How to Get a Custom Shirt of Your Boat
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You want your boat on a shirt — your actual hull, not a clip-art sailboat or some stock center console that looks nothing like yours. Here's exactly how that works, start to finish, and what you need to have ready.
What you need: one photo
That's it. One side-on photo of your boat. Phone camera is fine — most of the boats we draw come in as iPhone shots from a marina slip or a friend's boat running alongside. You don't need a drone, a photographer, or a perfect day. You need the boat roughly side-on, in daylight, big enough in the frame to see her lines.
If the only photo you've got is backlit, tiny in the frame, or shot at a weird angle, send it anyway. We'll tell you within a day if we can't work with it and exactly what to grab instead. (More on getting a good shot below.)
How the sketch works — 25 seconds, three options
Upload the photo on the Custom Boat Shirt page. Our tool draws your boat as a clean, hand-style line illustration — and it does it in about 25 seconds, right in front of you. You get three versions. You pick the one that looks most like her.
This is the part that's different from how custom marine apparel usually works. The old way: fill out a form, wait two to four weeks for someone to email you a proof, send notes back, wait again. Our way: you see the drawing before you've even paid, you pick it, you move on. No email back-and-forth. If none of the three are quite right, generate again — you get three attempts per visit.
What gets printed where
The boat illustration prints across the full back of the shirt — dye-sublimated, which means the ink is bonded into the fabric, not sitting on top of it. It won't peel, crack, or fade out after a season. The front stays clean: no extra logos, no hidden brand marks. Want your boat name and hailing port on there too? That goes on as well.
The shirt itself is a brushed-polyester long-sleeve, 175 g/m² — mid-weight, soft, holds an all-over print without distorting. Double-needle stitched at the sleeves, neck, and hem. Made in the USA, on demand — nothing sits in a warehouse.
Sizes — single shirt or a Crew Kit
Sizes run XS through 4XL, regular fit. Between sizes and want a relaxed on-deck fit? Size up. Want it closer to the body? Size down. Full chest, length, and sleeve measurements are on the size guide.
One shirt is $79. Kitting out the crew? The Crew Kit is $159.99 for three shirts — same design, three sizes of your choice, match or differ. Built for the captain ordering for everyone, not just himself. Ordering five or more for a tournament team? Email us and we'll sort out team pricing.
How long it takes
The sketch is instant. From the moment you order, your shirts ship in 5–10 days inside the US. So if you've got a tournament, a christening, or a trip you want the crew kitted out for, count back about two weeks — that's your order-by date, with a bit of buffer.
What makes a good photo of your boat
- Side-on beats everything. A clean profile — bow to stern, roughly perpendicular to the camera — gives the tool the most to work with. Three-quarter works too; straight-on bow or stern is the hardest.
- Daylight, not backlit. Shooting toward the sun turns your boat into a silhouette. Get the light behind you or off to the side.
- Fill the frame. The boat should be the photo, not a speck on the horizon. Walk closer or zoom in before you shoot.
- Keep the background simple. Other boats stacked behind her, a cluttered yard — that makes the hull harder to read. A slip, open water, or a clean dock is ideal.
If your boat has something distinctive — a tuna tower, a hardtop, a leaning post, a particular outboard setup — make sure it's visible in the shot. That's what people recognise from across the dock.
What you'll get
A long-sleeve shirt with your boat on the back, drawn the way she actually looks, made in the USA and on its way to you in a week and a half. Not a generic boat. Yours.
Still have questions about photo requirements, sizing, shipping, or returns? They're answered on the FAQ page — or see the boats we've drawn so far.