Removing Old Boat Lettering

[MikeS]

If anyone has any input here that can help, I would appreciate.

We've removed the old boat name / lettering and are wanting to install the new. Boat is painted in awlgrip (about 2 years ago) and has been cleaned down with acetone and polished with all the overpriced products that awlgrip recommends.

On the transom - where the old name was - you can still see a faint outline of the old name. It's probably due more to fading and the sun burning in around the old lettering than anything - but, without doing 20 hours of tape work to do 10 minutes of paint -- is there anything we can try to reduce the visiblity of the old name being almost "etched" in to the existing finish?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Uplate]

A lot people do wet sanding to take care of this problem. I just lived with it as it is hard to see where the old lettering was unless you look carefully at a specific angle.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Yeah, it is tough to get it off. I'm not a "detailing pro", but I've never had good luck getting it completely off. Usually, the problem is that the area under the letters is actually slightly higher than the surrounding area. This happens due to years of buffing - slightly wearing down the surface around the letters.

Possibly a stiff, but flexible, block sander could work - in thoery, anyway. You'd have to be careful to not sand the surrounding area too much. But I don't want to be the one experimenting with it on my boat! :smt001

 

[Asureyez]

Its a fact of life. If you are really picky, have the area re shot with Awlgrip, otherwise, give it a wet sand progressively with 600/800/1000 or 1200, compound to a brilliant shine and slap on the new name. Wax till your arm aches.

 

[RonF]

Yeah, it is tough to get it off. I'm not a "detailing pro", but I've never had good luck getting it completely off. Usually, the problem is that the area under the letters is actually slightly higher than the surrounding area. This happens due to years of buffing - slightly wearing down the surface around the letters.

Possible a stiff, but flexible, block sander could work - in thoery, anyway. You'd have to be careful to sand the surrounding area too much. But I don't want to be the one experimenting with it on my boat! :smt001

Holy cow, thanks for explaining that.

 

[Escapade]

Success = wet sand 800g 2 x + wet sand 1000g 2 x + wet sand 1200g 2 x then polish med. compound finish w/ 3m finness & wax area looks like new and took 2.0 hours be sure to use a foam pad to buff with on finish step really glosses it over.

 

[MikeS]

We got it done, thanks for all your input. Just one very small spot where the awlgrip was this and didn't want to rub too much.

 

[B Dock]

I just had the same problem today and found that a kitchen cleanser called "Soft Scrub" did the trick. It has a small amount of grit in it. When you are done, rewax, since it will take the wax off.