replacing registration numbers on my "new to me" 77 Oday 25. Has an off white hull, after removing the old letters it left a bit of a shadow under each numeral in the hull. Any ideas for removing this? Thanks
removing old letters shadowing
- Thread starter stx203
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Apply time and let it work. 
Such discoloration is often due to the difference in exposure of the gelcoat and there isn't really much you can do about it.
Such discoloration is often due to the difference in exposure of the gelcoat and there isn't really much you can do about it.
If you are refering primarily to a difference in color shade between where the lettering was and the rest of the hull, as sailingdog first commented, the newly exposed gelcoat over a few months should begin to conform and the difference in color shouldn't be very noticeable.
If the lettering was in place for a long time, the gelcoat everywhere else the hull gradually weathers away, while it is protected under the lettering. (Because of this, on my boat, only when the light glances just right against the hull, I can see that my boat's name "Wildaire" was once on each side of the hull. The name now resides only on the rear transom.) I suppose that one could wet sand the raised portion of the gelcoat to conform to the rest of the hull, but considering the gelcoat has been on your boat since 1977, it now might be weathered much thinner than originally applied. You would risk sanding right through to the underlying fiberglass layers. Not worth it.
If the lettering was in place for a long time, the gelcoat everywhere else the hull gradually weathers away, while it is protected under the lettering. (Because of this, on my boat, only when the light glances just right against the hull, I can see that my boat's name "Wildaire" was once on each side of the hull. The name now resides only on the rear transom.) I suppose that one could wet sand the raised portion of the gelcoat to conform to the rest of the hull, but considering the gelcoat has been on your boat since 1977, it now might be weathered much thinner than originally applied. You would risk sanding right through to the underlying fiberglass layers. Not worth it.
I just ran into this on my new boat. Sometimes the discoloration is due to leftover adhesive on the hull from the old letttering. If so, you might be able to remove it with a fibreglass friendly solvent. I used Interlux 202. Can't see the old letters now.
After removing old vinyl letters, I evened out the raised, different colored portions of gelcoat a little bit with 3M Fiberglass compound. It made a small, but noticeable difference. The problem is that you have to apply whatever treatment you use to the entire area, not just the shadows; it winds up changing the color of the entire area, which will now be different than the rest of the boat (unless you compound the whole thing). To avoid this problem, I stopped compounding before completely evening out the shadows. I agree with Sailingdog that the best cure is sunshine and patience.
Old Old lettering!
this weekend I took the old boat lettering off my boat in anticipation of applying the new name, and the big renaming ceremony. I used goo-gone to get the remnants of glue off and then some colinite ... worked fairly well ... then I tried some Buff Magic, which was recommended by the chandelry at the marina. This worked even better.
Only by looking at just the right angle, can I still see where the fiberglass that was protected by the old letters is actually a wee bit raised (or actually "not worn off").
Most interesting is that when doing my inspection, I could actually see the raised area of the boat's first 1990 name, the boats subsequent re-lettering with the same name, and then the subsequent second name. A bit of history hidden on the glass! I could never notice a trace of the original 1990 name before I cleaned it all up! I wonder what Neptune thinks about all this??
this weekend I took the old boat lettering off my boat in anticipation of applying the new name, and the big renaming ceremony. I used goo-gone to get the remnants of glue off and then some colinite ... worked fairly well ... then I tried some Buff Magic, which was recommended by the chandelry at the marina. This worked even better.
Only by looking at just the right angle, can I still see where the fiberglass that was protected by the old letters is actually a wee bit raised (or actually "not worn off").
Most interesting is that when doing my inspection, I could actually see the raised area of the boat's first 1990 name, the boats subsequent re-lettering with the same name, and then the subsequent second name. A bit of history hidden on the glass! I could never notice a trace of the original 1990 name before I cleaned it all up! I wonder what Neptune thinks about all this??
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