Can I chemically strip paint from gelcoat?

[67'Charger]

A previous owner of my '75 Southwind must not have liked the blue and silver metal-flake so they painted it white. I sanded down a bit of the paint to expose the color below, and I really like it. Trouble is how massively time-consuming it has been. The paint is HARD, and it is over a layer of primer. I'm worried about how aggresive the paper is, so I was striping with 240 on a D/A until I broke through the paint, and then hand wet sanding with 400 until the primer was gone. Finish is with 1000 grit to remove the fine lines. It took me an hour to expose a 6" by 6" section. I'm obviously being over-cautious, but I don't want to hurt the gel-coat. Is there a chemical stripper that won't eat the gelcoat? Maybe that citrus-based stuff?

 

[TheWoodCrafter]

Re: Can I chemically strip paint from gelcoat?

There are lots of strippers that will not hurt the gel. But it sounds like the paint you have is pretty tough. That citrus stuff may not remove the paint. I think the best thing to do is try some. If the paint was 2 part epoxy or something like Imeron, you will have trouble stripping it with anything but the best strongest stripper. Buy some stripper and try it.

 

[LubeDude]

Re: Can I chemically strip paint from gelcoat?

Go ahead and try a "SMALL" area and see, maybe you will be lucky and it's a laquer type paint. It will come off in a heartbeat!

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Can I chemically strip paint from gelcoat?

There may be a reason they painted it, when metal flake gel coats sit in the sun for long periods of time the top layer of clear can start to chalk and wear away, this leaves exposed metal flake which can be difficult to fix. Many times people just paint over it, so you may get all the paint off and then find you need to repaint it.