Blades, paint, and solvents

[Chris123]

The skin on my my blades was wearing a bit thin in places so I prepped carefully and painted with spray acrylic (Rust-Oleum's premium band) over the compatible grey primer. I'm pretty disappointed in the results -- the surface is quite a bit softer than I expected -- maybe I should not have used the primer. Latest insult is that a nickel-sized chip has flaked off the rudder right at the trailing edge.

Over the winter I'd like to take off the soft paint, only if I can do so with an expenditure of my time that's worth considerably less than a new set of blades.

Anybody know what the blades are made of? It seems to be some sort of self-skinning foam plastic, but I have no idea what it is. Will it stand up to a chemical stripper of any sort? Any other advice as to how to get this thick soft stuff off without grinding the whole works down to nothing?

Fred, as a general principle I agree 100% with what you say about chemical solvents and my one and only birth-issued liver. On the other hand, we're talking about a one-time strip of about 4 square feet, to be done outside. And yes, I own a high-quality respirator that fits properly.

 

[Chris123]

Anybody? Someone must have tried putting stripper on their blades and either succeeded or found them transformed into a puddle of resin with a few wires sticking out....

 

[mihor]

Why don’t you simply (wet) sand it down? The surface area is so small that with a good few sheets of quality paper of different grades and a water hose and you’ll be done in a hour or so. While you’re at it, fill up any scratches etc. with proper filler in-between sanding.

As for the surface paint I suppose a lot of people simply use spray can paints with good success. I painted my blades with a two part polyurethane paint. The paint was white “Perfection” from Interlux. Now they look like brand new and the paint is very durable. I did not use a primer and at least so far there are no signs of problems.