When Gregg brought Catalyst II, Nonsuch 33 #22 home from Newfoundland in 2015, she needed a lot of work. I worked on all of the things you could see like the like cleaning, bright work and waxing while Gregg worked on the systems and all the other things you don’t see but are equally important.
She was almost 30 years old but I was determined to make her look like a shiny penny so I decided the stern name needed refreshing and a bit of a downsize. The letters were large and splashed across the transom making the boat look small by comparison. I knew it was only an illusion but if I was going to redo it, I wanted it to look balanced and not dominate the entire back end. The current decal had tears in it, small center pieces were nicked away showing the white gelcoat through the royal blue letters and there were various tears along the edges. So I scraped off the old name and ordered a new one from the local print shop.
The name Catalyst itself was of a decent size but the large roman numerals that accompanied it were unnecessarily large and I didn’t think they needed to be that prominent. I also changed the Font for a thinner letter and cleaner lines.
Under the old decal the gelcoat was fresh and whiter, protected from the sun baking down on it for years. Although I scrubbed and rubbed the entire transom, I couldn't blend the two shades so it will be there for life or until the sun blends the two. This is one thing to remember when changing the name of a boat, the ghost of a former name will still haunt you. Gregg say we have to work on the 20 foot theory, all boats look great at that distance and he's right because our stern looks fabulous with the new lettering, and I only notice the ghosting when I'm up close and personal when waxing in the spring.
So, we prepared the surface properly and installed the new decal. We took our time and did everything right but it’s not as easy as it looks even with the proper tools. We had a few bubbles here and there. The larger ones I pricked with a needle ever so gently to deflate them and the smaller ones shrunk in the sunlight by the end of a week all is flat.
I couldn’t be happier with the new look. The II is smaller and we did them in red just to be different. We painted a red stripe at the bottom of the boot stripe just before the bottom paint. I really liked the way it looked and it really stands out and we find its easier to tell how she is sitting in the water at the mooring from the road. We also painted the cove and the faded red stripe beneath it for a fresh look. I rolled on the paint and Gregg followed with a dry brush tipping. From twenty feet the boat looks like a shiny new penny and quite frankly an entirely different boat which makes her feel like she belongs to us now!
She was almost 30 years old but I was determined to make her look like a shiny penny so I decided the stern name needed refreshing and a bit of a downsize. The letters were large and splashed across the transom making the boat look small by comparison. I knew it was only an illusion but if I was going to redo it, I wanted it to look balanced and not dominate the entire back end. The current decal had tears in it, small center pieces were nicked away showing the white gelcoat through the royal blue letters and there were various tears along the edges. So I scraped off the old name and ordered a new one from the local print shop.
The name Catalyst itself was of a decent size but the large roman numerals that accompanied it were unnecessarily large and I didn’t think they needed to be that prominent. I also changed the Font for a thinner letter and cleaner lines.
Under the old decal the gelcoat was fresh and whiter, protected from the sun baking down on it for years. Although I scrubbed and rubbed the entire transom, I couldn't blend the two shades so it will be there for life or until the sun blends the two. This is one thing to remember when changing the name of a boat, the ghost of a former name will still haunt you. Gregg say we have to work on the 20 foot theory, all boats look great at that distance and he's right because our stern looks fabulous with the new lettering, and I only notice the ghosting when I'm up close and personal when waxing in the spring.
So, we prepared the surface properly and installed the new decal. We took our time and did everything right but it’s not as easy as it looks even with the proper tools. We had a few bubbles here and there. The larger ones I pricked with a needle ever so gently to deflate them and the smaller ones shrunk in the sunlight by the end of a week all is flat.
I couldn’t be happier with the new look. The II is smaller and we did them in red just to be different. We painted a red stripe at the bottom of the boot stripe just before the bottom paint. I really liked the way it looked and it really stands out and we find its easier to tell how she is sitting in the water at the mooring from the road. We also painted the cove and the faded red stripe beneath it for a fresh look. I rolled on the paint and Gregg followed with a dry brush tipping. From twenty feet the boat looks like a shiny new penny and quite frankly an entirely different boat which makes her feel like she belongs to us now!
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Catalyst in Newfoundland before the trip to NS, you can see how faded the red stripe is.
On the way home from Newfoundland. Gregg's brother Terry in the stern. The brothers said it was a trip and a thrill of a lifetime!
Taping off to paint the stripes. The red had faded to a dull pink, not good enough for our gal! The tape was a bit of a pain to remove after sitting there for two days.
 All cleaned and ready.  There's a lot of rubbing but no genie. |  The new decal is applied.  The beginning peel. |
TA Dah! The smaller letters sure made her transom look bigger!
Looking good. That second red stripe is perfect! Last year I installed II over the cats tail.
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