Vinyl Decals 1, Ellis 0

[Mike Ellis]

Well, actually maybe its Ellis 0. 5... .



Since we had nice weather most of the day (meaning COOL, usually about 110 here on the holiday), I decided to put on my spiffy replacement Bigfoot decals (originals MIA before I bought it).



I ran into problems immediately from the coat of wax or polygoop or whatever was on the camper - vinyl decals wouldn't stick. I find it ironic that bugs stick like glue, but purposely sticky stuff like decals wouldn't. Per the directions on the web, I used denatured alcohol to scrub the area of application and after several bouts was finally able to get ONE decal correctly applied.



What's the best way to get these rascals applied? Once they ARE applied, what can you use to wax/protect them? I notice that the wax formulations all said "do not apply to vinyl decals", even the ProtectAll and GelGloss now have carnauba wax which is apparently decal incompatible. Any ideas??

 

[ARedetzke]

To apply, clean the surface, and then spay with windex, also spray the sticky side of the decal with windex. Now you can put it on there and it will slide around, so you can get it where you want it. Find something flat that you can use to work all the bubbles out of it. Now let it sit in the sun for several hours. The windex will evaporate from the backside, and the stickum will take hold. We do this will all of my Budweiser trucks and vans at work and it works like a charm.

AJ

 

[Reddog1]

Mike Ellis - I too have a Bigfoot. Mine is a 1988 in great shape except for the decals. I have removed som of them. Where did you get your decals?



Wayne

 

[Mike Ellis]

Hi Reddog1,



I got them through the Bigfoot folks, but I had to order them through a Bigfoot dealer, they would not sell them to me directly. I had them ordered by Camping Country in Colorado Springs, they have always been great to deal with. The decals cost me about $300 by the time it was all said and done.



I had a lot of headaches getting them to sell me decals for my 1997, they had changed suppliers for the vinyl decals in recent years so decals for the older campers supposedly weren't available. After a lot of back and forth, they contacted the original supplier who fortunately still had the computer files to print out a set of 1997 decals. You will probably have to go through similar headache to find 1988 series, if they can't get those see if you can get them to sell you '97 or newer.



If I ever have to do it again, I think I would just take some digital pictures of the decals I wanted and then have one of the Internet vinyl sign guys whip a set up for me, or use one of their pre-packaged sets of designs.

 

[Mike Ellis]

I tried again with the decals, still no luck. I am trying to put on a fairly long stripe that is actually composed of a stack of pinstripes:



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Sorta like that. I cleaned and squirted and squeegeed until I was about to pass out and STILL they wouldn't stick. I've read a couple of notes on the net about using a hair dryer to heat them after placing them on the surface, will give this a try.



Any other ideas folks? I am and :{, about ready to get out the old permanent marker and just color it in by hand

 

[JMorrow]

Try sandpaper!



John

 

[DPelletier]

Keep us posted Mike,

I keep thinking I'll put new decals on my '96 25C9. 5 this winter. I'm afraid I don't have any answers for you. The windex idea sounded good. Good luck



Dave

 

[Mike Ellis]

I had some success last night with samples of pinstripes. The stripe that is composed of smaller pinstripes (see crude depiction in previous post) actually has a couple of extra pinstripes (larger than the originals) that I was cutting off. I decided to try small pieces of that leftover stripe (@ 4" long), putting them on with various surface washes and squeegee technique. On the Internet I had noticed several mentions of heating with a blow dryer, so I tried that too.



Combinations I tried:

1 - Scrub with denatured alcohol, rinse clean, squirt weak soap/water solution on surface and on sticker, squeegee: Result = no stickee

2 - Scrub with acetone, rinse clean, squirt weak soap/water solution on surface and on sticker, squeegee: Result = no stickee

3 - Scrub with Windex, rinse clean, squirt Windex on surface and on sticker, squeegee: Result = no stickee

4 - Scrub with Goo-Gone, rinse clean, squirt Windex on surface and on sticker, squeegee: Result = no stickee

5 - Dance around camper in foaming rage, cursing vinyl decals and the fiendish mind that ever conceived of their use: Result = no stickee, but I felt surprisingly good

6 - Repeat 1 through 4, this time thoroughly heating the sticker with a blow dryer: Result = no stickee



