Replacing old cracked and worn vinyl stripes

Overpowered

Overpowered

Member
May 12, 2009
174
Lake St Clair,MI
Boat Info
90 370 Express
Engines
Twin Bluewater7.4L 330 HP Mercruiser inboards Turning 4 Blade Props
Last year I redid all my vinyl stripes on my boat. This is the second boat I have done stripes on so I thought I would share my thoughts.

The first boat I did with a heat gun and razor blade. It works but its hard work and very slow going if your working with 20 year old cracked and worn vinyl. This time around I used the 3M Pinstripe Eraser Tool and it worked great. It took the stripes off no problem and It wont harm the gel coat.


The day I picked up the boat stripes looked very bad and the gel coat had not been waxed in a long time

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3M Part#7498AM


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Takes vinyl off no problem


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Some acetone to take off any glue left behind and I wheeled the boat out


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Not bad looking for a 26 year old boat


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New vinyl stripes Sea Fit brand from West Marine


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Time to put the new lower stripes on and take the old upper vinyl off


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Now the final product


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New stripes and a wheel and wax later its looking good


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you can see from the pics that with very little time and money u can really get your boat looking new again
 
I did the same last year, just be sure your drill has the proper rpm setting, and dont stay in the same place for to long because it will burn your gelcoat. I had one spot that was trouble in the rear near my exhaust port that got a burn mark in it. Fortunately it was under where the stripe was going and covered right over it.
Looking Good!
 
Any tips for getting the stripes on straight?
 
Quint, I like to use masking tape first and have someone hold one end and pull the tape out to the length of where you want to run. Once the tape looks good follow the edge with the stripe... short runs 3' at a time are hard to get right... just how I do it...
 
Sounds logical.
 
The 1st boat I used painters tape this boat however I did by eyeballing it, its easy to see where the stripes were on older boats because after u take the stripes off there will be a shadow from where the old stripes came off
 
Looks great! I'll most likely be doing the same thing to mine come spring. Thanks for sharing!

Nik
 
As overpowered said, follow the shadow. I like to do the whole side, all in one motion. I start at the aft corner and use duct tape to make sure the striping doesn't pull off as I apply a little pulling "tension". Not too much - just enough to keep it slightly taught. Do it out of the sun, if possible, and spray a little soapy water on the hull, first. Then, walk away from the aft corner as you let the striping unroll as you walk (stay far enough away from the hull so the tape doesn't stick, yet. But if it does, just pull it back off). Once you have enough unrolled (you'll be past the bow), walk towards the hull and adjust vertically as you go. Doing it this way gives a nice, smooth lay.

I think it was last year, or the year before, there were a couple more threads about pinstriping. I very much like using the eraser tool, too, but I had pointed out one safety concern - only use the tool while traveling against the rotation (basically, constantly applying a "tightening" pressure). If you go the other way, there is a very real chance that the tool, while spinning at high RPM, will unscrew itself and fly apart at you. I found this out the hard way.

Come back with a credit card and smooths out any air bubbles (in addition to being repositionable, here's where the soapy water really pays off).
 
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lots of good tips! thanks for sharing! I desperately need to redo my stripes on my 270. looks like another item just got added to my list of things to do this spring;)
 
Boat looks great, nice job! Did you do anything atypical our use anything special when you buffed and waxed the gel coat?
 
this boat was very oxidized when I got it so It took a few steps to get it looking good again

1st pass i used 3m Rubbing Compound with a wool bonnet
2nt pass I used 3m Finesse-It 2 finishing compound with a foam pad
3rd to protect it I waxed it with Meguiars Flagship Marine wax
 
Quint4 said:
Any tips for getting the stripes on straight?
Click to expand...

Quint, I've always found it to be very difficult to get the stripes as straight as the original ones but found a simple fool proof method to do it. 1) Before you remove the old stripe run a strip of 1" masking tape along the top edge of the old stripe so it's prefectly butted to it. 2) Run another strip of masking tape butted to the top edge of the first so you end up with a two inch wide strip of masking tape. 3) remove the first strip of tape leaving a 1" space between the old stripe and the second row of masking. 4) Remove the old stripe however you want and get it all cleaned up. The 1" space will give you enough room to get it done without destroying your reference line. 5) Put the first row of masking back on where it was (butted to the bottom of the second row). 6) Install the new stripe butted to the bottom of the tape. It may sound complicated but it's actual very simple and fast. It takes away the problem of eyeballing in case you're not a good eyeballer. Mark
 
For those of you that used the 3M wheel, how long did it last? I'm looking to replace all the stripes on my boat. Having never used this product I don't know how many I'll need to get the job done.
Thanks for your help.
Rich
 
I didn't use it on every part of the stripe (some peeled off) and my boat is smaller. But, I don't think I really took notice to it being any smaller after I was done. If it was, it certainly wasn't something I was aware of. They do make two sizes - but I would be VERY surprised if you wore out the smaller one.
 
Thanks for the information. I'll guess I can start with two and see what happens.
 
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Oh, I found that pushing harder doesn't really make much of a difference. All it did was make more "eraser debris" show up on the hull. I used just enough pressure to "feel" it working.
 
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