Old glue removal

bryan · Post by **bryan** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:58 pm

Hi gang, I removed the canvas wall coversings from the interior walls and found that there was this old green/rust colored glue that was used to hold them in place. I tried to use a little "Goo Gone" to remove some of it but had limited success with it. Can anyone recommend a good way to remove this gunk? I want to remove it all and then repaint the interior.

Here is a picture (gunk is on the right side running just below windows):

Thanks in advance!

amayotte · Post by **amayotte** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 10:44 pm

Ya, I had that stuff all over my walls too.
Your probably not going to like the suggestion but I used a side grinder with
a broad sanding disk. Worked quick and effectively, but it did create a lot of
dust.
The other thing that did work but is expensive and hard on the skin and lungs is Acetone.

good luck,
Adam

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:40 am

bryan wrote:I tried to use a little "Goo Gone" to remove some of it but had limited success with it.

It's a chore under the portlights since the scraper doesn't get in there too well, and you may find that one if those Scotch-Brite paint remover scrubbers you attach to a drill would work good.

The only other insight I have is to use a LOT of Goo-Gone, the spray gel type, let it soak, and then spray it again while working. Keeping the stuff very wet with the Goo-Gone is what worked for me.

http://my.att.net/p/s/community.dll?ep= ... 280783&ck=

Andiron120 · Post by **Andiron120** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:39 am

My experience was the same as EE's, same tools same results. I have to repeat the process now and then as water leaking through the core in the deck seems to be the source and I get a small amount around the windows when it rains. Will rebed the deck fittings to stop it when time allows.

Mario G · Post by **Mario G** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:55 am

3M makes a good adhisive remover

Thinner is cheap and will do the job but use mask, fan and gloves

50/50 mix of amonuia and alcohol ( thats the rubbing type scallywags) fan and mask aslo needed.

A brass bristle brush helps all the above with out hurting the fiberglass.

I'm hopeing the 1st mate lets me hold that project off till this up comming winter...

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:16 am

Have you tried a heat gun and a scrapper?

bryan · Post by **bryan** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:18 am

Excellent - thanks for your suggestions guys. Gus, no I haven't tried the heat gun but the sounds like a good idea too. I don't have one though so I'll probably be trying the "tons of goo gone" method first and see what results I get. Thanks again.

al the pal · Post by **al the pal** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 3:00 pm

I just returned from scraping glue from the old carpet all day today, and got most of the work completed. The cabin is trashed and needs a good cleaning now. The Goo Gone Gel worked very well (thanks EE!); however, make sure you have at least one gallon with you... and another quart will likely be needed beyond that for touch-up work which I am sure to need after a good cleaning.

For scraping in the aft berth I wore a full face respirator with organic vapor and particulate cartridges and was very grateful for the extra eye protection in addition to the respiratory protection. Working on your back spraying Goo Gone with carpet glue sludge falling on you is bad enough... no need to be overcome by the experience.

Does anyone have pictures of painting the fiberglass after scraping? I am hoping to avoid replacing carpet, but I am not sure the result of painting such a rough texture will provide a pleasing result.

bryan · Post by **bryan** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 9:07 pm

Thanks Al. Well I tried the Goo Gone and scraper method and it did remove the old rubbery glue stuff on the walls but I noticed there was another type of glue material that was a more hardened crusty plastic sort rather than rubber and it just didn't come off easily. This stuff is, unfortunately, very much fused to the walls and it took lots and lots of scraping to get just a little bit of it it off. The Goo Gone didn't really seem to dissolve it so I'm looking at plan B now.

I'm thinking of sanding it off - any suggestions on what type of sander and grit would work well for this? Amayotte mentioned he used a side grinder that worked well.

Thanks in advance!

