Hi, what is the best way to remove paint that was painted over Gelcoat? The idea is to possibly restore the Gelcoat if possible. I am particularly interested in removal from non slip areas. Seems like preparation was not done properly as the paint did not bind properly in some areas? /images/misc/forum-image-missing.gif
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I think even if you remove the paint you will end up with no gel coat . If its non slip areas prep it and use some thing like kiwi grip for the non skid
if its an old boat like mine the gel coat on deck was getting thin . Mainly form not being looked after over the years in my case.
Perhaps that's why it was painted
Maybe it could be done. Try to work out what kind of paint it is then look up on the Net its solvent. It might be possible to wet the paint with the right one without disturbing the Gel coat too much and when the paints liquid enough jet it off with a Gurney or wipe it off. Works for carpet.
Some paint strippers are ok to use on polyester resin, I would experiment down that path
If it didnt bind properly it should come of with a 3000 psi gurney, I'm about to do mine in a few weeks, but lot of paint is flaking off, also I bought a soda blast kit of ebay for more stubborn areas, they say it wont damage gel coat I'll let you know how I go.
Given the time one could do a chemistry test. I love this stuff. 
Get 5 or 6 jars, put some flakes of the paint and some flakes of gel coat in the bottom of all 5 or 6. Put a few drops of petrol in one, paint stripper in another, MEKP in another, turps in another and maybe acetone ...... wait a day and check which one has dissolved the paint but not the gel coat.
Has anyone tried this? Supposed to be safe on gel coat!
www.deksolje.com.au/index.php?langue=en&page=products-marine-strip
