[drcoastline]

Don not use sand paper at all to remove the paint. You will damage the gel coat and then you will have to go back and repair the gel coat in order to move forward. You will also remove all the non-skid. I beleiev on a 14' whaler the non-skid is a diamond pattern in the gelcoat that will be removed by sanding.


Citrus stripper and aircraft stripper will work just fine. They say not to use on fiberglass but I have used both extensively to remove paint from fiberglass with out any negative effects. Brush the strippers on then cover with biz queen (plastic drop cloth) to keep from drying out. lets stit for 20-30 minutes. You should be able to blow the loosened paint off with a garden hose on stream. You may need to redo this process several times depending on the amount of paint. For nooks and cranies put some stripper on cover for 15 minutes. you can then use a plastic paint scrapper and a red or green 3M pad to scrub. Do not use a metal scraper you will gouge the gel coat. Do not use steel wool it will come apart and leave little pieces that will rust causing major agravation. If you have a wood shop near by go and ask if you can have their shavings they work great as a non damaging abrasive and the paint and stripper absorb and stick to the shavings making claen up easy.

There is a stripper called peel away that you could also buy. Similar process as I describedbut at 3X the price. When the stripper dries it sticks to a paper cover and peels off. There are other strippers as well inter strip (marine grade) about $30.00 per quart.

When you get all the paint off . Neutralise with soap and water. Then go back and wipe down with MEK and a green 3M pad. You will be surprised by the amount of reside left on the surface you can not see.

You may also want to vist jamestown distributors dot com for supplies. There are also a ton of DIY videos on the site. Classic sea craft dot com and classic boston whaler dot com are the pelican counter parts for these two classic boats.

Good luck with your project.

But most importnantly do not sand.

Oh yeah, and DO NOT put any rags or wood shavings with stripper or solvents in a can or box or can for disposal while wet they will spontaneously combust.