Paint removal

[Spindrift]

I know this has been a well-worn path in the past, but if there is any recent information, I'd be grateful.

I am currently restoring a Mirror dinghy that I recently bought for my daughter. Most of the paint has been easy to remove, but the paint used on the sides is proving resistant to all efforts to remove it. An air sander with a 60-grit disc barely scratched the surface, so to speak.

I don't want to try burning it off as Mirrors are only made of 6mm ply. The hull number shows it was built in 1966 and it would be a shame to turn it to a pile of ash now, so I think I may need to resort to chemical warfare. I was wondering, then, if anybody has any thoughts what would be best for removing what may be a 2-pack paint, especially as I don't want to commit too much violence on the hull.

My daughter plans to put the craft to its traditional use and actually sail the Mirror, whereas I don't get on with ropes and sails etc. Still, that's her choice!

[Spindrift]

Quick update on the stubborn paint situation.

Trotted off to the local B&Q this morning and bought 2 litres of Nitromors, which had zero effect on the paint. Then whilst looking for something else, I found a bottle of Wickes common old ordinary paint stripper....

Cue happy afternoon spent with an old paintbrush and a cabinet scraper. Turns out there are actually 4 layers of paint on this dinghy.

[haventaclue]

My wee Mirror had a mishap with a fifteen stone lump,me. I used a belt sander on the 2K,but then I knew it was 2k as I had restored and painted her a few years ago. I sanded until I saw the primer showing,then 6" orbital sander.
And I found the ply is a good bit thinner than 6mm,and that was before I started sanding

[Diomedea]

You could try Starchem Synstryp.
If you do please use good PPE in a well ventilated space and even an air helmet as it’s nasty stuff.
Brush on, wait until it softens the pain and scrape off.
Need to clean off any residues. Don’t get it on your skin as will will burn.

[Diomedea]

You could try Starchem Synstryp.
If you do please use good PPE in a well ventilated space and even an air helmet as it’s nasty stuff.
Brush on, wait until it softens the paint and scrape off.
Need to clean off any residues. Don’t get it on your skin as will will burn.

[Spindrift]

You could try Starchem Synstryp.
If you do please use good PPE in a well ventilated space and even an air helmet as it’s nasty stuff.
Brush on, wait until it softens the paint and scrape off.
Need to clean off any residues. Don’t get it on your skin as will will burn.

Thanks for the info, but I think I'll stay with Wickes' cheapo paint stripper as it seems to be doing a good job. Besides that, I'm doing the work in an open-ended shed with no door and am occasionally joined by some of our escape-artist chickens, the cat, and our dogs. Hazchem and animals are not a good combination.

Thank you, anyway.

[Rapier]

Industrial strength is the best for our use.

[Spindrift]

The Wickes product was doing a great job initially, but I seem to have got down to some sort of base coat, which is proving remarkably resistant. However, although it's taken a month so far and I'm still working on it, the bottom of the hull and the transom are now bare plywood, as are half of the sides. Repeated application of stripper and firm application of a cabinet scraper are slowly producing results. Though it is tempting to move the chemical warfare up a gear, having got this far, I'll persist with the current process. I've taken some leave this week and it should be finished in a couple of days. Then I can start looking at doing a final wash down and clean up prior to putting a new coat of epoxy and tape over all the seams.

Then I can flip it over and start on the inside....

[Rapier]

I'd up the ante, but my early serial Oppy was the same..it had a hard epoxy base coat, that resisted all but a DA.

[Spindrift]

So all the paint is off (on the outside anyway!) after generous amounts of Wickes' paint stripper and 60 grit discs on the air sander. I was just about to start sanding down to a re-coatable finish when the aforementioned air sander packed up. All I did was temporarily disconnect the air supply and then reconnect it (it's just easier when changing the abrasive disc - saves sanding off the end of your fingers when accidentally pressing the trigger). Re-connected, spun it up, but gutless when applied to the work.

Hey ho, back to handraulic sanding for me, then!