Removing old transfers from GRP hull?

I removed all the stickers and decals from one of our club safety boats. The hull was going to be painted so, but I still took care.
heat gun set to low scraper scraper, and acetone did the job, finish with a light compound and rotary polisher.
 
I thought an update might be appreciated.

There's several reactions.

The sections of 2cm blue which have not been in the sun so much simply peels off when heated. The bits suffering decades in the sun have a lot of cracks and are more solidly adhered. On these I've used a heat gun at 1kW (!*!) and moved quickly. A lower heat takes forever. The gun has a scraping attachement and I've filed the corners down. The vinyl lifts off and leaves a gunky residue behind (the original glue) which can be removed easily with acetone.

The gelcoat underneath is slightly raised and a deeper color that the rest of the boat. There are also hairline cracks, but these are not deep and sanding the raised portion down removes them. However the deeper color persists (it is the boat's original color) so I'm wondering whether to leave it as it is (my original intention) or buy fresh vinyl strips.

The 1/2cm (maybe wider) brown strips simply turn to smeary gunge when heated. However acetone, a paint scraper with corners filed down, and an abrasive kitchen pad do the job. Other solvents, like white spirit, work, but are much much slower. I'll have used a litre of acetone on this! But saved hours.

Tip: a bit of plywood on which to rest the heatgun saves you melting the deck. As with anything that may damage your boat, think ahead. ;)
 
For removing adhesive residue left over from gaffer tape I used the small sticking plaster adhesive removers from the chemist. Worked well. No idea if would work on this adhesive residue but might be work considering.
 
We used one of these when removing stripes from our campervan. I was initially sceptical, but it was so quick and easy to use, and caused no damage at all. Even removed the glue residue.

It does create a bit of duct, but that washes off easily.

Whizzy Wheel
 
Tongue depressers (originally for medical use) are readily available on line, they are much like 'lolly sticks' are wood so relatively soft and won't scratch gelcoat or well cured paint, but also good for a whole range of other uses, better than thumbnail for scraping off sticky stuff, good for application of fillers and stirring paint etc.
About £2.50 - £3.00 per 100.
 
Warm air gun, did I same warm? That's warm, not hot or blowtorch.
Soft scraper.
3m orange or citrus spray does the adhesive. Be patient.
The adhesive reacts with the surface of the fibreglass and leaves that raised area. That's what my tame fibreglass specialist told me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top