[A/S] Stripping clearcoat

[Stan Nicholson <stan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

A quick report from a very happy camper.  I finally tried removing 
clearcoat from our '72 Overlander today, and it turns out to be 
relatively easy and clean (compared to my concerns, anyway).  The 
short background is that the unit's exterior finish has been sadly in 
need of refurbishing. We decided early not to recoat (salt air), but 
that left choices of paint vs. polish, and pay (gasp) vs. sweat. 
Polish was the greatly preferred choice, and I haven't had many 
concerns about maintaining a polished finish because it can be done 
in small sections. The big stumbling block has been stripping the old 
(possibly original) clearcoat.

We tracked down a few places that would do stripping, but it's 
understandably expensive, and they wanted to do the polish as well. 
I've been hesitant to even try the stripping myself, because (most) 
stripper is toxic, and I don't have a place where it could reasonably 
be used with water and electricity available.  Thought about a 
boatyard, but didn't get that far.

I reread the archives, and paid attention to references to a product 
(RemovAll) made by Napier Environmental Technologies (of BC, Canada 
http://www.removall.com/)  Hydrogen peroxide is the active 
ingredient, and it doesn't automatically generate toxic byproducts 
(not considering the old clearcoat). Called their 800 number to see 
about getting a gallon shipped, and got instead some very helpful 
suggestions and the name of a local paint store that carries their 
stripper under a house label.

So today was the great experiment.  The instructions say to use an 
airless - I have one, but used a brush on just one panel for the 
trial.  The goo went on easily and stuck well to vertical sides.  I 
waited a few minutes, and tried gentle scraping with a plastic 
scraper.  The stuff was working!  I let it work, then gently scraped 
the entire panel, then hosed it off.  The old clearcoat lay in small 
clumps on the driveway.  A second coat took care of a couple of small 
problem areas.  The aluminum looked infinitely better - shiny, 
semi-reflective, even though patterns of filiform corrosion still 
show.  I'm hoping that those are surface corrosion, not stubborn 
clearcoat, and will come out with polishing.

I was so stoked I did two passes on a few more panels, with similar 
results. The old clearcoat was pretty easy to deal with.  I wiped it 
off the plastic scraper onto paper towels, and whatever was washed 
off by the hose lay in a pretty small area on the driveway.  After 
letting it dry a little, the driveway cleaned up easily with a shop 
vac and a rinsing. It was very reassuring to know that the stripper 
decomposes to water, hydrogen and oxygen, and since no clearcoat made 
it to the gutter, what flowed down the gutter was not the toxic stew 
I'd been concerned about.

It'll take several more sessions to strip the entire trailer, and 
lots more to do the polishing. But it's absolutely great to know that 
I can actually do the whole project!  And it's wonderful to see the 
difference that's made just by getting rid of the old clearcoat!

Hope this encourages others - you don't have to wear a moonsuit to 
tackle this job.

Stan