How to get house paint off gel coat?

[Notsooowicked]

Yes, this does sound crazy.
I just purchased a 396 a few months ago, and there are what appeared to be repair patches to the gel coat. Apon closer inspection, this looks like house paint. Any ideas on how I can remove house paint without further damaging my gel coat?
I am slowly discovering the ridiculousness of the way that the previous owner repaired some things on my boat. Luckily, he didn’t have it for very long, and the previous owners before him seemed to take very good care of her.
Any advice is welcome.
Thanks!!

[bud37]

Could you post a close up pic of this area ? What makes you think it is house paint?

If you google how to remove oil based paint etc there are many solvent suggestions, just try a small spot and see what happens.
But there has to be some repair under the paint that is being covered so it would be good to post a pic of this.

[km1125]

There are fiberglass-safe paint removers that you can use. I still have a gallon I bought over 20 years ago and just used some recently and the stuff still works great.

[Notsooowicked]

On the one photo, you can actually see the roller marks. And he did this in several different spots. But it looks like he painted the whole stern with house paint. I know repair products are notoriously hard to match, but this is acting just like house paint, and it looks like house paint.

[paulr]

I have an area on my 2001 396 that I purchased in 2021 that looks the same way. I had it compounded and waxed and its still a little ugly.
The fiberglass guy said it was some kind of superficial repair where the tech couldn't match the gel coat.
I have been familiar with with Carvers for 30 years. I've seen new boats where the factory released boats for sale with mismatched gelcoat certain areas that where from different molds.
I have seen many, many parts of Carvers where the aft deck small door and the side doors and the aft cabin aluminum structure, have a variation in color. I have never seen that on other boats.
I would really like to hear from another fiberglass expert if they are familiar with Carvers.
If you find that your boat does have house paint on it has to be covering something else but probably not serious or the surveyor would have found it.

[Viper]

QR_BBPOST.... I have seen many, many parts of Carvers where the aft deck small door and the side doors and the aft cabin aluminum structure, have a variation in color......

That's really common because a lot of the components you mentioned including radar arches, are typically aluminum on some models and thus are painted, not fiberglass, and so you will always get a colour variation between the gel and painted surfaces over time. There are variables that affect how different coatings and their original look hold up over time. That applies to all brands using this form of construction.

For the blotching in the original post, I would try wet sanding an inconspicuous area then polish it out to see if that improves it. The idea is to get down to the original gelcoat, you just have to be careful not to sand aggressively so you don't go through the gelcoat. If you've never done this with a power sander, do a small area by hand first to see if the process solves the problem. If it does you may want to consult a pro to do the rest.

[bud37]

QR_BBPOST On the one photo, you can actually see the roller marks. And he did this in several different spots. But it looks like he painted the whole stern with house paint. I know repair products are notoriously hard to match, but this is acting just like house paint, and it looks like house paint.

Is this on the non skid deck sections ??

Smooth Gelcoat on the hull sides etc is quite thin and can be burnt thru with simply rubbing compound and a power buffer in spots if not experienced, remember it is the protection for the glass fibres underneath.

[Notsooowicked]

Thanks everyone for all your replies. Funny thing, it’s peeling right off to the original gel coat with a pressure washer. It’s a total mess. I know patching will need to happen. But TBH, the damage to the gel coat underneath is minimal. A little bit of crazing and thin patch here or there. Pretty sure this is latex house paint not a gel coat patch.

I have since figured out that the “gentleman” for lack of a better word, that owned the boat before me, used latex paint for lots of “repairs”.
In the head, instead of re-grouting, he completely coated the outside base of the shower stall. Same kind of situation, repaired was needed, just a little bit of grout. Instead, he used an incredible amount of paint to cover it up the base of the shower and about a four or 5 inch border on the fiberglass floor and wall. Underneath the paint that I peeled off, the masking tape prep was still there. I wish I would’ve taken a photo when I started because in the left corner of the shower, the paint was probably at least an inch or two thick. Like he had either waited for the paint to become super thick or put multiple coats. Honestly, I think it was just old paint. So much paint, that the corner was no longer a corner. It was just a bubbly mold filled curve. I’ll attach some photos while I was in the process of fixing it. Like I said, I didn’t get one before. I started sadly, it was quite a sight to see. The last photo is after peeling the paint and cleaning the grout. Now it just needs fresh grout in one corner.