General paint and varnish removal

[Mhvoiceuk]

I am replacing the rubbing strake on my boat. It really has had it. Over the years it has been painted brown, revarnished and had sealant squeezed into it. This was not always done tidily and
there are a bits of gunk all around the rubbing strake. The hull is resprayed. My new (pvc) rubbing strake is 5mm smaller than the (teak) original, so won't cover up the bodges. what I need to do is clean it all up and carefully spray paint the top two inches of the hull before the new rubbing strake goes on. What can I clean all this gunk off with? I don't want to damage the gel coat underneath. Is there an all purpose paint/varnish remover that doesn't damage gelcoat?

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[Avocet]

"Dilunet" is supposed to not damage gelcoat. I've never tried it though. Depending on the profile of the hull in that area, you might be better off sanding it with a random borbit sander and then by hand with finer paper if you were going to paint it anyway. You might also need to fill it in some places because I'd be surprised if there wasn't the odd crack or chip in that area. You can buy polyester car body filler from any car shop. International make a waterproof epoxy filler called "Watertite" but I don't know what you should use to paint over it with.

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[Alpha22]

I've used gallons of Dillunet. Fine stuff once I worked out how to use it.

It will desolve absolutly everything except GRP / Gell coat.

It desolves paint brushes, aluminium, skin and hair! (Don't ask!)

Use from the tub and apply very thickly with a foam brush. Then bin the brush.
It will take ages to work. That's where I was going wrong.
1 day - paint softens
1 week - paint easy to remove.
2 weeks - Starts to dry out and will need reapplying to losen paint.

It does stain the grp a little. Turns white grp to a yellow hue.
It washes off well with water and is not too bad on the environment.

But if you get the smallest drop on some new paint for more than a few seconds, then it will desolve it!!

D.

<hr width=100% size=1>Last weekend was shopping darling........ so this weekend is boating. (Duck!)

 

[extravert]

Another paint stripper that is gelcoat safe is Interstrip from International. It re-liquifies the paint rather than causing it to bubble like conventional paint strippers do. You can then scrape it off and clean up with acetone.

<hr width=100% size=1>One day, I want to be a real sailor. In the mean time I'll just keep tri-ing.