Wet Sanding Accent Stripe

I have a 2" paint strip around my bridge combing that is faded. Wax does not help. I am not scheduled to go to the yard for over a year, so would wet sanding give me any help?

If so, which grit?

Why not just tape it off, de-wax it, rough it up with a 3M pad or 220 sandpaper, wipe it down with your favorite solvent and paint it.

I do this to our boot top every couple of years. Rolling and tipping it works for me. Goes quickly.

I`ve got that. I improved it by using a "color restorer" product which I think removes oxidized paint. Had to tape the white either side to stop the blue bleeding onto the white during the process. I then wax polished the blue, it was better, respectable, not perfect. It won`t help if the paint is all oxidized. Worth a try before repainting.

dwhatty said:

Why not just tape it off, de-wax it, rough it up with a 3M pad or 220 sandpaper, wipe it down with your favorite solvent and paint it.

I do this to our boot top every couple of years. Rolling and tipping it works for me. Goes quickly.

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You couldn't ask for a better location with ease and access of prep and application. Just protect the surrounding areas from drips and spills.

If it is paint, sanding may not be a good idea. Not sure have not done it.

If it is gel-coat, 1000 or higher is what I would suggest. Try finer grit first.

We redo our red bootstripe every couple of years when we haul out for bottom paint. All we do is tape it off, give it a light dry sanding with 220 grip paper, and roll and tip Brightside red bootstripe paint on (which is just red Brightside-- they add the word "bootstripe" to the label so they can charge an arm and a leg for the little can).

Looks great, and lasts fine. We redo it because sitting right at the waterline part of it gets dirt and muck and slime on it that dulls the finish underneath.

Takes about an hour to dos it. Yards tend to charge up to $600 to do exactly the same thing.

No reason one couldn't do the same thing with an accent stripe around a flying bridge.

Went down to the local sign shop an got a roll of blue sign vinyl 4,6 or 8 inch what ever is needed, peel an stick.

seasalt007 said:

I have a 2" paint strip around my bridge combing that is faded. Wax does not help. I am not scheduled to go to the yard for over a year, so would wet sanding give me any help?

If so, which grit?

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2000 grit wet sand followed by Meguires medium cut, then wax. It will look like new. Start with a small bit first to satisfy yourself of the result.

I had same issue. tried wax and buff but not desirable results. Gave it a sand and painted with leftover boot stripe paint. Turned out great and took very little time to do.

I like kartracer's idea best.

You hear a lot about bringing the shine back. Grit and sand paper can cause more damage than you started with if your not a glass man. You can try this as a fail safe solution.
Extreme Cut from Topoftheline.com. It chemically removes the haze. Easy to apply with an electric buffer. Follow with your favorite wax. I used it on my 2005 41' Hunter. Nobody believed the boat was not new.

It's a bit of a highjack, but I'm curious about removing the name from our new boat. It's paited on with what appears to be polyeurethane like bright aides or something. Any thoughs on getting the paint off without trashing the gel coat beneath it?

A couple of ideas

Lutarious said:

It's a bit of a highjack, but I'm curious about removing the name from our new boat. It's paited on with what appears to be polyeurethane like bright aides or something. Any thoughs on getting the paint off without trashing the gel coat beneath it?

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You can try using a heat gun "carefully" and a putty knife or razor blade scraper. There is citrus and special paint removers for fiberglass. With anything you do go slowly and protect everything below the name if using stripper. 3m makes a orange masking tape that is designed to protect areas adjacent to sanding areas from light sanding with machines. If you try to sand off the name by hand you could give this a try. There is a strong chance that even though you can remove the name, the fiberglass will be discolored under the paint. You may have to gelcoat the transom anyway.

Oven cleaner will remove many types of paint.

Capt.Bill11 said:

Oven cleaner will remove many types of paint.

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Second this. We removed ours with oven cleaner, a scraper and gel coat-safe scouring pads. Followed with white vinegar to eliminate yellowing, which I'm told would go away on its own anyway. Worked great, but it needs to be the "right" oven cleaner. Don't get the over cleaner on exposed teak. There will be a very faint "ghost" image of the old name--where the gel coat was not exposed to UV--that will eventually fade with sun exposure. You can Google the full process or look on YouTube for how-to's.