Eddie

We had the same situation when we bought [I]Lucky[/I]. I just got in the dingy and took some wet/dry sandpaper and went to work. It took around 2 hours to remove the name and hailing port.

I had UV resistant decals made instead of repainting.

Bill

[QUOTE=rehodge;2504]I am looking for practical advice on removing painted on lettering. Our home port is different from the previous owner and to stay within CG guidelines for our documentation, I'm having to make some corrections. We are planning on redoing the name lettering as well, due to the overall fading of the paint due to age and exposure.

I've heard that Easy-Off oven cleaner works, as well as a variety of different marine solvents (available at your friendly Boat US dealer, and other fine marine supplies vendors).

We're planning on using Boat US graphics for our lettering, so any feedback on experience with them is appreciated as well.

Thank you in advance for any advice...[/QUOTE]

I used regular paint stripper, scotchbrite pads, rags and a plastic scraper to remove the painted on name of our 1st boat. The key is to let the chemicals work a while, but it still required a good bit of elbow grease.

I also used the vinyl letters from BoatUS on that same boat. I was quite happy with them. There are instructional videos on the BoatUS site for the wet and dry installation methods. I used the wet method on my first boat and the dry method on the much larger and more complicated graphic on my C36. My opinion is the dry method is far easier.

HTH

The gentleman that removed our old letters on our boat used (of all things) a hairdryer to heat up the letters and they practically fell off by themselves. Now that is, indeed a precarious way to do it, but it worked.

I recently removed the painted on name from my new boat for renaming. I have heard that easy-off works but was too chicken to try it. I went with an over priced paint remover from West Marine. Sorry I dont remember the exact product name. It worked quite well and did no harm to the gellcoat. I suspect it was the same as plain old Stripeeze. Lay it on thick and let it sit.

Easy-Off works fine. Just don't leave it longer than necessary.