Stripping old painted name off side of boat

[mildew2]

I have a 1990 2520 Parker. When the boat was bought new there was a name painted on the sides. The name is about 1 ft. high and about 4 ft.long.

I have been using Interstrip 299E by Interlux. The name was painted in black letters with red outline on the letters. Looks as if it was hand lettered. I brush on the Interstrip 299E with a natural bristled brush as
thick as possible and have let it sit for as much as an hour, the black bubbles up and can be scraped off fairly well, but the red doesn't seem
to be fazed by the 299E. Can anyone give me an idea about what I might be doing wrong, or if I'm using the wrong stripper. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The can said it had to be at least 60 degrees, lately the temps have been in the 80's. Tried pressure washing after stipping paint off but that didn't really help either.

 

[jpg1969]

Although I have personally never tried, I have read numerous recommendations for EZ-OFF oven cleaner (original formula) for removing painted on boat names from fiberglass. It supposedly doesn't hurt the gelcoat.

 

[TomS]

I did the Easy Off thing when I needed to remove a painted on name. It worked out fine, although it turned the gelcoat yellow in the area after a few minutes. Luckily I had done my research and found out that its only a temporary problem and it had cleared up overnight.

-- Tom

 

[mildew2]

Tom. How long did you leave the easy off on for? It doesn't soften the gel coat?

The black on the side comes right off, but the red doesn't bubble up or come off at all.

I will try the easy-off if thats the answer. Thanks for the response.

 

[TomS]

It was over the course of say a 15 min period to get the old name off. Spray on, let soak for a few mins, trying to coral the drips running down the side of the boat and keep most of the Easy Off on the paint.. then I'd work at it with a clean rag, take a little off, then repeat with another application of Easy Off. Just kept doing that until it was gone.

It seemed like the Easy Off loosened up the outer layers of paint and then it was mostly elbow grease to get it off, not as easy as a spray on, soak and wipe off deal

-- Tom

 

[DaleH]

A slick trick is to tape some cardboard below the name area with 3M blue tape and then 'tip' the cardboard out from the hull at the bottom so your drips roll down and OFF and away from the hull.

A ball of rolled-up tape will usually give you enough angle ...

 

[mildew2]

Tom..JPG1969...and Dale your answer on removing the old painted on name was right on..

I had tried the interstrip 299 with limited success. So when you gave me the easy off oven cleaner idea I tried it right away, it worked very well and completely removed the old paint with no harm to my gel coat at all.

In fact where I used the 299 it left a hue around the ouside of the letters but the easy off left nothing, cleaned it completely. Thanks guys I have been wrestling with this problem for a while.

Conclusion: for removing old paint from fiberglass, forget any new chemicals and stay with the easy-off.(original formula)

 

[Porkchunker]

I can attest to the paint removal properties of "EZ-Off." It took the paint right off my Coleman two-burner camp stove when I tried to clean it after a particularly bad camping trip.

Dave