remove vinyl decals with a heat gun

You just got a new to you boat and it has an out of state registration sticker, or maybe it has some terrible vinyl decal on the side with an inappropriate name that you and your wife hate. Maybe, you just want to remove a faded pen stripe decal off of your boat so you can put a new one on the boat. Regardless of why you want to remove vinyl decals and stickers from your fiberglass, aluminum or even wooded boat, this article will provide you with proven methods for getting the job done and with the least amount of effort. So, how do you remove vinyl decals and stickers from a boat? There are three popular ways to remove decals and stickers from a boat: an eraser wheel, heat gun and a scraper, or use a hot water pressure washer. There are other methods you can use, but these three have proven effective over and over again. Method #1 To Remove Decals and Stickers From A Boat I'm starting this article with what I consider to be the easiest way to remove decals from a boat. It's called an Eraser Wheel. Eraser Wheel What Is An Eraser Wheel? An eraser wheel is a tool that connects to a drill that you use to remove stickers and decals. Typically you see these used in the automotive world to remove vinyl pinstripes from a car. When I purchased my last boat, it had an out of state registration number on it and I needed to remove the decals and put my new registration stickers on the fiberglass hull. This is where I first learned of the eraser wheel. I did a bunch of research and felt this was my best option for removing the decals. Here are a few photos when using the eraser wheel: From the above photo, you can see where the eraser wheel has started to erase/remove the "E". It almost looks smeared like it would if you used a pencil eraser to erase pencil marks. The eraser wheel does leave behind a lot of small particles from the removed stickers. I was amazed at how cheap I got mine at [Amazon Link]. If you are doing a big project, you may want to go ahead and buy a bulk kit with multiple wheels like this one [Amazon Link]. You can see it close up in this next photo along with a sticky residue from the adhesives that were left behind from the decals. How To Remove Sticky Residue From A Fiberglass Boat? This is how you remove sticky residue or glue from a fiberglass boat. Follow these six steps and your fiberglass boat will be clean and looking like new. Apply Solvent To A Rag Apply a small amount of acetone solvent (aka - nail polish remover) to a clean rag. The rag should be damp, but not soaked with acetone. Wipe Glue To Soften Wipe away the glue on the fiberglass using the moistened rag. The solvent causes the glue to soften, making it easier for you to wipe up and remove. Add More Solvent & Reapply to Boat Reapply acetone to the rag and continue to wipe the glue away until it is completely removed. Add Soap To Bucket Add a few drops of liquid dishwashing soap to a bucket of water (warm water works best if available). Wipe Fiberglass With Soapy Water Moisten a cloth with soapy water and wipe down the fiberglass to remove any dirt. Rinse Fiberglass Fully rinse the fiberglass boat with fresh water. Dry Boat Using a clean rag or microfiber drying towel fully wipe down the fiberglass to dry. Source Alternative Method To Remove Glue From Fiberglass If you do not have acetone (nail polish remover) available, you can also use rubbing alcohol. I prefer to use the 90% concentration to remove glue from fiberglass boats. I have not removed glue from an aluminum boat with acetone or rubbing alcohol before, but my assumption is it would be okay since you will clean the area well with fresh water when you are done. With this said, you might want to research it a little further before trying it just to be safe. Method #2 To Remove Decals and Stickers From A Boat The second popular method for removing decals and stickers from a boat is the use of a heat gun or hair dryer along with a scraper or razor blade. In the photos above, this is the method I first started using. I had used it previously to remove the name of a car dealership from a vehicle I purchased and it worked well for those small letters on the tailgate. However, when trying to remove the vinyl registration letters from my ten year old boat, it really did not work very well and my fingers were yelling at me. With this said, your experience may be better than mine, so let me tell you how to do it. Let me first say, be very careful using a heat gun. They get extremely hot and you could damage your boat if you are not careful. If this is the first time you have tried removing stickers with heat on a boat (or any object for that matter) I suggest using a hair dryer because they do not get as hot as a heat gun, but can still do the trick, only slower. How To Remove Vinyl Decals With A Heat Gun 1. Gather Tools Heat Gun or Hair DryerPlastic Scraping BladeAdhesive RemoverDecal Removal Wheel (optional but helpful!) 2. Heat Warm the surface of the decal with a heat gun or hair dryer until the vinyl becomes more flexible. 3. Peel Take a plastic blade tool and scrape vinyl from the surface. (Note: if the vinyl is old and brittle, it will most likely come off in small pieces. If the vinyl is not that old you may be able to pull it off in bigger sections.) 4. Clean Once you have peeled all of the vinyl off, you will have to clean the adhesive off the surface with a product designed to remove adhesive without damaging the paint. ALWAYS SPOT TEST AN INCONSPICUOUS AREA BEFORE APPLYING ADHESIVE REMOVER. A Suggested product is “General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner” by 3M Products Inc. part # 08947. This adhesive cleaner can be purchased at most hardware or paint supply stores. Clean the surface with soap and water, then check to make sure there are no remaining pieces of vinyl or adhesive stuck to it. Source Method #3 To Remove Decals and Stickers From A Boat The third method for removing decals and stickers from a boat is using a hot water pressure washer. This works well because the hot water heats up the decals and the underlying glue. When the decal heats up it become more pliable. When the glues heat up they are easier to remove. As a result, the hot water makes the stickers easier to remove and then the high-pressure water is able to force the sticker to come apart from the boat hull. I have to admit, I learned this trick from a friend named Justin who restores old Jeep Grand Wagoneers that have the large vinyl woodgrain decals on the side. Those Jeeps have a ton of vinyl and using this method can help make the job go a little quicker. Here's a Photo: You can see the Jeep is in the process of having the vinyl woodgrain removed. The rear door vinyl woodgrain was blasted off with a hot pressure washer. Here is the finished process where all of the vinyl woodgrain has been removed using the pressure washer. While I have not yet tried this method, you can see it clearly works. Closing Thoughts If you are trying to remove a vinyl decal or a registration sticker from a boat, definitely start with the eraser wheel. From my experience, using the eraser wheel to get decals off of a boat is the best way for most DIY'ers (and professionals) to get off decals. Just know, once the decals are removed, you may still see an outline of where the decals were. To correct this, you will need to compound and polish the area with a rubbing compound prior to installing new decals. This is caused by the oxidization of your boat over time and that is why you can still see where the decals were previously installed. Check out one of our articles about detailing your boat. There you can get greater detail on how to produce a mirror finish on your boat hull.