boat decals

boats3po

boats3po

New Member
Dec 11, 2010
42
philadelphia,pa
Boat Info
1988 230 cuddy cabin
Engines
5.7L mercruiser
looking to remove the old decals on 1988 sea ray sundancer, anyone with a good idea of how to remove the old decals:smt021
 
Haven't tried it yet but will be removing mine come spring.

Many guys here have recommended using a heat gun to warm/soften them making them easy to peel off.

Good luck.
 
I'm going to suggest a hair dryer as opposed to a heat gun. Too much heat & you could end up with more of a mess. (I'm pretty sure I read that here).

A new plastic scraper instead of razor blades for the same reason, pretty easy to scar up your gel coat with the blades. I used this method to remove the reg numbers & years worth of annual stickers. Worked like a charm.
 
I have a spray can that is specific for this use. I got it from the shop that does all of the vinyl lettering for my vehicles. I will look for the product next time out to the shop and post the brand name. It worked well for me. I beleive that it was a 3M product. Check with your local sign shop.
 
Hair dryer works fine. Start at an edge and heat it up. Keep heating and pulling and it will come off many times in one piece. Clean up the glue residue with acetone on a clean rag.
 
I was interested in this too and read up on past threads here on this. By far the best method is the 3M Pinstripe Wheel. Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/3M-Stripe-Wheel-07498-Hardware/dp/B00063VT0G

It is sold all over on the internet and some say its at NAPA auto parts too but I didnt find one.

Here is the deal with this. I am impatient. I wanted instant gratification so I didnt buy the wheel but went to the boat with plastic scrapers and goo gone and heat guns and all the stuff I already had in the garage because I didnt want to spend $30 on the 3M wheel and I especially didnt want to order the thing online and have to wait a few days........"I want the pinstripes off today!!" I said to myself. I went to the boat and toiled. After about a half hour I thought ok, ok, I will buy the stupid wheel as recommended on this site. It came in a few days later. I ran down to the boat with a drill and this thing pulled off the stripes the second I touch them. Absolutely zero damage to gel coat. I would bet the only way you could damage the gel coat is to just hold the wheel in one place for 20 seconds at max rpm or something. You wont though because it will take off the stripe/decal in a second as you move along, zero scratches, zero burn. It is basically an eraser and it slowly wears and takes heat with it. It will take a lot of decal off. I am not quite done because it started raining out here but I think I will get all stripes and decals off a '98 Sea Ray 330 and have some wheel left. Look it up on youtube for a demo. This thing was worth every cent for the time it will save you and the reduced effort/back ache. I would pay double if I had to before I would ever try scrapers, razors or heat guns again.
 
One more note. If you have pinstripes in good condition, the heat gun does work ok, not great but ok. If however you have worn or cracked pinstripes the heat gun/scraper method is tedious because they will not come off as one piece but keep breaking every half an inch. That is where the wheel really saves time. And try to use a corded drill. A cordless drill will die pretty quick.
 
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gregkjones said:
I was interested in this too and read up on past threads here on this. By far the best method is the 3M Pinstripe Wheel. Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/3M-Stripe-Wheel-07498-Hardware/dp/B00063VT0G

It is sold all over on the internet and some say its at NAPA auto parts too but I didnt find one.

Here is the deal with this. I am impatient. I wanted instant gratification so I didnt buy the wheel but went to the boat with plastic scrapers and goo gone and heat guns and all the stuff I already had in the garage because I didnt want to spend $30 on the 3M wheel and I especially didnt want to order the thing online and have to wait a few days........"I want the pinstripes off today!!" I said to myself. I went to the boat and toiled. After about a half hour I thought ok, ok, I will buy the stupid wheel as recommended on this site. It came in a few days later. I ran down to the boat with a drill and this thing pulled off the stripes the second I touch them. Absolutely zero damage to gel coat. I would bet the only way you could damage the gel coat is to just hold the wheel in one place for 20 seconds at max rpm or something. You wont though because it will take off the stripe/decal in a second as you move along, zero scratches, zero burn. It is basically an eraser and it slowly wears and takes heat with it. It will take a lot of decal off. I am not quite done because it started raining out here but I think I will get all stripes and decals off a '98 Sea Ray 330 and have some wheel left. Look it up on youtube for a demo. This thing was worth every cent for the time it will save you and the reduced effort/back ache. I would pay double if I had to before I would ever try scrapers, razors or heat guns again.
Click to expand...

I have used one of those wheels a neighbor loaned to me. what I did was use a hair dryer to get the bulk of the decals off. The wheel was used on the left over residue. Used acetone after that.

I would like to remove the stripes and graphics next time I get pulled out. Certainly going to have the wheel in the toolkit.
 
