Removing paint from marine ply

[Reptile Smile]

Hi all,

As part of my attempt to get my 24' Eventide to look a little less 'bag-of-spanners'ish, I need to strip some paint. Chemical remover (Wilko's finest) removes the type layer fine but does nothing to the undercoat. My understanding is that a hot air gun isn't great on this as it melts the glue in the laminate. Do I just go at it with the sandpaper now or is there a better way..?

Cheers

 

[Tranona]

Hot air gun won't harm the ply, or the glue. If the undercoat is sound, just rub it down and recoat. No need to try and remove it.

 

[NUTMEG]

I feel your pain! Just finished removing layers of paint from my old gaffer. Forget chemicals, it seems to leave paint in the grain that simply will not come out. I ended up using a really good quality carbide scraper, a selection of cabinet scrapers and sand paper. Started with really rough (150 grit) and gradually worked to finer grades. I have varnished my woodwork so had to get every trace of paint off. If your going to paint then you do not need to be so meticulous. I also employed a hot air gun to great effect combined with the carbide scraper. No problems with the glue. I think it would burst into flames first!

 

[Stemar]

If the undercoat's that hard to shift, there's no point unless you want to varnish it. In that case, beware - seven times beware - the outer veneers on a lot (all? some expert will know if I've just been unlucky!) of plywood is very thin. It's far too easy to to sand right through it and ruin the appearance so you have to paint it or replace it anyway. 150 grit will go through before you even touch the ply - just picking it up and thinking about it will be enough!