I'm about to pull the trigger on a used boat. The boat is in great condition. The owner does have stickers from his sponsors on the hull. There aren't a ton, and they aren't huge, but I'd like to take them off. He said they've been on about a year, and that they should come off nicely with a blow dryer and not leave any marks. Anyone had any experience with this?

 

I've always peeled them off the best that I could a blower dry may help of they are still soft. Then after I got the sticker part off I always have used 3m general purpose adhesive remover. To get the adhesive residue off then a quick coat of wax.

Not sure if a blow dryer gets hot enough, but a heat gun does.  It can get too hot if you don't move it around, and damage the finish.

 

What I've found that works best is to gradually heat a corner of the sticker, then try to lift the edge of the decal using your fingernail.  Once you get it started, keep the gun moving, and heat the area adjacent to where you've started lifting the decal free.  You can also apply heat further away on the decal, but concentrate on the area that should lift free next.

 

Once you get a feel for it, the job should go quickly.

 

Be sure to keep a lifting pressure on the sticker, and apply only enough heat to free the sticker as you work your way across it. 

A heat gun should let you peel the sticker of and MEK solvent will take the remaining adhesive.   What you may find is there will aways be an outline of them when the gel faded.  My boat was a FLW tourny boat that didn't have a wrap when I got it several years back, and to this day, you can still see where all the stickers were.

I got mine from a guy that ran a tourney trail for 8 years and he had the name of it on both sides of the boat with stickers. I started by pulling up a corner with a small razor blade scraper and quickly realized I could scrape the entire thing off with the razor much quicker without harming the gelcoat. If the surface is relatively flat and you keep the blade flat you should be able to do it this way.

I won't lie that I didn't scrape the gelcoat at all but it was very minor and with mine being white it was completely unnoticeable...especially after I sanded and waxed it. There was some residue left after removing the decals and a good wiping with acetone took it off. The sanding and waxing also fixed the discoloration problem that allowed me to see where the stickers were.

I would use a heat gun, then use rubbing alcohol to get the rest of the glue off. I won`t hurt the gel coat.

Heat gun, acetone, followed up by BTS (Bow To Stern).

 

Or....

 

Just talk badly about the sponsors on national TV.  They'll disappear shortly thereafter!

Heat gun, acetone, followed up by BTS (Bow To Stern).

 

Or....

 

Just talk badly about the sponsors on national TV.  They'll disappear shortly thereafter!

Man, if I was getting national TV coverage I don't think I'd be buying a used boat!! 

 

I just realized I didn't mention this in my original post, but the boat has an aluminum hull. Does that change anything? Or should I proceed as instructed?

You should proceed pretty much as instructed.  Use the same procedure.  Exercise more caution if the boat is painted.  A heat gun, applied to an area for too long will cause the paint to blister. 

 

If it's not painted, then you'll likely need to get an aluminum cleaner.  The areas beneath the stickers have protected the aluminum surface beneath, so you may have areas that look better than the rest of the hull.  Don't have any experience with aluminum, so I don't know what cleaners are available.

 

Do an internet search on the topic of cleaning/restoring an aluminum finish.

25 years ago I detailed cars at a Ford dealership. Oven cleaner was by far the best adhesive remover and was gentle on the automotive finish. We used it to remove bumper stickers on trade ins. I'm sure there are much better products out today.

With alum I wouldn't go the route of using the razor blade or the acetone. Any potential scratches in the alum finish or the paint are not easy to cover up compared to gelcoat. You can't tell where I used the razor on my boat but that wouldn't be the case with alum.

 

And then with acetone you'll likely damage or remove any paint on the surface. If you have no paint you should be able to proceed with acetone, heat gun, oven cleaner, etc.

 

If it's painted you can still lift a corner with the razor, peel the sticker and rub with alchohol. It may take a while but you won't screw up the paint.

Not sure if a blow dryer gets hot enough, but a heat gun does.  It can get too hot if you don't move it around, and damage the finish.

 

What I've found that works best is to gradually heat a corner of the sticker, then try to lift the edge of the decal using your fingernail.  Once you get it started, keep the gun moving, and heat the area adjacent to where you've started lifting the decal free.  You can also apply heat further away on the decal, but concentrate on the area that should lift free next.

 

Once you get a feel for it, the job should go quickly.

 

Be sure to keep a lifting pressure on the sticker, and apply only enough heat to free the sticker as you work your way across it. 

 

X2, this works and is easy to do once you get the feel for it.  The aluminum hull should make the job go even faster than on a glass boat.  I would also follow up with a rub down of 3m general purpose adhesive remover or rubbing alcohol to get any remaining residue off.

 

But to be safe, do a Rhino suggest and do an internet search on the topic of cleaning/restoring an aluminum finish, it could save you a lot of work and heartache.