Kanuyak Canoe and Kayak Decal Review

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One of the problems with mass produced canoes and kayaks is the lack of personality. Your boat looks just like another one off the same shelf. You can try to personalize things by changing the color of deck line, or you could paint something on the side. Or you could add a little pizazz to your boat with a sticker. Kanuyak makes easy-to-apply canoe and kayak decals. I spent this spring reviewing two versions, a 5-inch sticker and a 8-inch sticker.

The stickers I tested come as a set of two, mirror images cut from commercial-grade decal vinyl with the color going all the way through. You apply one sticker to each side of the boat, and the industrial strength adhesive makes sure it doesn’t come off. The application instructions that come with the stickers are thorough and provide enough tips that even an amateur sticker applier like me can stick it on perfectly. I really appreciated that the sticker package included a squeegee, which meant that I didn’t need to buy one.

To put the stickers on, you clean the surface on the canoe or kayak and heat it to 70 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Since, I live in the northland and since we haven’t seen temps above 50 this year, I used a hair dry to heat up the boat’s surface. Then you peel the backing, which exposes the sticky side. Carefully put it on the boat and squeegee it smooth before peeling off pre-mask material. When finished it looks fantastic.

Of the two sizes that I tried, I liked the 5-inch size better. It seemed to be more my size. The 8-inch version works best on canoes, because kayaks don’t have the room for it to fit. I got a turtle and a bear. Ilena likes turtles, so we put that one on her kayak. The black color matches the seam and keel strip. If you’re not sure about what color to order, Kanuyak provides a fun color selector that shows different color canoes with different color stickers.

These stickers are fun and inexpensive. Well worth checking out.

Kanuyak Canoe and Kayak Decal | 5-inch $12.95 | 8-inch $19.95 | More Info