner such as Windex, you might have to use a compound or a buffing wheel to get heavy dirt off.

There might be something after you take the old vinyl registration numbers and letters off. If it is not sticky or a film it is what’s known in the vinyl lettering world as “ghosting”. There is nothing you can do about this aside from painting the boat. However, your new vinyl letters and numbers should cover most of this.

So get those new vinyl registration numbers on your boat and get sailing or motoring!