Removing painted name from GRP transom

T

Two Sheds

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New user, my first post, so please forgive any protocol errors. My Sadler 29 has its name brush painted (probably enamel paint) on the transom. I would like to remove it and replace it with a decal, but am wary of damaging the gelcoat with anything like nitromors. Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Martin
 
I've seen someone sanding off the wole length of a painted waterline. He used light sanding paper and a machine.Then sanded again with a lighter paper etc... In the end he polished it and it looked brandnew even better than the original gelcoat. 3M sels pads for machines up to 1000 perhaps even higher.

But that was a pro who worked as a gelcoat repairer.

I tried it ones on a spot where the gelcoat was slightly discolored by heat and the result was very good.
 
I forgot to mention I did not do it with a machine but i used a wooden block from a toy box. I wrapped the sanding paper around it. If you do it with your fingers you can go to deep in certain places. Start with sanding paper 200 (if the paint is thichk you could go a little lower) or so and move than to 400, 600 finish with 1000 than polish.
 
Martin,

Welcome to the forum; there is much to be learned from the gathered knowledge and experience here.

As to your question - I recently had to remove all antifoul paint back to the perfectly clean gel coat (before a prophylatic epoxy barrier treatment) and I used International paint thinner no.7 and it did an amazing job in removing all traces of the antifoul paint. Whether it would do the same for enamel paint I am not certain but it might be worth a try.

rob
 
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Martin, wait for the answers of the chemists on the forum before trying my possible destructive advice /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Possibly VicS will pick up the thread.
 
Martin,
I removed the painted name of my boat using special paint remover for GRP boats called dilunett. You can buy it in most chandleries. Paint on, leave, wash off. It may take a while but should remove all traces. I did a final clean up with fine 1000 grit wet n dry and then polish.
 
SWMBO is doing this job on our boat. The sign writing is coming off with G3 rubbing compound and fair amount of elbow grease.

Painted letters are usually done with special sign writer's paint which has a lot of pigment, so the job can be done in one coat.
 
[ QUOTE ]
New user, my first post, so please forgive any protocol errors. My Sadler 29 has its name brush painted (probably enamel paint) on the transom. I would like to remove it and replace it with a decal, but am wary of damaging the gelcoat with anything like nitromors. Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Martin

[/ QUOTE ]


I had the same problem [on the same model of boat]. I used a varnish scraper - the kind with a heart-shaped blade fixed perpendicular to the handle - to remove the bulk of the paint. If you hold it close to the blade with your hand pressing also onto the transom surface it's possible to control the depth of scrape quite well. I finished with a few grades of abrasive paper and then polishing compound. I once tried to remove antifouling from a dinghy using Nitromors but it made a terrible smeary mess and started to soften the gel coat. If I had to do that job again I would scrape and sand as above.
 
Dilunett is good stuff, but is caustic soda based. Wear good protective clothing. I've only used it for Antifoul, but a good reasonably priced product. Don't keep it in the cold, or the NaOH will crystalise out
 
I bought some Langlow Safer Stripper from my local chandlery. It is not caustic but supposed to be environmentally friendly.
I found it to be effective and did not damage the GRP, but it needed to be left on for several hours to work.
 
It obviously depends on what type of paint has been used but we had lettering and a coloured graphic that I removed with acetone. Hard work but relatively benign compared with caustic compounds. Finished off with G3 polishing compound.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Possibly VicS will pick up the thread.

[/ QUOTE ] Without knowing what paint has been used its difficult to advise but a grp safe paint stripper (such as Dilunet) would be as good as anything to try I guess. The ones to avoid are those containing methylene chloride (dichloromethane).
 
Gentlemen, thank you all for your help. It sounds like Dilunett is the way forward. The boat is going back in at midday the Thursday before Easter so I'll spend the morning getting the paint off and applying the new decal.

Happy sailing, all.
Martin
 
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