Anyone have any experience removing painted letters from a fibreglass hull? (I need to change the hailing port designation from So. California to SF for my '96 Catalina 320.) I tested a small area with acetone; although it seems to work, it requires lots of elbow grease and leaves a blue smear if not careful. West Marine sells a paint remover "especially formulated for fibreglass". Sounds much easier, but paint remover is nasty stuff, and I'd hate to risk damage to the finish on my boat unless someone has had good experience with it. Anyone else had to face this issue? Thanks in advance, and hope you all have a safe Y2K NYE!
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Kevin McGrath
Removing paint
Try and scrape the paint off first with a razor blade scraper like the one you use to take paint off a window. Go slow and be careful. once you take off most of the paint, sand the rest off with 600 paper and then polish with white rubbing compound. I did this once and it worked just fine. you will always have a slight memory of the name, but it will eventually fade away.
Try and scrape the paint off first with a razor blade scraper like the one you use to take paint off a window. Go slow and be careful. once you take off most of the paint, sand the rest off with 600 paper and then polish with white rubbing compound. I did this once and it worked just fine. you will always have a slight memory of the name, but it will eventually fade away.
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Bruce Harkness
Oven Cleaner
Try using oven cleaner. It is composed of Caustic (NaOH) and will remove the letters without harming the fiberglass. It is commonly used for removing lettering from commercial vehicles. As always, try a test spot before proceeding. This should be the most painless way.
Try using oven cleaner. It is composed of Caustic (NaOH) and will remove the letters without harming the fiberglass. It is commonly used for removing lettering from commercial vehicles. As always, try a test spot before proceeding. This should be the most painless way.
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LaDonna Bubak - Planet Catalina
I'd heard oven cleaner has been reformulated
Someone told me that oven cleaner has recently been reformulated to be less caustic & doesn't work on paint anymore. Did I hear wrong? We used acetone & super high grit sandpaper. BUT...our gelcoat was in pretty poor shape & we weren't really worried about marring the finish. LaDonna
Someone told me that oven cleaner has recently been reformulated to be less caustic & doesn't work on paint anymore. Did I hear wrong? We used acetone & super high grit sandpaper. BUT...our gelcoat was in pretty poor shape & we weren't really worried about marring the finish. LaDonna
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Rodney Kidd
West Marine Stuff
Julian, I recently removed the CF numbers from my C-38 using that West Marine Paint remover for fiberglass. The remover softened the letters enough to easily scrape them off with a razor blade. I then had to use green Scotch Bright pads soaked in acetone to remove any residual paint. I followed up with some 3M Fiberglass Cleaner/Wax. Even with the remover, a fair amount of elbow grease was required. Under certain lighting conditions, you can see where the numbers were but if you didn't know where to look, you would be hard pressed to notice. Good Luck, Rodney Kidd C-38 #297, Flying Bear
Julian, I recently removed the CF numbers from my C-38 using that West Marine Paint remover for fiberglass. The remover softened the letters enough to easily scrape them off with a razor blade. I then had to use green Scotch Bright pads soaked in acetone to remove any residual paint. I followed up with some 3M Fiberglass Cleaner/Wax. Even with the remover, a fair amount of elbow grease was required. Under certain lighting conditions, you can see where the numbers were but if you didn't know where to look, you would be hard pressed to notice. Good Luck, Rodney Kidd C-38 #297, Flying Bear
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John FitzGerald
Oven Cleaner
I've just used the "e-z off" and it still work it requires a little elbow grease and some water, but it works fine.
I've just used the "e-z off" and it still work it requires a little elbow grease and some water, but it works fine.
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R. Palaia
2000 grit
After you use whatever solvent to take the paint off, you will probably notice a ghost image of the letters (and maybe a little color still in the gelcoat). I did this before and it worked great. Get some 2000 grit wet sandpaper (autoparts store). With a spray bottle, wet the fiberglass, then with VERY light pressure, rub the area with the sandpaper. Constantly spray water while rubbing. You'll get a new gelcoat shine. You can also follow up with a polishing compound (not rubbing compound, polishing which is more fine). Roc
After you use whatever solvent to take the paint off, you will probably notice a ghost image of the letters (and maybe a little color still in the gelcoat). I did this before and it worked great. Get some 2000 grit wet sandpaper (autoparts store). With a spray bottle, wet the fiberglass, then with VERY light pressure, rub the area with the sandpaper. Constantly spray water while rubbing. You'll get a new gelcoat shine. You can also follow up with a polishing compound (not rubbing compound, polishing which is more fine). Roc
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Julian
Thanks to All
Thanks to everyone for all for the input. Here's the conclusion: I used the West Marine paint remover, very lightly rubbing with 0000 steel wool after allowing it to work for 20 min. The blue lettering came off easily. A swipe with acetone removed the remaining light blue "cloud". I next applied (lightly) Meguire's fiberglas rubbing compound which removed the shadowing of the letters, followed by a polishing compound, a good rinsing, and wax. Good as new, and no visible shadow.
Thanks to everyone for all for the input. Here's the conclusion: I used the West Marine paint remover, very lightly rubbing with 0000 steel wool after allowing it to work for 20 min. The blue lettering came off easily. A swipe with acetone removed the remaining light blue "cloud". I next applied (lightly) Meguire's fiberglas rubbing compound which removed the shadowing of the letters, followed by a polishing compound, a good rinsing, and wax. Good as new, and no visible shadow.
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