removing hull stripes

[wiggy]

How do remove old (20 years) vinyl hull stripes? I have taken ones off near waterline with a hairdrier and gently peeld them off which has left no glue residue and been faily painless. The problem is the ones at top of hull, they are in very bad condition and just disintergrate if pulled, if it does peel off the glue left behind is increadibly sticky. Ive tried car ice scraper and it does work but is painfully slow. Help pleas, all advice and top tips much appreciated.

 

[stephenh]

Lots of methylated spirits + lots of clean rags.

If this does't work then acetone instead of meths. but with this stuff work v. quickly and wash off with water afterwards as it can etch some gelcoats if left in contact too long....

good luck

 

[mad4pike]

hi there if you go to a local upvc manufactures ie facias and ask for some solvent cleaner its what window fitters use to clean down upvc after they have fitted it. it will remove the sticky residue with no probs just try a little bit first

 

[thalassa]

Remaining old glue comes off -without danger for the GRP- in most cases with WD-40.

 

[wiggy]

The problem isnt so much cleaning the glue as getting the vinyl off in the first place.

 

[savageseadog]

Hot air gun, but take it easy. Best to do it in one continuous go.

 

[Appleyard]

I removed them using a very sharp woodchisel held at an acute angle. It took the vinyl off along with most of the adhesive.The remainder cleaned up with acetone. A single edge razor blade works also but is difficult to hold at the correct angle. And yes..before anyone says..take care not to scratch the GRP.

 

[Malcb]

I took my old vinyl boat nanme off with the aid of a putty knife. Just used the curved edge, very carefully. That was last year in Feb when the temp was about 6 degrees

 

[Kurrawong_Kid]

SAC of Stourbridge sell a tube of stuff to remove their stripes. I've used it to some effect. Advert at back of PBO

 

[SvenglishTommy]

I removed one side of my 30 year old hull stripes with acetonne, industrial citric cleaner, and every other chemical I had on the boat, it took hours of scraping and left loads of bits and residue. The other side I used a hot air gun and it took about 10 minutes and almost came off in one piece with no residue. Be very careful though as in one small spot I damaged the gelcoat a little, maybe even try a hair dryer instead.

 

[Cloven]

Wiggy

As SvenglishTommy says - use a hair drier - can't do any damage. Soften up one end, lift it with a fingernail and then work along the stripe.

I did this and removed 4 lengths on a 27ft boat in about an hour and it worked fine. No sharp implements used at all and no heat damage. Clean off adhesive with appropriate solvent - acetone seems to work the best and residue evaporates very quickly.

Hope this helps.

 

[abbott013]

Hi, When i worked in the motorcycle industry we used hot water to remove decals. Unfortunatly i cannot help with glue left behind, not sure what chemicals damage GRP.

 

[samwise]

I spent quite a bit of time on our four month trip down to Portugal removing the tatty decals on the coachroof sides on our Westerly Storm. A fellow owner got hsi off with a combination of high pressure hose ( to remove the vinyl) and followed up with his missus, rubber gloved, getting off the glue with acetone. It didn't work for me. My problem was that the decal was so badly deteriorated it would not come off in strips, just little nibbles. We met another Storm owner in France and his solution was to use a combination of acetone ( to soften the decal) ,and a scraper made from the sharpened end of a plastic school ruler. This worked a treat. The "chisel" had to be sharpened up with a file every so often, but it allowed me to slice off the stuff in strips without damaging the gelcoat. The acetone cleaned up any grotty bits and I finished off with a fine cutting paste and polish. You can't do much about the fading of the surrounding gelcoat, but it looks a lot better than it did. I must add that the hot sun of last summer also helped to loosen the decal without resort to a hot air gun which can result in gelcoat damage if used unwisely

 

[DeeGee]

If you are going to put new stripes on afterwards, then see sbc's contribution to this thread which is exactly right, except I would add 'have a w/u liquid squeezy bottle hooked into your pocket, and respray the surface ahead of the tape if it seems to have dried at all. And for this to work, the surface must be oil and wax-free, so get pretty clean first. I wouldnt worry about any tiny spots of adhesive you couldnt get off, as the new adhesive will stick to it'

/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif