I picked up an Old Town Discovery 119 that someone has painted. I really would like to get it back to the original blue. I googled how to strip paint from a polyethylene boat and got a few suggestions. Tried a power washer - got some but not much. Used vegtable oil - nope. Towels with hot soapy water left in the sun - nope. Any other ideas?
Any good paint stripper.
Try Citristrip
It may take more than one application.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Citristrip-Stripping-Gel-1qt/17209362
Citrustrip??
I am leery of most paint strippers as I am fairly sure they will eat the polyethylene. I read the MSDS for the Citrustrip and it also contains 2-aminoethanol and 2-Butoxyethanol which I wonder the same about. I finally found the label for the stuff and it disolves polyurethane so that makes me wonder. And it says it can be used on Wood, Metal, and Masonry Surfaces.
Acetone on composites
I’ve had good luck with Acetone on composite boats but I don’t know if it plays nice with polyethylene. I’d suspect not very well but you could always try in a small area.
Alan
Sold in polyethylene bottle
Citirstrip is sold in polyethylene bottles.
That should be a pretty good indicator that it does not dissolve polyethylene.
magic eraser
paint
repaint the hull to your blue
the hull is protected with 2 paints and not degraded by aesthetic overload.
It’s ok, but acetone will destroy ABS
layers in Royalex boats.
Citrustrip
I think I am going get some Citrustrip and give it a try. The comment about the bottle makes sense.
I have used it on one or two PE boats
and several composite boats without any problems. But there are many variations of polyethylene.
Alan Gage and ezwater are correct. Acetone is also OK to use on polyethylene. Don’t know how well it will remove dried paint, though.