Our days are growing short here in Pensacola, and we’re working though the final items on our list of boat chores that need completing before we once again point Eagle Too’s bow south. Today we made Eaglet Too legal.

For some people, a stencil and some spray paint or a permanent marker is good enough for applying their dinghy’s registration numbers. You really can’t argue with the thriftiness of that approach. But we’ve always preferred something a little more elegant, I guess because we take a little pride in how our stuff looks. Plus the paint or marker approach usually needs periodic re-application.

We used glue-on number plates from BoatNumberPlate.com on our first dinghy, and they still looked great when we sold her seven years later. So we really wanted to go with the same solution on our new dinghy. The first time around, we used the glue-on version of the product, which we needed to apply with hypalon rubber cement. This time, they offered a self-sticking version, which sounded like a much easier way to go. Plus, have you looked at what a tube of hypalon glue goes for these days? Almost as much as the number plates themselves!

They did qualify that the self-sticking version isn’t recommended for boats that you want to deflate and roll up. But now that we have an aluminum RIB, rolling up the boat really isn’t an option any longer, so we thought we’d give them a  try.

These things worked great! We picked a dry, sunny day with temps in the upper 70’s. Then we test fitted the number plates to the boat, and traced the outline of the plate with a Sharpie. Next, we masked the outlined area with blue painter’s tape, and then thoroughly cleaned the spot with an acetone soaked rag so the adhesive on the number plate had a clean surface to grab.

You peel off the paper backing on the number plates, line them up and apply then, being careful not to trap any air bubbles underneath. You need to make sure you get them on straight, because the self-adhesive glue is VERY aggressive.

Peel off the blue tape, apply your state registration sticker to the area provided on the port number plate, and you’re done! No waiting for glue to cure and no mess to clean up. It literally couldn’t be easier.

One last thing. You can order boat number plates directly from the site above, but you can actually save about $5 if you order them through Defender instead. They’ll ship you a small package containing a redemption code that you then use on the manufacturer’s website to order your number plates.

You know what? It’s been quite a while since we’ve given something our Life On The Hook™ seal of approval. I think it’s time to dust that off and use it. This one’s for you, BoatNumberPlate.com!