Yes, careful use of a heat gun should work. Just soften the letters and you should be able to peel them off with your finger nails. In this case, I would avoid using any tools. As they peel off, they probably will leave most or all of the adhesive behind. Remove this with 3M adhesive remover, which will kill a few brain cells but will not harm the vinyl stripe. The stripe probably will be quite faded relative to the areas that were covered by the letters. Hopefully you can hide most of that with the new letters. -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats <montgomery_boats-bounces@mailman.xmission.com> On Behalf Of Burton Lowry Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2018 2:08 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Subject: Re: M_Boats: Success! Congratulations! I've gotten off a lot of old vinyl lettering by heating them gently with a heat gun. Once they are warm--they don't need to be hot, be very careful and get a razor blade under an edge. They should peel right off. Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 27, 2018, at 10:00 AM, William Coleman <williamlcoleman@gmail.com> wrote:
I wrote to the list two weeks ago in a last ditch effort to find an M15 a reasonable distance from Philadelphia after all other methods failed. With thanks to all the friendly folks who replied on and off list with potential East Coast boats and helpful advice, I have now concluded the purchase from a list member of #669, a pristine 2012 model that will be re-christened "Aino" after a character in Finnish mythology. Hooray! After some dry land rigging practice, I'm looking forward to daysails on the Delaware River, meetups with the one other PA M15 person I've found so far, Brad K of #656, at Lake Nockamixon, building up to some multi-day cruises on the Upper Chesapeake and beyond. If there are any other wrinkleboaters around, do get in touch and we can form a li'l fleet.
While I'm writing, maybe someone on the list will have some pertinent experience for a looming question: the best way to remove vinyl characters (both reg numbers and previous boat name) that have been applied directly to the blue vinyl top stripe this recent Nor'Sea model came with from the factory to its previous owner? I'm hoping the characters directly on the gelcoat on the stern will be easier but am concerned about damaging the attractive stripe in the process of updating the boat's identity. Has anyone had success with this already before I start experimenting?
Thanks, Will