{"id":1073,"date":"2026-07-13T13:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mynametags.ie\/blog\/?p=1073"},"modified":"2026-07-13T13:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:45:14","slug":"boat-made-of-waterproof-name-labels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mynametags.ie\/blog\/2026\/07\/boat-made-of-waterproof-name-labels\/","title":{"rendered":"We Built a Boat Out of Waterproof Name Labels – and Rowed It Down the River"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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We say our name labels are 100% waterproof. This summer, we decided to stop saying it and start proving it – in the most ambitious way we could think of.<\/p>

So, we built a rowing boat with no hull. No planks, no fibreglass, nothing to keep the water out except a skin of My Nametags waterproof name labels stuck one over the other. Then our CEO, Lars, climbed aboard and pushed off into the river.<\/p>

The whole point was simple. If a few thousand name stickers can keep a grown adult afloat on a river, then keeping your child’s water bottle labelled through a year of dishwasher cycles is, frankly, the easy part.<\/p>

Here’s how it went – and what it means for the labels you put on your children’s kit.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The idea nobody could talk him out of<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The brief from Lars was short: “Our labels are 100% waterproof. To prove it, I want to cross a river in a boat made of them.”<\/p>

We begged him not to. HR pleaded. The rest of us quietly wondered who’d be fishing the CEO out of the river. He was undeterred – and to be fair, he had a point.<\/p>

Parents trust our labels to survive washing machines, dishwashers, lunchboxes and the bottom of a school bag. Our whole promise is that a name goes on once and stays put. A river, when you think about it, is simply a bigger, colder and far more public version of that same test. If the labels could keep the water out of a boat, no dishwasher was ever going to trouble them again.<\/p>

So, the plan was set: build the boat, cover it in nothing but name labels, and find out whether it would float or flop.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The boatbuilders who made it possible<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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A boat is only as good as the people who build it, and for this we wanted the real thing rather than something knocked together in a warehouse. We turned to the brilliant team at Alan Staley Boat Builders in Faversham, Kent – traditional wooden boatbuilders and spar makers who have been crafting boats by hand for decades.<\/p>

Wooden boatbuilding is a genuine heritage craft – all shaped timber, hand-cut ribs and an enormous amount of skill built up over a lifetime. Watching the frame come together in their workshop, each rib fitted by hand, was a lovely reminder that some things simply can’t be rushed.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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We did give them a slightly unusual request: please build us a complete set of wooden ribs and a frame, primed and ready – but leave the outer planking off entirely.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Building a boat with no skin<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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That open lattice of ribs is what you can see taking shape in the workshop: a perfect boat-shaped skeleton with gaps everywhere the water could get in. Beautiful, and completely un-seaworthy. On its own, it would sink in seconds.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Normally, this is the point where a boatbuilder would plank the hull and seal it – the part that actually keeps a boat afloat. We asked them to stop right before that step and hand the boat over to us. The most important job of all, keeping the water out, was going to be done entirely with name labels.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Thousands of stickers, one very important job<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Back at the office, the real work began. We prepared the labels in their thousands, then set about turning a see-through frame into a watertight hull.<\/p>

We worked in layers. First, we built up large sheets of stickers to cover the big open panels between the ribs; then, working patiently over the frame, we pressed individual name stickers on top, overlapping each one like the scales of a fish, until every piece of wood had disappeared beneath a bright, colourful mosaic of names.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Overlap was the secret. A single sticker keeps water off whatever it’s stuck to, but line up hundreds of them edge over edge and you create one continuous waterproof surface, with no obvious way in for the water underneath. It’s exactly the same principle that keeps a name readable on the side of a lunchbox long after a marker pen would have smudged away.<\/p>

Then came the moment of truth before we went anywhere near the river. We carried the boat into a blacked-out room and shone a bright light up through the bottom. Every tiny chink of light was a gap the water would happily find – so every chink got another sticker, and then another, until not a single glimmer came through. Only then did we call it watertight.<\/p>

By this point the boat wasn’t really a wooden boat with stickers on it at all. It was a boat made of stickers, with a little wood for support – kept dry entirely by waterproof adhesive.<\/p>

We weren’t quite brave (or reckless) enough to go straight for the main event, either. First, we built a small model boat out of nothing but name labels and floated it as a dress rehearsal. It survived beautifully, and that gave us the green light to scale things up.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Why a name label can waterproof a boat in the first place<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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It sounds slightly absurd that a sticker could keep a river out of a boat, so it’s worth explaining why ours can actually manage it.<\/p>

Ordinary labels are made of paper, and paper turns to mush the moment it gets wet. Ours are made from a durable PVC that water simply cannot soak into. The names and designs are printed with a waterproof, fade-resistant ink, so they stay bright and readable rather than smudging away. And they’re finished with a strong adhesive that grips smooth surfaces and holds on through heat, water and constant handling.<\/p>

Just as importantly, our labels are waterproof all the way through, so they don’t depend on a laminated top layer to survive – the sort that tends to lift at the edges and let water creep underneath. That combination is what lets the same little sticker shrug off a dishwasher, a washing machine and, as it turns out, a stretch of the river.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Launch day on the river<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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We picked a bright, still morning on the river – early enough for calm, flat water and good light for the cameras. Lars suited up: lifejacket, a captain’s hat for morale, and – naturally – a My Nametags label with his name on it stuck to his lifejacket. If you’re going to test your own product, you commit.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The team carried the boat down to the water, careful to keep its delicate sticker hull off the gravel, and set it gently down. One camera crew filmed from the bank while another followed from the water. There was a fair amount of nervous laughter. Then Lars stepped in.<\/p>

This is the moment a boat made of stickers is supposed to glug quietly to the bottom.<\/p>

It didn’t.<\/p>

The labels held. The water stayed out. The boat sat calmly on the surface with a grown man and a pair of oars inside it – and Lars, grinning under his captain’s hat, picked up the oars and started to row.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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So... did the name labels pass?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Watch the full film and judge for yourself – though the photographs rather give it away. A boat whose only waterproofing was waterproof name stickers carried our CEO out onto the river and brought him safely back again.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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From a river to your kitchen: the everyday tests that really matter<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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A river crossing is the showing-off version. The tests your labels actually have to pass happen every single day, in your kitchen and your child’s school bag. Happily, if the labels can handle the river, they take these in their stride:<\/p>