Walleye pro-angler Jason Kerr, from Holly, Michigan, picked up new sponsors for this season-Z-man Fishing and Renosky Lures-that wanted their branding to appear on his boat during tournaments. While boat wraps are common on the Bass circuit in the south, they're less common in the north and Kerr was told that the nearest boat-wrap shop was in Florida. Luckily, a friend of Kerr's had seen the vehicle wraps executed by Great Gazebo in Morrice, Michigan, and suggested he contact them.
An angler himself, Great Gazebo owner Joe McAninch was thrilled to take on this project. The sponsoring companies provided their logos and high-res images of a lure and Kerr's tournament-winning walleye, then turned over creative control to Great Gazebo's graphics department. To accurately create the wrap, Kerr provided the custom-made 2008 Ranger 620VS so the staff could make detailed measurements. The graphics team developed the wrap by combining the provided images and adding special effects and layers in Photoshop. The customer signed off on the design.
Production
Once it had received approval, Great Gazebo printed the wrap in four 24-inch wide sections of MacTac Imagin B-free Pro (JT5529BFDPro). It took 12 hours to print the 250 square feet of graphics using its Mimaki JV3-160S with Triangle inks, imaging at 720 x 720 dpi in unidirectional mode. The shop also printed some extra sponsor logos that were contour cut and applied to the trailer and on the back of the boat. Once printed, the graphics were protected by applying MacTac's Rayzor overlaminate with a Daige laminator.
Next came the install-a first for Great Gazebo's vehicle-install team. With multiple convex/concave sections on the molded fiberglass hull that are not common on land vehicles, this wrap proved to be very challenging indeed. The wrap took three Great Gazebo installers 30 hours to complete.
After application, the company added a bead of clear silicone on the graphic seams and exposed edges to protect them from the punishing water and sun, as well as the wind produced by traveling at 60 to 70 mph.
Comment
'One of the big differences between a boat and a car are the supertight convex/concave areas that are molded into the Ranger's fiberglass body. And this boat had three on each side. We had to be very careful to make sure the graphics got down into those areas,' says McAninch.
The Client
Z-Man Fishing, angler Jason Kerr, Renosky Lures
The Players
Great Gazebo (www.greatgazebo.com)
Tools & Supplies
Mimaki JV3-160S, Triangle inks, MacTac Imagin JT5529BFDPro, MacTac Rayzor laminate, Daige laminator.