Figured I quick hop on the forum for suggestions rather than read through the same thing over and over again on google. I’m selling one of my boards to a buddy today, it’s been sitting collecting dust for a year so I figured I’d rather have some tattoo money than a board I’m not too fond of. I spray painted the board when I first got it, just doing some random patterns and it came out pretty well but he wants it back to looking like a stock board, got no qualms with him there on it. I was hoping for some advice in the removal of the existing paint though. I’ve painted a few boards but never had to remove it before so I want to be cautious and not damage the board in the process. I was thinking of starting off with some naptha to remove all the old wax, following up with wiping it down with acetone to remove the spray paint. Only concern is I clear coated the sh!t out of it when I applied the paint, probably has 2 or 3 coats… Hoping I didn't shoot myself in the foot with all the clear. But after wiping it down with the above chemicals I was going to wet sand with a high grit paper. Any tips, advice, insight, etc from the guys who deal with working with surfboards on a daily basis would be highly appreciated. Thanks guys!
I would use a little acetone - but be careful as it will easly eat thru the resin. I think using a solvent like paint thinner - that's not as strong might work better - but once you are thru the clearcoat and paint- switch to a buffer and buff it out with rubbing compound - like 1600 grit rubbing compound. 3m makes some found at advanced auto near the resin- fiberglass section.
I've not tried this on a board but EZ Off Oven cleaner works for removing acrylic paint from boat hulls. Might be worth a shot.