How to Strip Paint, Varnish, and Fiberglass from a Wooden Boat

In this video I demonstrate how to use a 1500-W Dewalt heat gun and a Bahco scraper to remove paint, varnish, and figerglass from the side planks of a 1961 Chris Craft 17-ft Runabout. I have documentation indicating that the boat was "worked on" in 1998 in Visala, CA. Part of the work was applying a "West System" fiberglass bottom. The fiberglass cloth ends at the hull's waterline. There is a raise in the wooden planks of about 1/16-th of an inch along the waterline to accomodate the end of the cloth; and this transition is faired with a fairing compound. My task now is to strip the entire outer hull. Key things to consider are the following. 1) Pay attention to where the heat gun is pointed. It doesn't take long to burn the wood. 2) As much as possible, work in a comfortable position. 3) Take your time and work one small area at a time. 4) The paint and varnish will begin to blister just before it begins to burn. The fiberglass and expoxy don't behave the same way. These will begin to burn without much indication. Thank you for watching. Good luck with your project.

[@chillywilly3397]

I am currently working on removing some fiberglass patches on my 54 Whirlwind runabout. Do you think that with enough heat, the fiberglass will get soft enough for removal? I think my heat gun will reach approximately 1000°.

[@GLF-Video]

Hi CW. My experience is this. The heat gun makes the paint and varnish soft and that makes it easy to remove with the scraper. The fiberglass is more tenacious than the paint and varnish. The whole bottom of my Chris Craft was covered in fiberglass. I flipped the boat and removed all that fiberglass using the heat gun and scraper. It probably took me about 25 to 30 hours of actual scraping time. The heat gun will soften the epoxy… but at a higher temperature than the paint and varnish. You have to be very careful not to burn the wood underneath the fiberglass. More photos can be found here. woodenboatpeople.org/forum/topics/guy-s-wooden-drift-boat-project Look further down the pages of my blog.

[@chillywilly3397]

@@GLF-Video Thank you for responding and sharing your experiences. It looks like me and the Whirlwind will be spending a lot of time together. I look forward to checking out your blog. Thank you again.