My parents bought this 86 Formula 242 LS about 5 years ago. When they bought it one of the previous owners put black bottom paint on it just past the chine and all the way up the bow. I have always hated the way it looked and wanted to remove the paint near the bow. The boat sits in the water the whole summer. They don't care if the boat loses 5 mph because of the bottom paint, and the bottom paint had been effective at keeping the slime off. I am going to remove the paint off the bow area above the water line and bring it back to white, but leave the bottom paint on the hull that sits in the water. So far I have used AquaChem to get the paint off and it did a great job. The 1st coat took the paint off, then the 2nd coat took a little more off. The problem I have now is the paint stuck in the sanding grooves in the gelcoat. The boat has black paint OVER red paint, so all the little sanding grooves are showing up red. Who ever "prepped" the bottom for paint went over board and probably sanded this thing with 60 grit sandpaper. I have tried acetone to get the red out of the scratches but it still persists. I have even tried another coat of aqua chem but even that wont take it out. I have tried bug and tar removed, polishing compound, and everything else I have laying around to wax cars and yet the red paint still persists in the grooves. Short of wet sanding it, is their any other chemical I can try on the bottom that can get the paint off or another process. When I was using the bug and tar removed I was using a orbital wheel and letting the wheel do the work.

Use white bottom paint.