Stripping paint off dinghy

[NigelCraig]

One of my boats is a composite (GRP hull, wooden other bits) Solo dinghy. I need to repaint the wood decks (which should be varnished but something went wrong with original build!) and the inside surface of the GRP. I want to get nearly all the old paint off to avoid adding weight.

As the inside is not gelcoated it's a pretty rough surface so sanding is going to take a lot of GRP with it - is there any chemical I can use which doesn't dissolve the resin?

Same question about the wood although I do have the option of a blowtorch on that one. I presume paint will have gone into grain of wood so getting a nice varnished finish is out of the question.

 

[Lakesailor]

If you spend hours and hours and hours scraping the paint off and collect all the shavings and before you thrown them away you weigh them you will find that weight saving is a non-existent concept. They are light as feathers.
The weight of a tin of paint is mainly the solvent (or carrier if you insist on water-based paints).

Rub down. Paint