41 Year Old Decal Removal and Replacement

ssscotty · #1 08-24-2015, 05:53 PM

Greetings, after several failed efforts and outbursts of frustration I was ready to try something other then a heat gun and razor blade to remove my 41 year old SeaCraft decals and replace them with new. After a lot of thread reads and my own research I was able to take a very time consuming, frustrating job and turn it out in less then 1 hour. That's right. 1 hour. No scratches, no chemicals, easy. If you are a visual person like me then just follow the photos as these were my steps. I did use the drywall sponge sander wet. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions, hope this helps.

TomParis · #2 08-24-2015, 07:05 PM

very nice job, thanks for the photos that helps me to be able to do the job for sure!

erebus · #3 08-24-2015, 10:10 PM

Another trick for removing old decals, taught to me by a fabulous boat painter on the west coast, is to cut a piece of Lexan/plexi-glass (doesn't matter the thickness) on a jigsaw. Say 2" x 4", basically whatever is most comfortable to handle, and sharpen a bevel on one end on a belt sander. Essentially making a plexi-glass chisel.

Will scrape vinyl off super quick and wont ever scratch the gelcoat. Seriously, not ever, no scratches. You can go to town scraping away. Gelcoat is harder than the plexi-glass, but the plexi-glass is sharp enough to cut/scrape the vinyl.

You might just need to re-sharpen your "chisel" every few minutes or so.
Works amazingly well...

daydreamer · #4 08-25-2015, 07:46 AM

ok I just removed all my decals,wide 3 inch boot stripe,logo decals. I used a heat gun and a razor. it took some time but was able to remove them. but this left a lot of adhesive!!!!!! read all the blogs on all the sites for products to remove. ok here,s the trick go to lowes and get a bottle of KRUD KUTTER. 32 oz for 6.98. works like a champ, comes right off!!! now ready to install all new decals.