Ausfish stickers/ boat names - not happy Jan

[searaider]

Brett_H ,
At least I know what you mean .
I found that when applying my Black skeleton style AusFish Fish Stickers , they were lifting of when trying to remove the top paper . Once I tried removing it at 45% to the parts of the sticker it was a bit tedious but worked fine . The 2 stickers are on flat sections of my Fiberglass Boat and have stuck like Sh#t to a blanket .
The Boat is 2 years old & I cleaned down the areas with Meto First ( worked fine , look great ). [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

Peter
Searaider 2

[sir_noelus]

Well I don't know what to say any more. I've never heard of a vinyl sign being left on overnight, but am prepared to listen to anyone who knows more than me. My stickers are gold. The boat is alluminium which I recently sprayed using etch primer and epoxy enamel (no stranger to either of those products) The paint was lightly rubbed down with 600 wet paper, washed with Prepsol, then wiped over again with metho. I had close to a litre of clean water with three drops of Cussons Morning Glory detergent in it, which I sprayed to the area. The waxed paper came off OK and the stickers were applied. It was about an hour before I believed it was right to remove the adhesive paper. Then the **** hit the fan. It required so much physical effort to remove the adhesive paper that the vinyl was actually stretchind and distorting, and of course it was impossible to keep it on the boat. It took nearly an hour to remove each one and I believe that's ridiculous. I have never encountered anything like it before and have to accept that regardless of the experiences of others, I got a couple of duds. Noel

[sir_noelus]

I forgot to add that I peeled the paper of in a diagonal manner as requested and as I have done in other instances. Noel

[blueringin]

where can I get hold of some of those stickers,i live down south but wouldnt mind promoting the cause

[blaze]

hi sir_noelus
have found gold the worse color to work with, as mentioned above wet down your app tape after squeegying the sticker on
cheers
blaze

[lordy]

I've got the blue ones on my plastic portabote. No problems at all.

[Mudcrab]

I recently put two of the large Ausfish red skeleton looking stickers on my GRP boat. I used Acetone to clean the area, read all the instructions, had a tinny, looked at the hull for awhile, read the instructions again, had a second tinny and then got on with it!
I think that milking a mouse would have been much easier but it seems that taking your time is essential. I fought the brutes of things for hours but finally got them on OK and they stick like shit to a sheep's tail!

[Fitzy]

Stickers on my boats were put on as per instructions, not a problem getting them on & they havent moved yet. After doing several now I've noticed that it is easier to get the waxpaper off if you lay the whole thing down flat & curl the paper back at an acute angle. This helps to get those little sharp corners to stay on the masking tape where you want it. Always take your time & you'll get better results.

Cheers,
Fitzy..

[imported_admin]

It would appear that the main problem is that people are removing the application tape before all the water is removed from under it.

If the sticker is coming away from the surface when you remove the application tape then you need to leave it alone and let it dry. You have used too much water.

There is a fine line between the right amount and too much water when applying the stickers. All you need is a mist to be applied to the surface, about 1ml of water would be heaps to apply one Ausfish sticker.

Here is a copy of the text from the instructions

Depending on the amount of moisture you sprayed on the surface you will now need to wait for the surface to dry. About 30 minutes to an hour is a reasonable time, depending on the temperature.

Once you are satisfied that the sticker is dry you can remove the application tape. Carefully start peeling back the application tape from the front top corner on a diagonal. If the sticker stays on the application tape instead of staying on the surface this means it is not yet dry enough. If the sticker does lift just push it back down with your credit card as you did before. If it is dry enough just slowly remove the application tape on a diagonal keeping your hand that is pulling the application tape close to the surface so the application tape is nearly folding back on itself. Once removed you can discard the application tape.

[Fitzy]

Steve I've done a few without the "lubricant" (water). It is hard to fix any stuffups or air bubbles without it, but it is still possible to do. Think the water spray makes things far far easier.

fitzy..

[blaze]

been fitting them for 10 years now
when spraying with water it MUST be a fine mist and not droplets
when using the squeegie (credit card) you must apply pressureand squeegie the water out
if working on a vertical surface, work from the top down with your squeegie holding as much of the sticker off the surface as possible as you work your down (if the edges seal first the water will stay under the sticker
If you are working over a curved surface, you can use a heat gun to shrink and mould the sticker over the surface (with app tape removed) dont get them to hot but it is amazing how much you can shrink it
hope this added info helps some one, feel free to pm for indervidual help
I have no commercial interest in Ausfish
just trying to help
cheers
blaze

[sir_noelus]

Thanks Blaze, good to hear it's not always a piece of cake. I've put about 50 of these sort of stickers on for myself on other boats and for others in the past couple of years. Never had a problem before. No, I did not soak the adh paper and perhaps could have done. Never had need to before. Instructions should include that sort of thing when specifically sold to lay people. It's no good wetting the paper now, the stickers are on, albeit pretty temporarily I think. It appears I've done my dough and stuffed the whole thing. Steve' supplier should tell people if this can be a potential problem. Noel

[blaze]

Hi Sir_noelus
I was given no formally training in fitting them, gets worse if they are 5 to 600mm high or 5 to 6 meters long, still make stuff ups sometimes.
was asked to quote once on the wind towers at woolnorth to apply a banner with a 15 meter drop, I never quoted and the job wasnt done, so i figue, no one quoted.
we all learn by our stuff ups
cheers
blaze

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

i was a stickering virgin 18 months ago.

like fitzy, applied mine without lubricant, but followed instructions & peeled paper at acute angle.

18 months later, 3 boat names & two fish still look like sex - I'M A HAPPY CAMPER.

[Brett_Finger]

yep,
i have use the stickers from Steve for 5 years now on all my hulls, and it's all good for me.
Hookin,Brett