Old Name

I know its already on here somewhere....but I can't find it........we are trying to remove the old vinyl letters.....1-20+ years of being there........and we are a little stuck......tried the hair dryer....didn't do much......am trying goo off this weekend...any other ideas?

James

Try a 3M pinstripe removal wheel chucked into a drill. Most auto parts stores have them in the $20 range. Sometimes trade named Strip-It. They work like a charm on cars and boats without damaging the finish.

Good luck

I used a plastic scraper, heat, Goo B Gone, & Awesome cleaner to remove the old name on our transom; Oh, lots of patience as well.

Heat gun. Hair dryer isn't enough heat, but be careful and keep it moving. Vinyl WILL soften. It just takes patience.

I'm with Tom on the heatgun. I pulled the old name off of two transoms and the trick seems to be to get the vinyl hot, but not too hot. At the right temperature the glue let's go and the vinyl is still strong enough for you to "peel" sections off. As it cools, you start over. Afterward, you may want to use something like acetone to remove the remaining glue- then compound with one of the 3-M products.

CPseudonym wrote:
Try a 3M pinstripe removal wheel chucked into a drill. Most auto parts stores have them in the $20 range. Sometimes trade named Strip-It. They work like a charm on cars and boats without damaging the finish.

Good luck

Click to expand...

*This was just passed on to me as well.

peeling off decals can work..but if they are old and cracked or in bad shape from scratches or such (which makes them strip off in way more pieces) you'll be using the heat gun on yourself.

psneeld wrote:CPseudonym wrote:
Try a 3M pinstripe removal wheel chucked into a drill. Most auto parts stores have them in the $20 range. Sometimes trade named Strip-It. They work like a charm on cars and boats without damaging the finish.

Good luck

Click to expand...

*This was just passed on to me as well.

peeling off decals can work..but if they are old and cracked or in bad shape from scratches or such (which makes them strip off in way more pieces) you'll be using the heat gun on yourself.

*Friend of mine bought a 15 or so year old 18' Glastron a couple months ago. Great find, covered its whole life darn near factory clean interior. I've never seen so many decals on a hull before. Stored on a carport and the sun baked the decals on the starboard side of the hull. 3 weekends of heat gun and plastic scraper and it was a real mess.(not even 1/4 done) Told him about the 3M wheel and he was done with the whole boat in less than 8 hours and it looked great.

The only things I peel now are bananas and oranges.

Spray on oven cleaner. The lye disolves the vinyl and glue.

Ken

I used Easy Off oven cleaner to remove the painted name on our boat. Haven't tried it with vinyl. I would think twice if the gel-coat is in good shape. My gel-coat is pretty faded and this didn't do it any favors.

Maybe I got lucky. Start to finish took just over an hour.

Picture #4 shows all the tools I needed. Plus some paper towels.

Every once in a while, a project goes as planned.

cool ya did good
SD