ronnietucker Posted May 2, 2021 Report Share Posted May 2, 2021 A previous owner of my boat decided in their infinite (or lack thereof) wisdom to paint over the original gelcoat. Now their sketchy paint job is starting to flake off to reveal the original gelcoat. I was going to just wait and let it all fall off, but it'll probably take years at this rate. Is there a paint stripper I can buy that'll take off the paint, but not damage the gelcoat under the paint? Thanks nice people! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuthound Posted May 2, 2021 Report Share Posted May 2, 2021 2 minutes ago, ronnietucker said: A previous owner of my boat decided in their infinite (or lack thereof) wisdom to paint over the original gelcoat. Now their sketchy paint job is starting to flake off to reveal the original gelcoat. I was going to just wait and let it all fall off, but it'll probably take years at this rate. Is there a paint stripper I can buy that'll take off the paint, but not damage the gelcoat under the paint? Thanks nice people! IIRC @Alan de Enfield used a paint stripper to remove thw old paint off one of his GRP boats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy D'arth Posted May 2, 2021 Report Share Posted May 2, 2021 Caustic drain cleaner? Depends on what the paint is really. Acetone will affect the gel coat. Cellulose thinners? Modern strippers are so weak they may be OK, the old stuff will wreck grp and gel coat I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Harold Posted May 2, 2021 Report Share Posted May 2, 2021 There is a paint stripper specifically for removing paint from fibreglass,Owatrol paint stripper says it's for grp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted May 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2021 1 minute ago, Mad Harold said: There is a paint stripper specifically for removing paint from fibreglass,Owatrol paint stripper says it's for grp. I noticed that on a Google search, but wasn't sure if it was OK with gelcoat or go right through to the GRP. 48 minutes ago, cuthound said: IIRC @Alan de Enfield used a paint stripper to remove thw old paint off one of his GRP boats. I thought you were going to say he used a stripper to remove the old paint off his boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Harold Posted May 2, 2021 Report Share Posted May 2, 2021 Just had a look on Google,and yes,it says Owatrol Marine Strip is safe to use on grp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted May 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2021 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Mad Harold said: Just had a look on Google,and yes,it says Owatrol Marine Strip is safe to use on grp. Sorry to be picky, but when it says safe on GRP is that the bare GRP or the gelcoat covered GRP? I don't want it to harm the gelcoat. I'm an idiot. It clearly says on it's page: It is perfect for use on boat gelcoats Edited May 2, 2021 by ronnietucker I'm an idiot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted May 2, 2021 Report Share Posted May 2, 2021 Yes, the stuff I used is very agreesive but perfectly safe for GRP (Its designed for it) You put it on as a paste and put the supplied plastic sheet over it, it works in the absence of air and will take up to 10 coats of paint off in one go. Most of the paint comes off with the plastic sheet but the rest just slides off with a bladed scraper. Do a you-tube search for the videos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted May 3, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2021 18 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said: Yes, the stuff I used is very agreesive but perfectly safe for GRP (Its designed for it) You put it on as a paste and put the supplied plastic sheet over it, it works in the absence of air and will take up to 10 coats of paint off in one go. Most of the paint comes off with the plastic sheet but the rest just slides off with a bladed scraper. Do a you-tube search for the videos. Crikey! At that price I'd expect it to come with a stripper to do the job for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted May 3, 2021 Report Share Posted May 3, 2021 You can get smaller tubs, but I had over 600 square feet to do. It was quite economical in comparison to using the likes of Nitromors (which is not recommended for GRP) as Nitromors is pretty poor these days at removing anytrhing more than emulsion paint, and which takes hours to do repeat coats on a small area. I was paying my Odd-Job man £100 a day to do it so it was more important to get it done quickly than to skimp on the price of the stripper juice. Stripper cost was £801. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted May 3, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2021 6 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said: Stripper cost was £801. ... and the paint stripper? *ba dum tiss!* If the old paint came off stuck on the plastic? That'd be a bit of a game changer. As it means less hassle scooping paint flakes out of the canal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted May 3, 2021 Report Share Posted May 3, 2021 2 minutes ago, ronnietucker said: If the old paint came off stuck on the plastic? That'd be a bit of a game changer. As it means less hassle scooping paint flakes out of the canal. Exactly - I'd say that 90% of it came off with the plastic - the trick was not to rush it, AND not to apply in hot bright sunlight otherwise the chemicals evaportaed out before it could do its work. A 2 second video (because I didn't realise it was on video) Ooopps video's not allowed to be posted Screen shot, as the polythene is pulled back all the paint comes with it (about 7 coats in that shot), the brown is the top of the GRP, just required a gently scrape and then rub over with a sanding pad before repainting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted May 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2021 23 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said: Exactly - I'd say that 90% of it came off with the