At this point I had to go to Boy Scout meeting, spoke with a fellow leader who used to work for a vinyl sign shop. He said that he had never run into a non-stick problem except on auto paint that was heavily oxidized to the point the tape would just pull away with a coat of oxide on it. He said perhaps the camper had been treated with a silicone polish or something like Nu-Finish, adhesives being noted for poor performance with such coatings. It occurred to me that the 3M Fiberglass restorer polish that I had used last year to spiff up the camper, might be the culprit. :{



He then asked me, "How long did you let it sit before you peeled off the backing?" "Uh... . let it sit? Nobody mentioned that it needed to sit. . "



SO, I came back and put a 4" sample on with the soapy water setup but without the blow dryer, and just let it sit overnight. Went out this morning to test it and PRESTO the backing peeled away but the stripe stayed put. I was able to peel it off without too much difficulty, but it appears likely that a good dose of blow dryer action after placing the sticker, and letting the adhesive set for a period of time, may be the trick.



Sure wish they had sent me some instructions with the stickers.

 

[ARedetzke]

To apply, clean the surface, and then spay with windex, also spray the sticky side of the decal with windex. Now you can put it on there and it will slide around, so you can get it where you want it. Find something flat that you can use to work all the bubbles out of it. Now let it sit in the sun for several hours. The windex will evaporate from the backside, and the stickum will take hold. We do this will all of my Budweiser trucks and vans at work and it works like a charm.

AJ

Sorry, I should have added, before you take the transfer tape off. A hairdryer speeds the process.

AJ

 

[Gunny]

I also have a Bigfoot slide in camper a 2001. These decals must not be the best quality in the world as mine started to peel and flake off within a year. I contacted Bigfoot and told them this story and asked them to send me a set of new decals, they also said I had to go through a dealer. i explaned that this camper was almost new and they should warrenty the decals. They said nope that will be $287. 75 for a set. I said let me see now if I have this right, the decals you installed for the soul purpose of advertising your product on my camper that I paid $26,000 for are inferior and failed. Now you want me to pay you another $287. 75 of my money so that I can advertise once again your product. Is that right? Lady tells me yea thats about it, pay up. I explane to her that i have spoken with Lance Campers and they would be more than happy to give me a set of there decals for free and install them at my pleasure on my Bigfoot Camper. She didn't much like this idea and said they would be happy to give me a 10% discount. I laughed so damn hard I thought I had broken something. I then contacted Skip Foose the hot rod guy and had him design and make me a set just for my camper. In the end I have a set of decals that don't say who made the camper and the graphics are very cool, and colored to match the Ram. They cost me a little more than $287. 75 but to be honest I am not complaining at all.



Gunny

 

[Mike Ellis]

ARedetzke,



Thanks for the update bud, I should have realized from your original message that the tape should be left on in the sun for a while, unfortunately I am running a couple of quarts low on brainpower these last few years.



Gunny,



Sounds like you reached the same conclusion on the decals that I did, only reason I went ahead and got the Bigfoot decals was I figured it would be easier for the wife to sell the camper if something happened to me. If these come off, to heck with that noise - I will be putting custom graphics on too. Do you have any pictures of your rig? I'd sure like to see the Skip Foose design you ended up with. .



By the way, when I showed my buddy a sample of the decal striping, he said it was "high performance vinyl", I said and he told me that they use a very thin vinyl so that it doesn't stick up as far above the paint, with thicker vinyl there is a tendency for wax and such to cake up along the edges. Thinner material breaks down faster from UV and doesn't have as stout an adhesive layer apparently, heck I'd rather have thick heavy duty vinyl that would stay put for a long time but what do I know... .

 

[DPelletier]

Hey Mike,

I had a thought. I have a guy coming next week to apply a clear paint protection film to my truck from the body line down. It's a 3M product and my buddy had it done on his blown '67 Camaro street car. Looks great. My point is that if you were to get that put on over the decals, I bet they'd last a heck of a lot longer.

I use a similar product on my race bike and it holds up to tons of abuse (trees, rocks, dirt, other riders, etc. ). Just a thought.



Cheers,

Dave

 

[Mike Ellis]

That's a great idea, it would be very useful for the front-facing areas on campers and fifth-wheels in particular. When he puts on the film, can you pass along more info on the product name and how he applied it? I'd like to give it a shot

 

[DPelletier]

yep, will do.

The front decal on mine is the only one in bad shape, so just doing the front would probably be adequate.



Dave

 

[dresslered]

Has anyone thought about a custom paint scheme on these campers? While you guys are busy sticking them on, I've been contemplating about taking them off. To me, Bigfoot 3000 translates to anyone that knows better the meaning OVERWEIGHT