Florida Bistro Enjoys Clear Sailing With Building Sign from Don Bell Co.

City officials in New Smyrna, FL built a new marina, to accommodate the region’s burgeoning boat traffic, with such amenities as 31 boat slips, 21 Key West-style cottages and an expansive, dry-dock facility. To further enhance visitors’ experience ashore, the city contracted with restaurateur Ian Carrey to develop Outriggers Tiki Bar & Grille, which features dining options from a la carte tacos to grass-fed Midwestern steaks.

Although turf is on the menu, the eatery’s sign emphasizes surf. The city hired Don Bell Signs (Port Orange, FL) to create a nautically themed, on-premise statement. Using FlexiSign 8.5 software, Don Bell’s Chris Panariti developed the design, a silhouette of a fishing troller – and of course, an outrigger, an extending device used to enable a fishing boat to cast wider lines.

Fabricators Jared Day, James Kroos, John Livengood and Nicole Rhodes welded the boat and outrigger from 0.090-in.-thick aluminum that’s MIG-welded with a Miller Electric Mfg. Co. MillerMatic 220 system. The primary letters, which comprise 0.090-in.-thick aluminum, were fashioned on the shop’s MultiCam 3000 CNC router, and painted with Matthews acrylic-polyurethane paint. The secondary text was CNC-routed from 15-lb. PrecisionBoard® HDU laminated to an MDO backing layer.

To illuminate the letters, Don Bell installed US LED amber-colored modules inside the letters. Onsite, installers Aaron Highers, Rob Lloyal, Andrew Simso and Jimmie White secured the sign components by accessing the roof with a bucket lift, drilling into the surface with DeWalt power tools, and securing them to the roof façade with Fastenal hardware.