I’ve been applying water slide lacquer decals for over 50+ years. Soak decal in warm water allowing it to loosen, then gently slide decal from paper backing onto final surface. Absolutely no necessary decal preparation has been needed in the past such as spraying surface with clear prior to the water soak. The large lacquer based decal that I purchased was just poor quality, as far as I was concerned. As previously mentioned, there were small cracks throughout the decal without me flexing or curling the decal prior to water immersion.
Jerry from Neilsville was where I purchased my vinyl decal. Excellent quality. As previously mentioned from George, tank preparation surface is absolutely necessary for proper vinyl adhesion. There were no wrinkles, bubbles or unsightly surface imperfection prior to and after clear coating.
Unfortunately, no phone number/email/address for Jerry. As a backup idea, take your lacquer water slide decal to a printer and have them reproduce it in vinyl. I did it with the following image of the first year Bombardier 1968 Sea Doo. Quality almost second to none.
Sincerely hope the aforementioned info helps.
