Thanks everyone for the suggestions on buffing my boat. That 3M Finesse It, did wonders! It was exactly what I needed, even at $40 a bottle! I used a good fiberglass wax after that, and man what a deep shine! I noticed doing this hard labor, that my pinstriping (1/4 inch) was cracking and looking old and sun worn. It didn't even look like a sticker anymore. What is a good way to remove it? I realize I will have to re-wax that area again, but that striping has to go!

3M Woodgrain and Vinyl Stripe remover. Its an aerosol can. I used it to remove old vinyl pinstripes from my aluminum trailer.

Go to your local auot refinisher-supplier shop and buy a rubber wheel to do this job. It looks and feels just like an eraser and buzzes the stripe right off. It works best in an air-powerd drill.

ive used a blow dryer before with success.
heat up the vinyl for 20 seconds and it peels right off.
course , if yours is old enough to crack it might not work.

I also used the rubber wheel on the aluminum, but will it work ok on gel coat and fiberglass and not "burn"?

the rubber wheel is more what I was looking for. The spray on sounds like a mess. I've used the blow dryer before also, but your right, this stuff is too old and cracked. Anyone else know if the rubber wheel will hurt the gel coat?

Nope, it doesn't hurt the gel. I used it with great success on my 1980 31' Searay, both the bootstripe tape and the deck tape, both of which were the original 1980 tape.

Just did the same thing to my boat and used a heat gun and all the stickers and pin striping came off no problem and my boat is an 87 and the tap is factory.

JIM

heat gun on LOW works great