How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

[CAPTKEV85]

I have a 1985 25ft sea ray seville. It has this old three stripe pin stripping. Its now become faded and peeling. Some spots are still stuck on there. How could i take this stuff off without scratching the gel coat?

 

[Bumperlt12]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

Get a heat gun and apply lots of heat and pick at it with your finger nails or a plastic putty knife. A hair dryer may work, but not as well.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

Heat gun and a razor blade scraper or freshly sharpened chisel. Gelcoat is tougher than you think. As long as you keep the blade flat it will not scratch the gelcoat. Any tiny scratches that might occur can easily be buffed out later.

 

[Captain Shikaboo]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

Have you guys ever tried the plastic razor blades? They are pretty handy. I use em a lot for old metalic pin stripes that chip off in 1/4" pieces. They fit right in your razor blade holder. I buy them in bulk from Grainger but most auto places have em. I use 220 grit sandpaper on a block to re-sharpen the edge.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ac...ic-Razor-Blade/_/N-255s?itemIdentifier=102953

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

Have you guys ever tried the plastic razor blades? They are pretty handy. I use em a lot for old metalic pin stripes that chip off in 1/4" pieces. They fit right in your razor blade holder. I buy them in bulk from Grainger but most auto places have em. I use 220 grit sandpaper on a block to re-sharpen the edge.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ac...ic-Razor-Blade/_/N-255s?itemIdentifier=102953

I have never seen those. Thanks for the link. I am going to get some today and see if they are any good.

 

[Captain Shikaboo]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

If you like them in need them in bulk use this link: http://www.mcmaster.com/#plastic-razor-blades/=h24pwy

I thought it was grainger earlier, but it was mcmaster carr. Too many dang suppliers!

 

[Jerryh3]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

http://www.amazon.com/AES-Industrie...DDB8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334162026&sr=8-1

 

[74bayliner]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

In this video i show how to remove the old bayliner pin stripes and logo using a Pinstripe Eraser i think they call it at the local automotive store (shucks, orielly, napa, car quest) its not expensive i dont think and i just attached it to my drill but appearently you can buy a special piece to fit into your drill (the hex shaft instead of the screw shaft on the eraser if you know what i mean)

 

[74bayliner]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

This next video i used a chisel i bought from Harbor freight, cheap and sharp! i scraped off the old pin stripes like hot knife on butter... i didnt care about scratching as i am going to be painting anways... but from the looks of it i dont think i made any scratches. it just came off easy, i made sure that i angled the chisel in a way that it just glided level with the gelcoat...
good luck

 

[74bayliner]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

I just noticed Jerrys post... but ya you can buy that in your local auto parts store.

 

[Shife]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

I have one of these:

http://www.matcotools.com/catalog/product/SE712K/PINSTRIPE-REMOVAL-TOOL/

Spendy, but it works excellent. The die grinder uses a gear reduction and you can vary the speed down to super low so the substrate doesn't get burned. You get far more control using an eraser wheel with this than you can get with a drill motor. If you have a lot of stuff to remove I highly recommend it. Also comes in handy for removing those annoying stickers car dealers plaster on your car.

 

[Captain Shikaboo]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

I went to Napa Friday and bought the 3M pin stripe eraser. I had bad luck with lower quality ones building up and scratching the paint/gel coat. That was 10 years+ ago, so I thought I'd give it a try after watching 74's videos.

I removed 90% of the stripes on a customers 26ft Scarab in about an hour with an electric drill. The guy at Napa tried to talk me out of buying it. After testing it on someone else's boat, it removed all the old stickers from my Wellcraft. .

I still use the plastic blades to lift the pin stripes and pull as much off as I could. Sometimes you get lucky and can pull a whole length of stripe off then finish it up with the eraser.

 

[74bayliner]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

Glad i could be of help. I originally got the idea from
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=519503&highlight=SKIBUM1M

When SKIBUM1M mentioned this tool. after trying it i realized it worked great so i posted a video.

And ya those napa guys.. some of them really know what they are talking about others dont... my napa guy told me i needed some special pnuematic tool that they sell with the eraser wheel. appearently its supposed to have a sensor that when it senses to much pressure it stops... to not put burns etc into the paint or gel coat. but i figured since i was repainting my boat i wasnt to worried about that and it worked out nicely... as far as i could tell it didnt harm the gel coat because the gel coat had stains (the impression of the decals BAYLINER were inside the gel coat) but none the less all worked out well.

 

[Captain Shikaboo]

Re: How to remove pinstripping safely without scratching.

I was glad you mentioned it sir! I haven't tried it on paint yet, but I had no problems with gelcoat. I don't think I could've burned through if I tried with the drill I was using. I used a little acetone on a terry cloth after I was done with the eraser, and it was like new.

I think most auto store clerks have an opinion. There was a lady at our local Napa hub that was awesome, she found things in thier inventory that I didn't know you could get!

I have a great big 'W' on the side of my Wellcraft, good thing I can still get stickers!