[Level300]

I recently did this to my fiberglass hood. As commonly in life, your first attempt may end in sub par results. But that’s okay, nothing ventured, nothing gained. It looks simple to do but it’s the material and material handling experience that you can’t get from watching the videos. Some of the things I have learned....

-Get the vinyl to ambient temp before you start
-wet down your work area floor to minimize dust
-a warmer work area makes it easy to work with the material and lessen the risk of creases. Don’t apply this in direct sunlight as it will get too hot to handle.
-you’ll need the magnets (get all the tools) to hold down the ends when removing the backing paper
-liberally use vinyl tack reducer on the hood before you remove backing paper to temporarily reduce tackiness when you lay down the vinyl. It makes it easier to move around/adjust the material.
-watch your heat gun. You can easily melt/discolor the vinyl if you stay on one spot for too long or if you’re not paying attention.
-watch when you squeegee, always be aware of where you are driving out the air. It’s easy to trap air if you’re not looking at the larger picture. Always look around the area as you work. It’s easy to fixate on a small area as you work through a localized problem.
-it’s easier to shrink the vinyl over a larger area rather than a smaller one. The smaller the area you heat the less it can shrink.

I had a 3.5” cowl hood which complicated things. I plan on redoing it next summer. My next attempt should be perfect as I learned a great deal.
It’s not hard to do (the hood) so if you’re thinking about doing it, do it. Just treat the first time as a learning experience. If you nail it, great. But if you don’t, it’s just a learning thing.