FDS Graphics helps the UK’s trade balance with some amazing graphics that travel really well…

As anyone who owns, or who has been around boats for a while knows, the marine environment punishes everything it comes into contact with. Saltwater environments particularly know how to deal a bit of damage. UV exposure, salt-laden water and general handling all inflict their own distinctive fingerprints on boat hulls, metal fittings, outboard engines…

A outboard that’s sat outside for a few years will display lots of degradation that’s witness to the fact, and it will usually be looking pretty tired. Bringing such a thing back to its former glory isn’t easy and may not be possible at all if the manufacturers’ original graphics are no longer available. Enter Exeter-based signmakers, FDS Graphics   Ltd.

FDS has found itself in great demand. It makes, among many other thing, graphics kits for outboard engines and, being not far from the sea, the demand for its products is both good and steady. Word of a good thing travels and FDS began to get orders from further afield. If you’re thinking Plymouth or Southampton, yes, they’re on the list. Think more in terms of Canada and the USA and you’re closer to the facts. About 80% of FDS’s graphics kits are now exported around the world!

Anyone who’s got an outboard that’s looking a bit beaten around the gills can buy a kit from FDS and use it to pretty things up. That could mean simply sticking on the supplied elements or going the whole hog and adhering them over new paint and under new lacquer. The results are great and really add value to the engine in question.

The team at FDS has found that Metamark MD5 is more than up to the job and we’d agree. It tolerates temperature extremes, it’s not going to curl up with a bit of UV exposure either. In creative and capable hands, MD5 can be trusted to perform.

FDS Graphics’ work with what amounts to being digitally printed die-cut decals does a job that not too long ago would have required a well-equipped screen printing plant to deliver. With today’s digital production means and a little tightly targeted specialisation, you could argue FDS has become a next-generation production centre growing an alternative industry.

Outboard Graphics Kits from FDS Graphics. Made In Exeter. Seen, world-wide.