Northport Troller Capacity Plate

dzurinko

Seaman
Joined
Apr 12, 2013
Messages
65
The USCG max hp and load capacity plate on my Mirrorcraft Northport Troller is unreadable. Its 27 years old and sun bleached. I asked Mirrorcraft if I could buy a replacement and they said they don't have them from 27 years ago. But they sent me an electronic copy of the original brochure with the specs showing Max Hp and Max load capacity. But if I'm not mistaken, the Coast Guard requires a plate with this info. Does anyone have any suggestions on how or where to get a plate made for my restoration or would I comply if I carried the brochure with me?
 

gm280

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
14,585
Re: Northport Troller Capacity Plate

Yes there is a way to make such a plate. I just recently did that exact same thing and here are the before and after photos;

boat-62.jpgboat-63.jpg

I designed mine on the computer and then took that design to the local trophy shop and then made the plate using a process called "Sublimation". All I need to do now is install it... Perfect! Here is another plate I designed using that same process for my Control Box too...

boat-64.jpg

Hope this helps... :)
 

lakelover

Rear Admiral
Joined
Mar 26, 2003
Messages
4,386
Re: Northport Troller Capacity Plate

I tried the local trophy place too, but they didn't want to do such a "small job", that's why I went online. Would have been much easier if I had been able to do it locally.

The work looks nice gm280!
 

dzurinko

Seaman
Joined
Apr 12, 2013
Messages
65
Re: Northport Troller Capacity Plate

Thanks guys. Great ideas. I never thought of a trophy shop. Have one just up the road. GM280, what program did you use to make that AWESOME plate. Did you make your sample actual size or did you have the trophy shop simply adjust it. Did you give it to the trophy shop on printed paper or did you send it to them electronically. Thanks Lakelover, I'll check that site out. Ezmobee, I'll update my profile as soon as I finish this post. I'm in NJ.
 

gm280

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
14,585
Re: Northport Troller Capacity Plate

Thanks guys. Great ideas. I never thought of a trophy shop. Have one just up the road. GM280, what program did you use to make that AWESOME plate. Did you make your sample actual size or did you have the trophy shop simply adjust it. Did you give it to the trophy shop on printed paper or did you send it to them electronically. Thanks Lakelover, I'll check that site out. Ezmobee, I'll update my profile as soon as I finish this post. I'm in NJ.

Hello again. Actually I used two different programs and gave it to the trophy shop both in electronic form and printed paper too. And I made the size I wanted the plate to be myself. So basically all they had to do was run the program to their printer setup for the Sublimation process. I use a program called Visio Pro. It is a drawing type program and you can design nearly anything with it. Then I converted it to CorelDraw 14. That program IS what most all trophy shops use for nearly all their plates and LASER Engraving processes. I could have just used the CorelDraw 14 program and skipped Visio Pro, but I know Visio Pro like the back of my hand and make most everything on it. So I use it more than CorelDraw 14... The conversion is simple and CorelDraw sets the vectoring and rastering plots needed for their processes to work. Sublimation is a process that they use to print out an inverse print using special ink and then that print gets heat transferred onto metal plates (they have many different types to pick from). Once it is transferred onto the metal, it is there to stay. No way to remove it unless you sand it off... So it is the perfect idea for boat Spec plates. I know how all this works because my wife use to run a LASER department at a trophy type shop before retiring... :D
 

dzurinko

Seaman
Joined
Apr 12, 2013
Messages
65
Re: Northport Troller Capacity Plate

Ok...thanks. I have Corel but not vision. Ill try corel.
 

dzurinko

Seaman
Joined
Apr 12, 2013
Messages
65
Re: Northport Troller Capacity Plate

Hey lakelover. That link you gave me was spot on. I could the exact CAPACITY Sticker I needed. Plugged my info in and ordered it. $20 is a real bargain to stay out of trouble with USCG. Thanks for the lead.
 

lakelover

Rear Admiral
Joined
Mar 26, 2003
Messages
4,386
Re: Northport Troller Capacity Plate

No problem, wish I had known of this before I took a different route. Someone else on here actually pointed me to it, thanks to whoever it was!
 
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