I have a Hunter 25.5 that's got a couple of decal stripes across the cabin and faded, cracking and pealing. I'm interested in removing them and painting new ones. Anyone have experience with removing these? I was thinking about trying Goof-off to melt the glue. Obviously my first priority is to not damage the fiberglass. What about painting new stripes. I would think using a spray can would look nice, but I would hate to tape off the entire deck to protect against over spray. Maybe just using a brush and good tape would be better. Thanks.
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Try this
Use a hairdryer and straight razor to remove. The hairdryer heats up the tape, softens it. Recommend having a signpainter put the new stripes back on. It's not for amateurs.
Use a hairdryer and straight razor to remove. The hairdryer heats up the tape, softens it. Recommend having a signpainter put the new stripes back on. It's not for amateurs.
Forget scrapers
Use the 3M eraser wheel. It's what the auto stripe folks use. Get it at a auto paint supply store, chuck in a variable speed drill and wipe the stripe off. I honestly don't know why folks cling to chemicals, heat and scrapers when this wheel works fast, clean and can't harm the boat in any way.
Use the 3M eraser wheel. It's what the auto stripe folks use. Get it at a auto paint supply store, chuck in a variable speed drill and wipe the stripe off. I honestly don't know why folks cling to chemicals, heat and scrapers when this wheel works fast, clean and can't harm the boat in any way.
What I did.
I had very wide tape on my cabin top. I called it "racoon eyes" because it was about 10" wide and went around the 3 ports on both of the coach sides. It was about 5' long and tapered to about 1" as it went forward. I removed the old tape by carefully lifting an edge of the tape with a razor knife. Then I used a hair dryer to heat it and slowly peeled the tape off. Any glue residue was removed with paint thinner (real easy to do) and then waxed the whole area. I haven't replaced the wide tape because I like the "sterile" white look of it now. It can be dressed up with narrow two-tone tape (each 1/2" wide), but it is a bit tricky to align it. Best for a pro to do it.
I had very wide tape on my cabin top. I called it "racoon eyes" because it was about 10" wide and went around the 3 ports on both of the coach sides. It was about 5' long and tapered to about 1" as it went forward. I removed the old tape by carefully lifting an edge of the tape with a razor knife. Then I used a hair dryer to heat it and slowly peeled the tape off. Any glue residue was removed with paint thinner (real easy to do) and then waxed the whole area. I haven't replaced the wide tape because I like the "sterile" white look of it now. It can be dressed up with narrow two-tone tape (each 1/2" wide), but it is a bit tricky to align it. Best for a pro to do it.
Stripes
Paul, I'm probably going to lose some business once I explain this trick for you to lay tape stripes. Once you've determined the location, lay a line of masking tape the length of your stripe with the bottom edge of the tape where the top of the stripe will be. Put down some pencil marks every couple of feet over the length. This will help you locate the masking tape correctly. You'll get a much straighter line if you lay a long stretch of masking tape instead of putting down a foot or so at a time. Do this by pressing down an inch or so of tape out beyond the start of the stripe. Now slowly pull off about 8-10 feet of tape and slowly move it in and down until it starts to connect the dots. Once the masking tape has touched all the dots, gently press it down. Check the dot and tape alignment. If it's okay you can now apply the stripe tape a little at a time butting it up against the masking tape. Don't overlap the masking tape. Good luck.
Paul, I'm probably going to lose some business once I explain this trick for you to lay tape stripes. Once you've determined the location, lay a line of masking tape the length of your stripe with the bottom edge of the tape where the top of the stripe will be. Put down some pencil marks every couple of feet over the length. This will help you locate the masking tape correctly. You'll get a much straighter line if you lay a long stretch of masking tape instead of putting down a foot or so at a time. Do this by pressing down an inch or so of tape out beyond the start of the stripe. Now slowly pull off about 8-10 feet of tape and slowly move it in and down until it starts to connect the dots. Once the masking tape has touched all the dots, gently press it down. Check the dot and tape alignment. If it's okay you can now apply the stripe tape a little at a time butting it up against the masking tape. Don't overlap the masking tape. Good luck.
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