Compounding & waxing didn't help...

[SVRocinante]

Good day folks!

As usual, I like to close the loop in appreciation for all the great thoughts posted.

First, while not 100% sure, the stripe seems to be, as several of you suggested, part of the gelcoat. In either case, I did as Flyingriki suggested and picked up some polishing compound and proceeded to "buff" a small area (about 6-8") by hand, in line with the strip... worked like a charm!

Had the owner of the "detailing" shop stop by, showed him what I had done and he's sending his guys back to do the stripe by hand... annoying as all hell to have to tell someone that does this for a living what needs to be done, but I refer you to ramblinrod's post above...

So, while it might be a bit harsh, it looks like in this case, we can chalk it up to incompetence!

Thanks again,

[dakno]

I had the same issue. Upon close inspection I realized that my boot stripe was indeed vinyl tape, which I carefully removed only to discover a 2nd layer of vinyl tape, which I also removed revealing a original gelcoat stripe in pretty good shape that polished beautifully. Worst case gently water sand with 600 paper, compound, wax 2x.