Replacing old cracked and worn vinyl stripes

Thank you all for providing such good feedback. I've ordered two wheels to start with the hope that some of the existing tape (that's not cracked) may come off with the heat gun method discussed in the link above.
When I get started I'll report back on my progress.
 
Last year I started with a heat gun, then someone brought over some airplane paint remover. I forget the exact brand but can get it if you are interested. It took the stripes off in no time with very little residue and no discoloration. I was all set to get the wheel until a friend showed me this stuff. IT was incredible. I then cleaned it up with acetone and washed it down. Let it sit for 3 min and it will lift the stripes right off!
Rob
p.s. the stripes are the 300 on the hull came off in an hour or less both sides. made the boat look 10 years newer without the old design. The stripes were actually in good shape, just outdated.
 
Rob,
The wheels showed up today. I'm going to give it a shot tomorrow and see how they come off. If I run into trouble I'll take you up on the offer of the name for the paint remover.
I'd love to leave the stripes off the boat but I'm fairly confident that I'm going to see come shadowing under the old stripes. I'll follow up once I've gotten the old ones off and let you know what I find.
Thanks for the post!
Rich
 
Legacy.....I loved the wheel. I went through 2.5 of them. I took off the stripes above the rub rail and the old twin boot stripe. Here are some before and after pics.....
246898_1924941177254_1653884049_1955099_7556257_n.jpg



GregsphoneearlyJuly2011035.jpg


GregsphoneearlyJuly2011082.jpg


GregsphoneearlyJuly2011080.jpg



ACETONE IS YOUR FRIEND to get all the old residue off after the wheel.
 
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Miss Maddy - I like the clean look without the upper striping and the single boot stripe. Your boat is the same year as mine - how bad was the ghosting under the old stripes? Also, how did you get rid of it if you had any?
I'm about 80% done with the removal of the boot stripes and there's no missing where the old ones were.
Oh - the acetone worked like a champ. Thanks!
Rich
 
Hi Rich,
Thanks for the positive feedback. There is still a slight ghosting affect on the upper (above rub rail), but not bad at all. On the boot stripe, I actually raised my water line. My water line now runs through the middle of my exhaust rather than under it. Look at the pics above to see the difference. I simply followed the ghosting of the old bottom boot stripe then took the single thick black and ran that over the old ghosting of the upper boot stripe. I hope this makes sense.....Thanks.
-Greg
 
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Greg,
That's a clever way to cover the ghosting.

I finally got all of my stripes removed. The heat gun method was very successful on the starboard side (below the rub rail). Both boot stripes came off in about 45 minutes.
The port side (below the rub rail) and everything on the top sides was done with the 3M wheel. All in all I have about 8 hours into completing the removal. Not nearly as bas as I thought it would be.

The ghosting on the top side is understandably worse than below the rub rail. As much as I like the look of the boat without the stripes - I'm going to re-stripe.
The upside is that the ghosting provides a very clear guide for me to follow.

I'll post some pictures when it's all done.

Rich
 
This boat had the "teal" treatment from SR. Previous owner converted it to black and grey AND ditched the second stripe at the water line (I can just about make out the "shadow" of the old second stripe). My water line stripe is in great shape but the one along the salon/foredeck is lifting a few edges and getting ratty. I was looking at it this spring, thinking about replacement and wondering how to get the old one off. It's relatively new, probably 8-9 seasons, so I think for the most part it will peel right off, but leave adhesive and shreds in a few places. Thought about a hair dryer. Bad idea?

100_1281.jpg
 
I have used the wheel with good results but also purchased a stripper from Aircraft Spruce that was very good as well. Using a heat gun will work as your just softing the adhesive and strip. What really does not work is the label and adhesive removers, they do work to remove residue of the adhesive. Its not that bad of a job to do, done over 6 different boats using all the above at some point in time.
 
I'm not sure the hair dryer will heat things up enough. If your tape is in somewhat good shape a heat gun will loosen thing up enough to let you peel everything right off. Where I was able to peel the stripes off - the heat gun softened the adhesive enough that I was left with almost no residue. And where I had to used the wheel the adhesive wasn't an issue as it removed everything. All in all the removal was a fairly painless process.
Now - getting them back on straight might be another story.
Good luck!
Rich
 
wileecoyote said:
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!
Click to expand...

I did this the other day to remove the name on the stern and did get some of those burn marks. They look like light-brown smudges. I've tried acetone, rubbing compound, and polishing compound to get that off and no avail. I was thinking about trying muriatic acid next. Any ideas on how to clean up these light burn marks?
 
I've done the soapy water thing when placing the name on this boat and previous boats. You can use that technique with the striping too?
 
I've never tried it but I think I'm going to give it a shot this time. I'd really like a little more room to work than I currently have though. The yard packs the boats in pretty tight for winter storage.
 
Just had my stripes above the rub rail replaced by my Boat Shop..They have a really good guy there that had 12 years in the body shop business ( corvette's) he did my stripes for $200.00 all in.. It looks great well worth the $200.00 to me .. BTW he showed me the invoice for the tape $80.00.. gave the leftover tape and told me to save it for a rainy day.. have tape to do my boat 3 or 4 more times
 
I had the boot stripe replaced last year when I was getting the bottom painted. The stripes above the gunwhale I removed and the gel oat underneath was pristine. I decided that I was going to make the entire thing shine like that and left the stripes off. I ended up wet sanding to get the gelcoat the same thickness since where the tape was the gelcoat was thicker and the exposed gelcoat was oxidized and thinner from weathering and polishing. It is finally shining great and it is very hard to see where the stripes ever were. I think I'll keep it without the stripes since I would rather look at the gloss from the gelcoat polished and pampered by me.
 
Yes Ron. I used 1" or 3/4" masking/ painters tape against the waterline to use it as a guide for the first stripe and sprayed the side with lightly soapy water and pulled long sections of stripe. The squeeged the stripe to get the bubbles out. After the lower stripe was done, I used the same method for the next one up. The boot stripes were pretty easy compared to the ones on the upper hull section. Cant see if they are straight standing on the deck, and moving the ladder over and over is a PITA.
boat%u00252520085.jpgremoving the old
new%u00252520stripes%2520002.jpgThe new stripes and colors
 
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Cool Mark. Got it. Now to buy me some black striping! I feel empowered.
 
wileecoyote said:
The boot stripes were pretty easy compared to the ones on the upper hull section. Cant see if they are straight standing on the deck, and moving the ladder over and over is a PITA.
Click to expand...

The upper stripes are a bit more difficult.
One tool that really helped me when replacing our stripes was a small Werner portable, fold-up scaffold (in the picture below).
It was much easier than trying to balance on a ladder and let me work in about 8 foot sections.
This has turned out to be one of the best time saving investments made with the boat maintenance and restoration.
Well worth the trip to home depot and the few $'s.

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