Removing Vinyl Lettering from Hull Exterior

[Mike Sibley]

I just bought a new (old) boat and absolutely need to change the name. Is there a secret to getting the old vinyl lettering (for name and home port) off the boat without leaving an obvious shadow of the old name?

[Jentine]

NO! The problem is that the gelcoat has aged where the letters weren't applied and not under the letter. Compounding the hull will lessen the effect but probably won't eliminate all the color difference.

[rick2718]

The problem is the difference in UV attack, which you really can't do much about at this point. My guess is that you will have to repaint to truly hide it.

[minaret]

800 grit film discs on a DA and then polish, done in half an hour. Wet sand by hand and polish done in couple of hours. Really extreme cases sometimes can't be brought back but this is rare. There is a vinyl flapper disc that will remove vinyl lettering quickly and painlessly as well.

[virginia boy]

No suggestions as to fixing the faded/unfaded paint, but to get the letters off cleanly I use a heat gun for a couple of seconds to warm a letter, lift a corner of the letter with a razor blade and peel it off easy as pie. I too was left with the unfaded paint visible but don't really care enough to do anything about it yet.

I'm thinking that when I paint my topsides green, I may have the boat name placed on a wooden plaque attached to the hull.

[minaret]

To clarify, I meant 800 and polish for gelcoat only. For paint you can try 2000 and polish but if its faded at all you're screwed. Try covering it with the new vinyl lettering and/or a graphic or nameboard in this case.

[sww914]

There are two easy ways to remove the vinyl, I've done thousands.
1- The heat gun as mentioned above, but if there's any glue left use Wax, Grease, and Silicone remover (pre-kleeno) on the glue rather than acetone or lacquer thinner.
Trust me, it's a lot easier because it removes most of the stickiness of the glue so you can just brush it off with your fingers where it stays on the boat.
2- A stripe eraser in a drill. The 3M flap style won't work as well in a drill as the solid type made by Astro and others because drills are too slow.
These products are available at autobody supply stores.
All of the sanding and polishing advice above is good.

[ozskipper]

Simple solution is to get your vinyl man to cut the letters and place them onto a background. Then apply the whole lot. Covering all gell coat in that area regardless of fade.

[Capt.Don]

We too were concerned about ghosting from previous vinyl lettering - 10+ years, blue LP paint. After applying the new name, there are areas where you can still see outlines from the old lettering. Quite frankly, unless we are studying the transom, we've never noticed the old name - we are too busy sailing or fixing other things! I also believe over time, the ghosting effect will fade.

[Mike Sibley]

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I'll use the heat gun to get the old letters off then lightly compound to reduce the ghost. Then I'll just fail to notice any ghost that remains. Sounds like a plan.

[David M]

Good choice. That's how I did it once and it worked.

[Pblais]

When over paint you can use "3M Finesse It" It will blend paint where faded or otherwise. I had hard plastic letters over red Awlgrip and with the letters removed it was shiny underneath with less fade. That did a pretty good job where leaving it alone for 3 years changed nothing. It's not cheap stuff but it is great for making the mistakes and other problems blend into the background.

If it's just over Gelcoat oven cleaner works well too and won't scratch or hurt gelcoat. It does take the fight out of Vinyl letters. A plastic scraper does the rest. It can remove some painted lettering over Awlgrip too but you may need the 3M Finesse It to clean it up.

The absolute worst is red pigmented 2 part paint over white gelcoat or Awlgrip. The iron in the pigment bleeds and nothing takes it out! I had to re Awlgrip the transom to get it out but the plastic letters on the sides was fixed with the 3M Finesse It.

[welshdiver]

Originally Posted by minaret

800 grit film discs on a DA and then polish, done in half an hour. Wet sand by hand and polish done in couple of hours. Really extreme cases sometimes can't be brought back but this is rare. There is a vinyl flapper disc that will remove vinyl lettering quickly and painlessly as well.

I agree here, you can use a T.Cut & polish that helps but doesnt get rid of it all until new paint job, our tender still has FL & Number showing & we are NZ registered

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Pblais

When over paint you can use "3M Finesse It" It will blend paint where faded or otherwise. I had hard plastic letters over red Awlgrip and with the letters removed it was shiny underneath with less fade. That did a pretty good job where leaving it alone for 3 years changed nothing. It's not cheap stuff but it is great for making the mistakes and other problems blend into the background.

If it's just over Gelcoat oven cleaner works well too and won't scratch or hurt gelcoat. It does take the fight out of Vinyl letters. A plastic scraper does the rest. It can remove some painted lettering over Awlgrip too but you may need the 3M Finesse It to clean it up.

The absolute worst is red pigmented 2 part paint over white gelcoat or Awlgrip. The iron in the pigment bleeds and nothing takes it out! I had to re Awlgrip the transom to get it out but the plastic letters on the sides was fixed with the 3M Finesse It.

Finesse It and Finesse It II on a foam polishing pad only are the standard for polishing paint. I always finish with II. A little 2000 grit really does go a long way too.

[Daddys_Dream]

I worked at a car lot in another life. We used a ladies hair drier to loosen the bumper stickers and WD-40 to remove the glue. Spray the WD-40 across the top of the letter and allow it to work it's way down behind the latter, thus loosening the glue.

Becareful using the heat gun I have seen some that were too hot and burned the paint.