Rockin’ the Boat
During the First World War, the British Navy developed a ship-decorating technique called “dazzle.” Comprising complex patterns of geometric shapes in contrasting colors, the goal of dazzle—which was later adopted by the U.S. Navy—was to create kind of a
During the First World War, the British Navy developed a ship-decorating technique called “dazzle.” Comprising complex patterns of geometric shapes in contrasting colors, the goal of dazzle—which was later adopted by the U.S. Navy—was to create kind of a giant floating optical illusion, and thus making it difficult for enemy vessels to accurately target a Royal Navy ship, or even gauge what direction the ship was moving.
Flash forward 100 years or so, and a new kind of “dazzle” has hit the high seas: a gold vinyl-wrapped yacht.
Over the years, I have written about print service providers that specialize in car wraps, truck wraps, bus and train graphics, even speedboat graphics. UK-based LuxWrap specializes in a highly exclusive and specific niche: yacht graphics.
“Our focus is on delivering a top-tier wrapping service to top-tier clients,” said a LuxWrap spokesperson.
Like just about every graphics provider, LuxWrap has to be able to offer fast-turnaround—which can be difficult enough for everyday graphics projects, but becomes even more of challenge when they have to wrap a big boat. As an example, LuxWrap once wrapped a 60-meter hull in 6.5 days—in the water.
LuxWrap was recently approached by Bellami to decorate a company yacht as part of a marketing promotion for the high-end hair extension brand. Design-wise, the project was pretty straightforward: the brandowner knew what they wanted in terms of the overall look and after that, there was a bit of back and forth to select the correct material: a gold chrome vinyl.
That was the easy part.
Logistics and installation proved to be the most challenging parts of the project, and some of the issues that arose are pretty far afield of those usually encountered by everyday vehicle wrappers. For one thing, the specific yacht that was going to be wrapped changed (few of us ever get the chance to ask “what yacht shall we use?”), and the date and specific location changed repeatedly. A major challenge for LuxWrap—which only worsened as the installation date kept being pushed back—was obtaining enough substrate. Ultimately, LuxWrap said, they had to buy the vinyl from 15 suppliers in 10 countries and, because of what ended up being a very a tight deadline, all needed to be sent by express courier. 
The chrome vinyl—not the easiest material to work with—needed to be installed from rafts in the water.LuxWrap
The boat itself became a bit of a moving target. The installers ran into a snafu getting access to the shipyard where the yacht was docked, and then the boat itself was moved down the coast, requiring the installation team to commute an extra 100km.
Auric Goldfinger would be proud to own this yacht after LuxWrap’s meticulously detailed installation.LuxWrap
Once they could get started, one particular challenge vividly illustrates that this is not a market that a company can casually or nonchalantly tap into: namely, the challenge of installing full chrome rolls in the water from floating rafts and cherry pickers. This is where LuxWrap’s extensive experience with yacht graphics was of the utmost value.
As any vehicle wrapper can tell you, there are seemingly a million little details to take into consideration.LuxWrap
Still, issues always crop up: at one point during the installation, they found that the color of one roll of material didn’t match the rest, so they had to re-do a section of the hull; they lost a day due to rain; and then chrome vinyl itself can be a bear to work with, being less flexible and more brittle than other kinds of vinyls. (It should also be said that chrome vinyl is not really designed—or even recommended—to be used for applications like this. Fortunately, the yacht wrap was intended only for a limited time marketing purpose, not a long-term hull color-change.)
Despite all the challenges, the result speaks for itself.
The Bellami yacht brings a new kind of dazzle to the high seas.LuxWrap
LuxWrap believes the Bellami yacht is the largest single chrome vinyl installation yet attempted. At the time, it was also the largest yacht ever wrapped fully in the water—until LuxWrap wrapped a bigger one a month later.
Completely dazzling.
Scenes From an Installation
It takes a steady hand to apply a vinyl wrap—which is all that much more difficult when you’re floating on a raft. The installers at LuxWrap specialize in yacht graphics and thus have their sea legs. The vinyl was also not precut—it was installed right from the rolls.
All images courtesy LuxWrap, www.luxwrap.com.
Additionally, you can watch video of the project at https://vimeo.com/358349667.
