Paint remover

[steve jensen]

What type of paint remover canyou use on an epoxy fiberglass hull?

Sanding will erase the existing scribed lines, and a re-paint would probably fill in some of them on this L.A. Class boat.

Thanks for the help and...

Happy New Year!

Steve Jensen

[tsenecal]

The Plastic Model types use

The Plastic Model types use the spray on oven cleaner to remove paint without damaging the plastic.

[Guest]

Brake fluid is pretty effective

Brake fluid is pretty effective too.

Andy

[steve jensen]

paint remover

Gee...this stuff sounds rather harsh...knowing that I have cleaned the oven and stove with those products (not the brake fluid)...and was amazed at the strength of it.

When you use the word plastic; exactly what type of 'plastic' are you referring to?

Maybe I can do both the stove and the boat at the same time...hmmm.

Thanks,
Steve

[Guest]

I find oven cleaner works

I find oven cleaner works okay on oil paints. Cellulose or acrylic finsihes can be a bit more stubborn in my experience.

Oven cleaners contain sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, nasty stuff, so use it in a well ventilated area.

Brake fluid seems to take anything off!

Andy

[tsenecal]

The type of plastic I

The type of plastic I was referring to is the generic "injection molded plastic" that firms such as Revell or Tamiya produce their kits with.

[PaulC]

Steve,

For an epoxy hull, depending

Steve,

For an epoxy hull, depending on the type of paint you have on it, I would use lacquer thinner for hobby type paint. It can be purchased in a hardware store in small quantities.

Wet a rag and rub the hull down. Depending on the type and thickness of the film, the paint will soften and wipe off. Work on small areas of the hull at a time.

Brake fluid contains 80-85% solvent in the form of glycols -- that's why it works on paint too.

Observe all health and safety precautions of course.

[steve jensen]

Paint Remover

This is a Thor boat; so now that I know, I can get busy, based on the great information...thanx for the tips fella's.

Steve Jensen

[tmsmalley]

Hey Steve - how did

Hey Steve - how did the paint removing project work out?
Tim

[steve jensen]

Not really...right?

So-o-o I go out and get a new bottle of Super Heavy Duty brake fluid and then don latex gloves, a paper mask and open the bottle of brake fluid and using a brush spread it across one small section of the hull.

I wait 20 minutes and wipe it off.... Nothing!

I reapply it and wait 45 minutes and besides looking very shiny, nothing is happening. To be honest I expected to see bubbling, smoke(?) heat, light...something ...but I got 'N-gotz' from it.

So I wiped it off, then washed the hull with soap & water and put it away.

I woke up at 5am this morning; fearful that the fiberglass would be a melted puddle...I hustled down to the shop and...nothing; the hull looks exactly like it did before I started.

So where did I go wrong?

Thanks,
Steve

[Guest]

Don't know, unless you're really

Don't know, unless you're really out of luck and your boat has been painted with a two-pack product (which is essentially a resin), solvents won't do much against that stuff I'm afraid.

Andy

[hakkikt]

You might have the wrong

You might have the wrong type of brake fluid.
There are different standards for brake fluid. DOT3 (quite old standard) is a killer, DOT4 works fine too for paint removal. DOT5 however is silicon-based and will not harm paint.
There is also DOT5.1, but I cannot comment on the paint removal properties of that.

Harald

[PaulC]

Steve,

What type of paint is

Steve,

What type of paint is on the hull?

[steve jensen]

Not sure of the type

Not sure of the type of paint - it was done by another modeler. I'm using DOT3 on it.

Steve

[jshag]

The type of paint used

The type of paint used on the boat is Floquil Marine Colors paint. It is no longer made.

John