Test product in an inconspicuous area?

[tjwieseler]

So,
I purchased a 1997 Maxum 2400 SCR back in February and I am going to rename the boat, and the decals needed to come off. I used a hair drier and a plastic scraper and these vinyl letters would not come off but only in little pieces. So I tried it without the heat, and they would just chip off. I spent 2 hrs getting 1/10 of the vinyl off. I am not going to do this!
I went to the local hardware store and found a product called Zinsser Adhesive remover and it said that it would remove stickers, adhesive, etc from wood, concrete, glass, FIBERGLASS (hey that is what I need). So I purchased and took home to give it a try. I didn't get to using it until about dusk, but wow did it work. It took these decals off with no problem at all.
Everything was good until I went to use Acetone to clean off the remover and the residue. There were brush marks in the gelcoat!! I guess now I know why they say to "Always test product in an inconspicuous areas for surface compatibility".
Luckily the graphics I am putting on the rear will cover 90% of the area that has the brush marks and you really have to look at it just right to see them.

Just thought I would warn others about the product.

[shrew]

I would try some 3M™ Marine Color/Gloss Restorer. It's basically like the clean and wax, without the wax. It's lighter than a buffing compound but more aggressive than regular wax. You'd really need an orbital waxer to do a good job. It should work out all the imperfections and get any gunk off at the same time. I would avoid anything that actually has a wax in it as you want to adhere the new graphics to the gelcoat, not a layer of wax.

Word of advise, When they say "don't let it dry", they mean it. Work in small sections. Swap out the buffing cloth regularly because it loads the cloth very quickly. If it becomes really hard to remove or leaves a residual haze behind, you're either working with a wet buffing cloth, a dirty buffing cloth, or it's drying too much. I found in these cases, you could reapply a light coat to help removing the residual. finish wax around the graphics after they've been applied.