removing old varnish drip marks from gelcoat

Bought a 1994 Island Gypsy last summer and want to fix up the gelcoat this summer. When previous owner did the bright work, he never cleaned up the varnish that dripped down. Probably two or three years old and all hardened. Any suggestions on what can remove the varnish drips without damaging the gelcoat?
Thanks, George

3M(TM) Safest Stripper(TM) Paint and Varnish Remover 10101 - - Amazon.com

This is what I use to safely remove varnish from gelcoat.

Depending on how oxidized the Gelcoat, a sharp razor scraper works. Make sure the blade is sharp or put a new one on and use a shallow angle of attack. . You can then clean up with acetone. What ever you use, it will remove wax.


Jim
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gbrides said:

...When previous owner did the bright work, he never cleaned up the varnish that dripped down. Probably two or three years old and all hardened. Any suggestions on what can remove the varnish drips without damaging the gelcoat?

Click to expand...

I know your pain. The PO over varnished every edge on the whole boat, like in the photo below. This was a bad spot, but it is everywhere! How many linear feet is there on both sides of varnished surfaces on a 30' boat

*Note to self: buy good masking tape and make sure it's sticking!!!!!!

Nature has been dealing with removing most of the old varnish (with some scraping help from me when areas start to delaminate) while I deal with more important boat issues and complications of Life. This is the summer to deal with it, so appreciate your timely question

My favorite tool for removing wayward varnish drips from gelcoat is via judicious scraping. And my favorite scrapers use carbide blades, like this one: Bahco 650 Scraper Carbide Ergo, 2" Double - AboloxTools.com

With (again, judicious) scraping, generally a light swipe with cleaner wax after varnish removal restores the gelcoat shine. And I might add that carbide scrapers have a myriad of uses aboard, and with easily-replaceable (and SHARP) carbide blades, are invaluable.

Regards,

Pete

I've read that some paint/varnish removers can damage gelcoat & fiberglass..."Dad's Easy Spray" claims to be good for use on boats (while never actually mentioning gelcoat or fiberglass on their website)...anybody use it?

I got it for the doors and window frames...was thinking I could apply it with a small brush on the gelcoat areas, then leave it on only long enough to soften up the varnish to make it easier to remove.

Dad's Easy Spray Paint, Stain, Sealer & Varnish Remover | Take what was old...and make it new again!

On Off worked for us on a few minor areas of Cetol on the gelcoat. It worked great on the moderate dark staining that we were actually targeting, to boot.

Razor blade and repolish. Many times the varnish is for adhere very well so it comes off withno ddamage.