Ted Porter, who owns and operates a series of competitive-racing hydroplanes, purchased two hulls that had formerly been part of the “Miss Budweiser” hydroplane racing fleet, which was first branded in 1963 with the beer brand’s logo. The hydroplanes Porter purchased were originally constructed as the T5 for Bernie Little’s 1998 Miss Budweiser team. The hulls have undergone numerous rebuilds and overhauls, and Porter wanted new graphics for the hydroplane, which has since been rechristened U-7. Last year, the newly wrapped planes competed in the H1 Air Guard Championship, which was sponsored by Degree for Men deodorant in San Diego.
Porter hired Road Rage Designs (Chicago) to produce graphics for the U-7. Kristin Harris, Road Rage’s co-owner and vice president, said Road Rage met Porter at a boat show and viewed the boats firsthand last winter before signing a contract to perform the graphic installation during the summer. After having removed the decals from the prior application, the staff prepped the hull with a soap-and-water wash and isopropyl-alcohol coating. Road Rage designer Amy Pease crafted the design using Adobe Illustrator.
“One of the biggest challenges of the job was making sure the 850-sq.-ft. wrap provided no edges that could be lifted from the force of racing through water at approximately 200 mph,” Harris said. “When wrapping boats, we take an extra, proprietary step that makes the graphics more secure.”
She continued, “Also, it was tough to decide where to begin on the wrap. The boat’s surface is enormous; there are no straight lines, and every surface curves. We had to remove the engine-intake cover to wrap the top of the boat, and we used a laser level to make sure the graphics aligned. Also, to make installation more manageable, we printed the boat graphics in sections instead of producing the conventional panels.”
Road Rage printed the graphics on Avery’s MPI 1005 Easy Apply RS SC air-release vinyl (according to Avery, the project entailed the first hydroplane wrap completed in the U.S.). The shop produced the job on its Mimaki JV5-130 with HS full-solvent inks, which were needed to give the required color “pop” due to the conditions the wrap would face. To protect the job against harsh exposure to sun, saltwater and other potential hazards, Road Rage laminated the graphics using Avery’s DOL 1360 glossy topcoat, which it applied with its GBC Arctic Titan 64-in.-wide laminator.
Harris said there are plans to rewrap the U-7s. However, one of them is in Dubai – hydroplane racing enjoys far more popularity in the Middle East – and there are no plans to ship it back to the U.S. A testament to customer satisfaction, she said Porter may fly Road Rage installers to Dubai to install the wrap.