Removing Painted on Boat Letters

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PK142FISH

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Hi All,

I currently have a 14 foot aluminum boat that has a WI Registration number painted on both sides. That registration expires in March 2017. I need to obtain a new registration. My question is how do I remove the painted on letters off of both sides. The boat is 3 hours away so I don't want to go out there and spend all day taking it off with oven cleaner or other remedies. I thought about just taking the new letters that I get from the registration office and taking them to a graphic printer. They can put black letters on a white background that would cover the old numbers. I know it is not perfect but it accomplishes the objective. the boat just stays on a private lake. I am interested to see how others have handled removing painted registration numbers on their boats.

Thanks
 
Mask off area and use Easy Off or acetone, but WEAR rubber gloves & watch the fumes!

Personally, I would just mask off around the old letters and just spray paint a large black rectangle and once dry, add white stick-on letters. Looks really SHARP!

Look, spend a few planning minutes before you do it to do it right ... do a dry run of your letters taped to cardboard and you can space it and make it NICE! To me, most people clutter the spacing. And in many States further, one is supposed to leave a larger space between any State letter and any numbers, or even following letters.
 
See example on one of my old boats as attached ...

See the name? I had rigged this one up when fuel for offshore tuna fishing went over $5 per gallon ... and I was burning 80 to 120-gals per trip - yikes!
 

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I don't know about in Wi but in Illinois the boat number stays the same.
 
The registration number of the boat STAYS THE SAME, you call in and change the name of the owner. Last time I did it, it cost $26, as I recall. The DNR sends you a new registration sticker.

Might be more if the boat is huge. dunno.
 
Sorry for the oversight

The boat is registered in Wisconsin, but I have to obtain a registration in Iowa
 
It's a little hard to understand how paint removal is such a big issue. Don't you think removal of paint depends on the type of paint used? So, get some stripper, buy some sandpaper, chip at it with a knife. Why don't you use some elbow grease and then take a picture and impress us with what a creative guy you are.
 
The cheap environmentally safe stripper is usually the least effective and would be best to remove the painted on numbers without removing the base paint.
 
I ended up wet sanding off the painted on numbers on my old sprint boat, but that had clear coat over the paint so it did not affect the base paint layer. I'm guessing your base paint isn't coated over. The letter/numbers were 3 coats of paint to create a shadow affect in 3 colors so it took me almost 10 days (in a 38 degree garage). Maybe try to match the base coat color and just paint over the letters so they blend in and then put your new stickers over them.
 

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