Tricks to get old stickers and clear coat off

[Pirate Crew]

The oars that came with my new to me Alden Star have foil backed stickers on the blades that appear to also have a coat of rattle can clear coat over them. What is good to soften this combo enough to scape off? I’ve got plastic scrapers that should be able to get below the sticker and easy on the blades below. Hoping to be able to just get these two layers off without taking off too much of the paint below.

[Tsnor]

Nothing good for you here. We use sandpaper and repaint when we get used oars, but the results are not really that good. I don't know any better approach, but would not recommend that you do what we do.

There are a lot of products for removing stickers from car paint. Heat in moderation then chemicals. I'd worry more about heat on oars than on car paint.

It's possible an auto collision shop could sand it down then paint back up to match the original paint and seal with clearcoat. The people who fix our boat hulls could also do it, but the price point is higher than we can afford so we spray them ourselves.

FWIW, there is a large painting section in this c2 oar manual: https://www.concept2.co.uk/files/pdf/us ... Manual.pdf