I've never had much luck with hair dryers or heat guns. They've always made a mess of things for me. I think the heat from them melts the adhesive in to a goo, which just makes things harder.
I took my decals off after the sun hit them for a few hours. Once you get it started with a razor blade, you'd be surprised at how easy they come off. Mine took about 5 minutes each.
I've done my boot stripes a couple of times now, and just removed the "Sea Ray" emblems from the sides of the boat this year. They were on there for 23 years, and they came off pretty easy.
Let the sun hit the side of the boat for a few hours, and then go at it. Wait to do the other side until the sun hits that side for a few hours too. Luckily my boat is blocked up facing directly south, so I get the morning sun baking the port side, and the afternoon sun getting the starboard side.
There will be a good amount of residue left over after you peel away the vinyl.
I used to use a 3M product, but when I went to buy it again last spring I was told it was no longer available. The guy in the local Hardware Store sold me another product that came in a yellow bottle. It worked just as well as the 3M stuff. I can't remember the name right now, but I gave the bottle to a friend so he could use it too, and if you really need the name I can get it for you.
Anyway, I worked with the adhesive remover by wiping a good amount on the surface, letting it soak in for a minute or two, and carefully scraping away the residue with a fresh safety blade. It ook me about another 5 minutes to do this.
The whole thing is not nearly as difficult as it might seem.
BTW: The fresh emblems were a big improvement.
 
gregkjones said:
I was interested in this too and read up on past threads here on this. By far the best method is the 3M Pinstripe Wheel. Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/3M-Stripe-Wheel-07498-Hardware/dp/B00063VT0G

It is sold all over on the internet and some say its at NAPA auto parts too but I didnt find one.

Here is the deal with this. I am impatient. I wanted instant gratification so I didnt buy the wheel but went to the boat with plastic scrapers and goo gone and heat guns and all the stuff I already had in the garage because I didnt want to spend $30 on the 3M wheel and I especially didnt want to order the thing online and have to wait a few days........"I want the pinstripes off today!!" I said to myself. I went to the boat and toiled. After about a half hour I thought ok, ok, I will buy the stupid wheel as recommended on this site. It came in a few days later. I ran down to the boat with a drill and this thing pulled off the stripes the second I touch them. Absolutely zero damage to gel coat. I would bet the only way you could damage the gel coat is to just hold the wheel in one place for 20 seconds at max rpm or something. You wont though because it will take off the stripe/decal in a second as you move along, zero scratches, zero burn. It is basically an eraser and it slowly wears and takes heat with it. It will take a lot of decal off. I am not quite done because it started raining out here but I think I will get all stripes and decals off a '98 Sea Ray 330 and have some wheel left. Look it up on youtube for a demo. This thing was worth every cent for the time it will save you and the reduced effort/back ache. I would pay double if I had to before I would ever try scrapers, razors or heat guns again.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info. I have to remove the strips on the 270 and the 400EC If thing works as good as you say it will save me a lot of time. :thumbsup:
 
3m pinstripe remover, thats all I have to say, forget about heat gun, hair dryer, wd40, and all that other crap, once again............3m
 
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I talked to a sign guy.... He told me to use boiling water. I tried it to remove the name from my boat and it worked great. Boil the kettle..... slowly pour it over one letter at a time. Works good. Just a little time consuming cause you have to keep the water hot..
 
just a side note: if your looking to remove painted on decals, names etc. use oven cleaner the sign guy used this to remove the old name painted on our boat it almost runs off the boat!!
 
frozen with salt said:
just a side note: if your looking to remove painted on decals, names etc. use oven cleaner the sign guy used this to remove the old name painted on our boat it almost runs off the boat!!
Click to expand...


What would that do to the gel coat?
 
Hello, I'm a new member and I have a question regarding decals. Your info about removing them was very helpful. Now for my problem. Where do I obtain replacement decals and tapes for my 2000 230OV SR in hunter green. I was told by our local SR dealer that they are no longer in stock by mfg. Maybe I can find the original vendor to SR.
 
foxyc said:
I talked to a sign guy.... He told me to use boiling water. I tried it to remove the name from my boat and it worked great. Boil the kettle..... slowly pour it over one letter at a time. Works good. Just a little time consuming cause you have to keep the water hot..
Click to expand...

I agree...really hot water works well..it allowed me to peel of old brittle decals off an old boat with no worries...the price is right as well! i just heated up a large measuring cup in my microwave poured it over the decal and it came right off. Prior to using hot water i tried a heat gun, chemicals, wheels all kinds of gimmicks and hot water worked like a charm.
 
Did mine last summer, hair dryer and some dental floss worked great then goo gone for removing any left over junk. It took me about 30 min remove all the decals.

I watched the 3m wheel in action it made quick work of the boat next to me.
 
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