Removing paint

[Trudy Mills]

My friend has recently bought a boler. It’s a 1975 Winnipeg model. The previous owners had painted it. The original color is harvest gold on the bottom half and cream color on top.They had painted it and covered it with some type of clear varnish. She wants to restore it to its original color.

Is sanding with an orbital sander with a fine grit sandpaper the best way to remove the paint and varnish without damaging the original color and gelcoat.

Any suggestions, helpful hints or ideas.

[acfletcher98]

I don’t believe there is a way to remove one layer of paint without impacting the layer below. We’re in the process of stripping up to 7 layers in some spots on our 13’ Scamp, everything from house paint to auto paint. We’ve sanded, used Citri-strip, Clean Strip (fiberglass safe version) among other things. The layers come off differently on different parts, no way I know of to get it to attack a certain color

[redbarron55]

If you can find a stripper that will cut the paint and leave the gelcoat that would be the way to go.
Painting is the last resort as far as I am concerned.
But then I had to pain my Scamp since I had to do fiberglass work and it had already been painted.
One can take it down to sound paint and epoxy prime the trailer and then sand level reprime and paint.
Others have done a better job than I have, but there it is.

[FRED SMAILES]

Hi Trudy. I did what your doing to a fiberglas truck canopy.
Was a beige colour with clear coat that was peeling. I used industrial razor blades to strip the clear then an orbital sander down to the gelgoat. I think I used 120 first till the gelcoat just barely then 220 . finish with 400. Then good cut and polish using Meguiars polish or similar.
Yes,, it's a lot of work.
The gelcoat is thin in places and it may not be salvageable, best of luck.
Personaly, I wouldn't waste my time trying to save the original gelcoat.
But mine was the same colour as yours originally that I pulled behind my red car, the 2 looked horrible together!
I much prefer white, looks good behind any colour.
Fred

[ststefan]

Have you tried acetone? It removes paint but won't hurt gel coat.