Remove prior boat name

[Mike Fleming]

I'm renaming my Hunter 28.5. I removed the vinyl name with a heat gun and the remaining adhesive with mineral spirits. I could still see the name in the gelcoat I buffed the area with 3M heavy duty compound. I can still see the name at the right angle with sun glasses. I was concerned about buffing it too hard.Any ideas before I apply the new name.I do have copies of the de-naming and re-name ceremony.Thanksflemmm@accnorwalk.com

 

[mark v.]

removing shadow

take a orbital sander and start with 220 wet/dry grit doing the imidiate area of the name. this should take only a couple of minutes.switch to 320 w/d do the same only enlarge the area. follow this process w 400,600 then 1000 .SAND WITH NO WATER!! the gelcoat is probably 10 mils thick so sanding through should not be a problem. do watch along the outer edges as theres usually a factory repair and the gelcoat could be thinner there. when all the sanding is done use a good POLISHING compound useing a electric polisher . this process works very well with painted on names also.GOOD LUCK!

 

[Steve Dion]

Leave it alone.

Mike:I would just leave it alone. When you get the new name on the boat you will not notice this very much. As the sun bleaches out the area where the old name was will blend into the rest of the hull. I personally would not sand the hull with anything other than very fine wet sanding if you really need to sand it.

 

[Peggie Hall/Head Mistress]

Undiluted bleach

Spray the entire area every few days (every day, if you can). Don't rinse. The combination of bleach and sun will get rid of the ghost in a few weeks. without damage to the gelcoat.

 

[Jim Willis]

If white, blue etc use SEA GLOW- no sanding!

I used to have a piece of light blue hobie cat for demoing my products at boat shows. I not only demonstrated that our cleaners took of dried adhesive residue, but SEA GLOW with light scuffing (3M pad 000 very fine grade) then paper towel soaked in SEA GLOW (use like a skin lotion). This allowd SEA GLOW to penetrate pores in the old gelcoat and restore to original color.How does it work? It removes chalk from micropores that ligthen dark geclaot and darkent light gelcoat (thourhg accumlation of stains). ALso the fluorescence in the SEA GLOW "brightens" the pigment to orgianl brigtness.THa amazing thing was that you could now "feel" the step between original gelcoat and old compounded out gelcoat but could not see the color difference.On Beige hulls etc our "CRYSTAL CLEAR" (soon to be relabelled "NEUTRAL CLEAR") product is used (not need or desire for fluorescence. Go to the testimonial section of this site's chandlery to see a testimonial backing up my own experiences.WIth all due respect to the other suggestions sanding of gecloat should be avoided wherever possible and bleach is not a great idea. Why try to age good gelcoat (that had been under the sticker) rather than rejuvenate old gecloat around it?Thanks Jim Willis