You’re staring at a sticker and at your boat. How, exactly, are you supposed to do this? Here’s how to apply bow numbers for regattas – foolproof, easy and in under a minute:
Prep the surface FIRST with acetone, or even window cleaner if needed. You want to remove salt, road dirt, McLube or other lubricants first.
Then, using the bow as a guideline, peel the top right or top left corner of the backing paper, exposing the sticky number and the transfer paper (tape). Press this onto the boat. Continue peeling and pressing at a 45 degree angle until the whole number is on the boat.
Press or burnish the number into the boat with your hand or a flat plastic object (a hotel key works great for this)
Peel the top transfer paper off
To REMOVE bow numbers from your boat:
If you’re just using them for a regatta, don’t wait til the end of the summer to do this. Do it soon after the regatta. If you need to, you can use a heat gun or hair dryer to warm up the vinyl, otherwise, a warm or sunny day will do the trick. Peel from the corner and pull the numbers off. You can use some acetone to remove any adhesive left over (usually they peel pretty clean off unless they’ve been on there a while.) You can also use Goo Gone adhesive remover if this is the case.