We Vinyl-Wrapped 59 Toyota Tundras and Stripped Them All One Week Later

DECADES AGO, WE designed, printed and installed the first boat wrap on the planet, essentially inventing the boat wrap industry! Amid doubts that it could even be done (and be durable), we wrapped a 38-ft. Wellcraft Scarab offshore boat in a wild color scheme using 3M vinyl. This was so long ago, 3M hadn’t even invented its first roll of 8518 high-gloss lamination yet! “Luster Lam” was all we had. You remember that far back in the day?

You see, we had spent the previous several years doing $35,000 custom airbrushed paint jobs on offshore race boats, while simultaneously wrapping vehicles right next to these behemoth vessels. We’d have multiple 42-ft. Nor-Tech Hi Performance boats in the shop at any given time, and let me tell you, custom painting 900-plus sq. ft. of fiberglass takes a long time to accomplish. We’re talking 10-12 weeks of straight labor, wet sanding, buffing, etc. — and specialty work like that severely limited which employees could even do the work.

Add the fact we (only) had a 6,000-sq.-ft. facility, they gobbled up warehouse space like PAC-MAN devouring dots! I can still hear Rick Ream bitchin’, “This is a sign shop, not a marina! I’m tired of moving these boats around every day!”

And he was right. It was sucking the life out of us, but we knew it “could be” a viable business if we could figure a way to make it easier. So I said, “Let’s wrap a boat.” People lost their minds. Nope! Can’t wrap a boat! Even 3M echoed those sentiments. But way back then we showed it not only could be done, but we also acted as a catalyst for an entire new segment of wrapping! (We even helped 3M write their two-year marine wrap warranty.)

But we didn’t stop at race boats. The City of Kissimmee, FL, had us wrap a bass boat for a tournament they were sponsoring, which led to an introduction to the B.A.S.S. Bassmaster Elite Series (founded 2006), and the rest is history. For 17 years now, we have wrapped approximately 50 bass boats per year, usually concentrated in December and January, before the tournament kicks off. We travel to Bass Pro Shops’ headquarters in Springfield, MO to do many of these.

Advertisement

But we didn’t stop at bass boats either. We also handle all the Toyota Tundra graphics for the first tournaments of the season. (Toyota is a huge sponsor of bass tournaments.) Each year we send our wrap crew to whatever city is hosting the Bassmaster Classic, the world’s most prestigious professional bass-fishing tournament.

This year’s trip took them to Knoxville, TN. The crew drove up Sunday, March 19 with over 2,000 sq. ft. of printed and die-cut vinyl (3M IJ180Cv3, with UV Gloss Overlaminate 8518). Once at the location, they spent Monday through Wednesday installing these partial-wrap graphics on 59 brand new Toyota Tundras, a couple Priuses and a registration kiosk. Yep, I said fifty-nine Tundras — the “Weigh-In Trucks” used at tournament’s end to tow the anglers’ boats into the convention center, weigh their hauls of largemouth bass and determine the victor!

Once complete, our wrap pros, Pete, Jon and Tyler, spent the next few days enjoying the town: fishing, hiking, sightseeing — a mini vacation. But all that ended the evening of Sunday, March 26, as those vehicles returned, their advertising assignment for the 2023 Classic complete. The guys stripped $50K worth of 3M vinyl off the trucks and sent them right back to the dealership lots!

While this may seem a significant cost, weighed against the worldwide exposure the Bassmaster Classic Event commands every year, it’s all part of the plan.

PHOTO GALLERY (5 IMAGES)

Advertisement