Stripping paint from Gel

eclipseturbors

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Messages
141
I just bought a running 1977 16ft Larson Tri hull for $300 on a tandem axle trailer. The catch is that it's been gutted to be fixed up. The floor and transom look good and it has a great little 120 mercruiser with pre alpha I drive that was just rebuilt, but the catch is that it's hugger orange. Its very orange and not applied very well. The guy said it was cheap single stage. My question is: if I strip it off, "can" the old white gel coat be saved? I'm sure the boat was probably painted for a reason... but I figure that I will have to sand most of the orange off anyway because the paint is just chipping off. Just looking for anyone who has experience and it will give me something to think about while I build bench seats and reassemble most of the boat.
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,924
Re: Stripping paint from Gel

There are chemical strippers but they ARE NASTY. You would be surprised what a good Razor Blade Stripper would do, especially if it was NOT prepped correctly which it sounds like it was NOT. IF the GelCoat is thick enuf to be WetSanded without going to bare glass you MIGHT be able to get it back to some shine, but that is a big IF. Do a search on Restoring Faded GelCoat. You'll get LOTS of examples here on the forum. Process is basically, wet sand starting @ 400 grit working thru 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1600. Then buff to shine. If you don't hit bare glass you should have some shiny white GelCoat.

If NOT then it's Re-Gel or Paint.

Your Choice.
 

Last Mohican

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 27, 2010
Messages
573
Re: Stripping paint from Gel

Check my rebel restore. Link is in my sig. I used a chemical stripper and salvaged the old gel. I only stripped the orange. It took alot of elbow grease but the stripper worked fairly well.
 
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