DECAL REMOVER!

in the process of having my merc 150efi hood replenished or repainted whatever works the best. i have a freind who works in a auto body shop for the painting part, but has no experience in decal removing on marine motors. may not replace the decals but have it pin striped and maybe lettered. i am in charge of removing the decals all this has occurred from my yammy kicker rubbing and kicking the big guy around while running over rather large waves. need to fix that problem after i get the other fixed also. have no idea what the decals would cost if i can even get them replaced from merc, compared to the pin striping. like the idea of having my own painting scheme though.

Oops!,& Goo Gone are a couple I’ve used in the past, but not on outboard decals. I’ve used them on the boat numbers with good results. Some guys like to use a blow dryer. I heard that will loosen them up.

My buddy has a large scratch on his 225 from trimming up the motor and rubbing against the aft seat. I referred him to one of the best auto body shops in the area, another friend of mine, and he told him due to the paint and 7 layers of clear coat, he would need to strip and repaint the whole cowl + new decals for it to match the new paint. The estimate was about the same as a new cowl. So for $4.99 he put a Merc sticker over the scratch.

Decal removal- Hair dryer and Goo Gone…

Derek, just curious. How much for a new cowl that size?
Would $700.00 be a close guess?

Close.. $800

thanks guys, i forgot to add my motor is a 95. which i’m sure isn’t much diff in replacement cowl price. i guess i better check with my neighbor the body shop guy and tell him about the layers of paint and clear coats. he quoted me somewhere between $150 & $200 for repainting. but and i mean a big butt….. i don’t think i will have the proper training to remove everything. time i finish i might be better off to replace the whole cowl. be where do you find merc decals for $5? i’m pretty sure i can get the decals off after the info you guys gave. that could be the end of the road though. decisions decisions!

Ask the shop repainting your cowl if they are going to sand it down to the fiberglass. If this is the case, you don’t have to worry about doing a good job about removing the stickers. Most likely the decals will pull off the paint and the primer from the cowl which won’t matter if they sanding down.

Also, instead of getting Mercury decals, find any sign shop with a vinyl cutter and they can make you new decals in the color you want to match your boat.

Hot hair dryer. I use isopropyl for removing glue because it works and I always have it laying around. Use cloth rag and not paper towel when removing glue.

I have removed numerous decals off my boat and snowmobiles. The hair dryer is the best method of removal and I use Flitz polish to get rid of the sticky mess left over, both on metal and fiberglass. It works like magic.

Crossin, I have never tried Flitz on fiberglass, doesn’t it scratch the clear coating? That stuff is amazing!!

Any bodyshop should be able to remove your decals with a special rubber wheel that is installed in a rotary tool (drill, die grinder, dremel, etc). This rubber wheel is made specifically for removing decals. Go to http://www.eastwoodco.com and go to page 40 of the catalog. I had the dealership decals removed from the plastic bumper of our car this way, couldn’t even tell they were on there and the decals were on the car for more than 3 years.

Scott,
I’ve used it on numerous snowmobile hoods of different brands and color schemes without incident. I know it’s a bit controversial, but I remove a lot of the warning decals and other poorly placed decals on my sleds. They are in pretty high profile locations and I’ve never ever had any scratching. I absolutely love that stuff. (Flitz)
I’ve used it on my white GMC Yukon several times to remove road tar and small superficial paint marks and scratches too.
I haven’t ever used it on a gel-coated surface though, so I’m not sure about that.