plastic - the trick was not to rush it, AND not to apply in hot bright sunlight otherwise the chemicals evaportaed out before it could do its work. Does it rip the gelcoat off too? I'm trying to remove just the paint and keep the gelcoat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbybass Posted May 4, 2021 Report Share Posted May 4, 2021 I thought it was only the Gel coat that made GRP waterproof...and that if it was damaged.....you got osmosis that made your boat look like bubble wrap.... I viewed some cruisers with osmosis...and they looked very.......bubbly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted May 4, 2021 Report Share Posted May 4, 2021 2 hours ago, ronnietucker said: Does it rip the gelcoat off too? I'm trying to remove just the paint and keep the gelcoat. Just the paint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted June 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2021 Just wanted to finish this story in case it helps anyone else out there with a GRP boat. Plan A: tried a marine paint stripper first. Rubbish. It turned the paint to sludge and I had to squeegee the paint off with a scraper and plop it into a bucket. Plan B: Nitromors (as recommended by a fellow boater). It does bubble the paint, but it's not as good as it used to be. The green colouring is good as it lets you see where you've missed bits, but it's not as thick/sticky as I'd hoped. It also dried in quite quick. Plan C: Bartoline TX10. Now we're getting somewhere! Thick white gloopy stuff. This did the job, but... Side note from some research: the EU banned a lot of chemicals about 10 years ago. One of which was the 'good stuff' in things like Nitromors and other paint strippers. So now every paint stripper does one layer at a time. With flaky paint: Without flaky paint: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted June 12, 2021 Report Share Posted June 12, 2021 Looks like a good job. Did you not try the stuff I suggested that takes off up to 10 layers at a time ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted June 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2021 Just now, Alan de Enfield said: Looks like a good job. Did you not try the stuff I suggested that takes off up to 10 layers at a time ? I didn't. I have to be honest: I didn't have enough money for it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted June 12, 2021 Report Share Posted June 12, 2021 1 minute ago, ronnietucker said: I didn't. I have to be honest: I didn't have enough money for it. It looks as if you got there in the end, have you done the whole boat ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted June 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2021 Just now, Alan de Enfield said: It looks as if you got there in the end, have you done the whole boat ? Yep. Both sides and the back. Took bloody ages. Now using 3 different Meguires stuff to get it looking better. Top half is done using a polish and wax: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted June 12, 2021 Report Share Posted June 12, 2021 You should be very pleased, a good result, Sometimes the Gel coat is totally 'crackered' which is why it gets painted over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted June 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2021 1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said: You should be very pleased, a good result, Sometimes the Gel coat is totally 'crackered' which is why it gets painted over. Thanks. Yes, definitely pleased by how it looks now. At some point someone has done a patch job at the bow (port side). I think that's what's made them paint it (to cover it) but it's not such a bad job that it needed the entire hull painted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted June 13, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2021 The epic paint stripping and application of several layers of polish and wax job is finally done! Finally! It'll never reach 'showroom shine', but at least the dodgy paint job is gone, and the gelcoat gets to see the light of day once again. What I thought would be a weekend/week job turned into about 3 or 4 weeks of paint stripping and polishing. Glad it's done. But it does look pretty fab! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devs Posted March 16, 2022 Report Share Posted March 16, 2022 Hi Ronnie, Whats the best tools to use after the stripper is applied to remove the paint? Any tips.. I'm just about to start! Thanks, Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnietucker Posted March 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2022 1 hour ago, Devs said: Hi Ronnie, Whats the best tools to use after the stripper is applied to remove the paint? Any tips.. I'm just about to start! Thanks, Steve. Make sure you get a really good sticky paint stripper. You don't want it running off and ending up in the canal. Most paint strippers have the same ingredients. The really good old stuff is really hard to get. I slapped the paint stripper on with an old brush. Put it on not too thick. Unless it's one single coat on there, you'll probably need to go over things two or three times. Make sure you get a good sharp scraper. I can't emphasise that enough. A blunt paint scraper will not do the job. Been seen done. Get a two handed one that'll get a good purchase on the paint. Keep a bucket of water handy. So when your scraper is full of paint you can swish it about in the bucket to get the old paint off. Once you've got all the paint off. And you're absolutely sure it's all off. You'll know when as your scraper will squeak like mad as there's no paint to catch. You'll need to get a final coating to put on it. I used Meguires (https://www.meguiars.co.uk/product-category/marine/). Entirely up to you which ones you use, but I used the oxidation remover, then a wax and polish. As I said above: it's not a showroom finish on mine, but I didn't have access to a buffer and whatnot, so had to do it all by hand. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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