Remove paint- not gel coat

[Summerfest]

Does anyone know how strong of a solvent I can use to remove name/murial without affecting gel coat? I just bought my first boat and would like to rename. Thanks.

[Alan Wheeler]

Is it paint, or is it a vinyl stick on. The vinyl only needs a heat gun to soften it and it will peel away.
Paint can be removed with paint removers or solvents and they won't touch the Gelcoat. But do be prepared for some discolouration where the words have been, due to being protected from sunlight. So you may need to cut and polish the area before you apply the new name. Or the old one will be seen through underneath.

[Sandero]

Speaking of removing the build up on the bottom... I have over the years fair in with resin type fillers where the paint did not adhere and I scraped it off leaving a shallow "crater"... then painted over. I assume these fairing fillers are harder to remove that the old bottom paint regardless of the method. So I would expect to have a serious of "plateaus" where the filler is and the rest gelcoat. Have others encountered this issue and is the approach to simply sand them away?

[David M]

Do you have vinyl stick-on lettering or paint?