They painted the decals!

[scrmnegl]

I'm in the process of refinishing the exterior of my boat. Someone who owned it before decided the decals that came on the boat were to faded and decided to paint them. I want to remove them. They are basically accent striping (orange and black) but it is enough to be a pain. Is there a way to remove all them or do I just spend extra time sanding down through them?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[slasmith1]

Re: They painted the decals!

warm them with a heat gun and use a plastic paint scraper.

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: They painted the decals!

Yep...heat's the ticket, sometimes. If that doesn't work, I would consider sanding out most of the orange color and bringing the dark color on the bottom of the hull up high enough to cover the old orange stripes. It might be hard to completely obliterate the orange stripes with a lighter color like the color under the orange stripes. The heat gun method takes lots of patience...so pick your work time/day carefully...no distractions, etc.

 

[scrmnegl]

Re: They painted the decals!

Bought a wagner heat gun. Wow, this is going to take some time. I started to scrape the decals off and it leaves behind a little glue residue. I'm guessing that is easily sandable, correct?

Chris

 

[thatguy]

Re: They painted the decals!

go to an auto body supply store and pick up a magic eraser. It goes by many names, eraser wheel, body eraser, vinyl eraser ect. Its a circular eraser type compound with a drill mandrel.

They are about $40, it will take the stripes right down along with the glue. What is left behind can be cleaned with soap and water.

They work really good,

Good luck!
Tom

 

[redfury]

Re: They painted the decals!

go to an auto body supply store and pick up a magic eraser. It goes by many names, eraser wheel, body eraser, vinyl eraser ect. Its a circular eraser type compound with a drill mandrel.

They are about $40, it will take the stripes right down along with the glue. What is left behind can be cleaned with soap and water.

They work really good,

Good luck!
Tom

I'll second that. We use that to remove decals off our work vans when we sell them...takes the stuff right off and relatively quick compared to heat and peel.

However, any leftover adhesive can be removed with Acetone and a few rags.

 

[scrmnegl]

Re: They painted the decals!

To bad I don't have an angle grinder

 

[chicknwing]

Re: They painted the decals!

it leaves behind a little glue residue. I'm guessing that is easily sandable, correct?

Try some goo gone, works like a charm on the glue residue.

TC

 

[reelfishin]

Re: They painted the decals!

Plain old WD40 will also remove most adhesives. I've used it a lot to remove the glue left behind by old decals.

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: They painted the decals!

Great thread and good advice from all...I'm off tomorrow to look for a magic eraser. Let us know how your decal removal works out.

 

[danond]

Re: They painted the decals!

3M adhesive remover kicks WD40 and Goo-gone's butt. It'll dissolve residue in seconds, leaves the surface alone.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: They painted the decals!

Magic eraser wheel rocks... better than anything else.

You can use it in a variable speed drill, too.

Erik