Buyers Guide – Vinyl hull wraps
You can’t always tell a boat that’s had its hull wrapped. It isn’t always about a big logo splashed across the bow or a riot of colour adorning the transom. An increasing number of boatowners are choosing to have a single colour applied and some even want a transparent film to protect the gelcoat beneath. So, although you might not be able to spot it, more and more boats around British waters have their topsides clad in vinyl.
Protection is the number one reason to spend the thousands of pounds required on the job. The vinyl film used is hard-wearing and sticks well, preserving the hull of the boat from small knocks and scrapes as well as the degradation caused by ceaseless UV attack. A one-shot wrap saves boats with colourful painted hulls the time and expense of getting a fresh paint job every few years, plus much of the maintenance required in between. But even for those with white gelcoat, the vinyl layer protects against that chalky effect created as the outer surface is changed by UV light.
Then there’s the appeal of having a brightly coloured hull. “I wanted my boat to stand out from other boats,” says Phil Lupton, who transformed his Hanse 325’s white glassfibre with a blue wrap from Grapefruit Graphics in Southampton. “I looked at painting, but wrapping gives you a better result at a much-reduced cost. Wrapping is also easy to replace and renew in the
