Since I purchased this 1976 Dyne five years ago, I've wanted to remove the giant red decals on the side. Never have cared for them and this is the only one I've seen with them. My guess is that they were not original. However, they've been on the boat long enough that the glass under the decals is brilliant white (I've been picking at the edges). The glass on the rest of the boat has has, as you might imagine after 30 years, turned slightly off-white. If I remove the decals and do nothing, instead of giant red letters on the side of the boat, I'll have giant white ones, which may actually look worse. Is it possible to apply enough elbow grease to the sides (buffing, polishing, etc.) to clean it all up and make it look like the original? Can I do this without going too deep? If so, can you provide me some recommendations for doing this? I'd appreciate any good advice. Bernie
I did that to mine before I had it redone. I used rubbing compound and I was never able to completely get rid of the image. It is a gamble. jim
Bernie Nice looking boat! I'll try to field this question. We've got some others on here who can probably help as well. As for the decals, I cannot say 100% for certain that they are factory decals but I can tell you that I have seen these identical decals on the sides of other I/O 18' hydrodynes. In fact you may find pictures of some of them on this website. I cannot tell if your boat has been painted. That is the starting point for the analysis, because you need to know what medium you are working with - paint or gel coat. Assuming that it is paint, you may or may not be able to buff out the paint in the surrounding areas to get the color back. It depends on the paint that was used, how thick it was applied, etc. If the boat has the original gel coat, there is a reasonable chance that you can indeed buff the boat with a light polishing compound and get the gel coat color back to the original white that you see under the decals. Some decals, however, can actually bleed chemicals from the glue into the gel coat, altering the color of the gel coat down to a limited depth. As for the gel coat, the extent to which it can be polished to bring back the color will depend on how aggressively and how often the boat has been polished previously. If the bulk of the original gel coat remains, you should be able to polish it and restore the color fairly easily. Then you need to use a high quality wax to protect the gel coat from further fading or oxidation. If the gel coat has been buffed repeatedly and/or has spent much time in the sun (stored outside full time, for example), then the gel coat is sometimes so thin or so damaged that it cannot be restored. In such cases, it is often possible to get the color back by polishing but it quickly fades again, causing the areas were the decals were located to slowly "reappear." You can't always tell what the result will be until you try. If you have sufficient gel coat, and it is in a good enough condition, you might consider having a fiberglass repair facility do the polishing for you. They know how to do it without damaging the gel coat. In essence, they "sand off" a thin layer of the gel coat and repolish the entire boat. If your gel coat will tolerate it, this would probably be the best way to go. However, there is no harm in first trying to do something yourself with some light polishing compound, keeping in mind that you'll need to use it on the rest of the boat to keep the color uniform. Start with "polishing" compound rather than "rubbing" compound. The "rubbing" compound is more abrasive and will remove more finish, so you don't want to use it unless the "polishing compound" is not working. If you do end up using the "rubbing" compound, then follow that with the "polishing compound," followed by a coat of regular carnauba wax. Don't use a polishing disk on a drill, as that will damage the finish. Use an orbital polisher that is designed for polishing or do it by hand. Good luck! MarkBano
Thanks Mark and Jim for chiming in. A little background on the boat: I'm the third owner of this boat and, happen to know the first owner. The original owner had the boat 22 years, the second owner only 2 years. It is in very good condition and is all original, no paint, just the original gelcoat. Original floor, carpet, seats, motor, etc. Hard to believe, but it has been well cared for. From what I know, this boat has never had polishing compound applied...just washes and waxes. Local advice on the decals is, "Just leave them alone." By the way, the decals only bug me. There are a lot of similiar vintage Hydrodynes in our area that are in similar condition, but they all look so clean without the big honking HYDRODYNE on the sides. I may pick a spot in back and try some polishing compound and see how I do. Or maybe not. Just hate to muck up what isn't broken. Thanks again for the tips.
Bernie, I just ran into a guy from the white bear area with an I/O dyne last week at the Mississippi river when I was testing out my new ride. Was that you, or one of the other people you mentioned with similar vintage dynes in the area? I didn't realize there were very many dynes left in the area. Keep us posted on your decal story if you try something.