Alanhod · Post by **Alanhod** » Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:51 pm

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 7:18 am

The problem with sanding is that the glue might melt, that's why I suggested using a heat gun and a scrapper.

al the pal · Post by **al the pal** » Sun Apr 04, 2010 12:16 pm

Bryan, are you talking about the glue used on the fiberglass above the seating, but below the port windows? If so, I still have that lots of that rubber-glue stuff remaining as well. I was thinking of dry-wall sanding "paper" as I thought that regular sand paper would be gumed up very quickly. Gus, I like the heat gun idea as well, and if I proceed with trying to remove that material I may be resorting to that soon.

All the "after" pictures I have seen of this rough fiberglass area shows people installing carpet or some kind of PVC siding instead of painting. If the area will not paint up well and look nice (even aftere removing all glue) I will stop the scraping madness and just install similar material.

That said... Has anyone every painted this type of material? Will look nice when done, or will it just look rough and unattractive? Kind of like wafer board tht got wet before you painted it?

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 5:26 pm

Check this out:

http://bbs.trailersailor.com/forums/tsb ... ead/738378

Gus

al the pal · Post by **al the pal** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:27 am

The link for the pictures appears broken... why, Why, WHY?!?!?

Looks like a lot of people like to use acetone on their boats. Once appropriate precautions for personal safety and fire suppression are made, will acetone hurt fiberglass?

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:57 am

al the pal wrote:The link for the pictures appears broken... why, Why, WHY?!?!?

Hover over the link and look in your lower browser bar and you might see he has an extra "http//" in the link.

Should just be
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrguth

Not sure if that link works either, Flicker is blocked here, but since I'm painting the same boat, can't wait to see what his looks like !

SN691 · Post by **SN691** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:57 am

Al When we did the inside of our boat we used wire brushs on the hull, then metal putte knife to scrape some more of the glue off. Then we mixed 1/2 cup of mr clean to a gallon of water and use sctube brushs and that got most of the glue off. We painted to hull but is was still rought, so then we ended up putting carpet on. the only place we did not put the carpet on was the under side of the stern berth.

http://s935.photobucket.com/home/LakeOr ... entuploads

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:17 am

Wow! What a nice boat!!

al the pal · Post by **al the pal** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:48 am

Wow... that is a good looking boat! Thank you for the post-painting pictures, I really appreciate them! Did you attach the carpet wtih a spray adhesive before tacking down the edges?

hp18carr · Post by **hp18carr** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:57 am

Bob

Just to say nice pics somehow seems lacking... it reminds me of how far my overhaul still needs to go.

One Photo did spark my curiosity... the hose on your swing keel thru-hull cable looks to be longer than most I have seen. Is this how you found it or did you change it out for a longer one?

Terrence
Wilmingotn N.C.
Chrysler 26 1980
Pandora (for now)

SN691 · Post by **SN691** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:39 am

Al. We went to the local carpet store and talked to then about what we wanted to do and the said the best thing to use was Mapei ultra bond
eco 350. It is a water base and cleans up with water very easy. It is what thay use when putting down vinyl flooring. We used a paint brush to put it on the hull, waited about one hour then put the carpet on.

Terrence the hose is a 1/2 inch garden hose clamped at the botton and goes all the way up to the winch with a wood plug clamped inside the hose with a hole drilled in it to fit the cabel. The orignal owner that we bought the boat from did that so water would not splach up through the hose

al the pal · Post by **al the pal** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:55 am

Thank you for the very specific information, Bob! Always appreciated

Alanhod · Post by **Alanhod** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 1:15 pm

bryan · Post by **bryan** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:21 pm

Thanks for all the comments everyone. Gus - that link you provided from another discussion group showed that someone with a similar problem as mine used 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner...sounds exactly what might work for me! I'm gonna try that stuff soon and I'll definitely let you know how it goes.

Thanks again.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Thu Apr 08, 2010 8:48 pm

Yeah, don't go around re-inventing the wheel, it makes no sense.

bryan · Post by **bryan** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:35 pm

Hello all, I received the "3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner" in the mail today and just had to try it to see if it would indeed remove that crusted on old glue. Well, what do you know...it worked! I saturated a rag with the stuff, laid it over a part of the interior that had that glue gunk, left it on for about 30 minutes then first wiped then gently scrubbed with a brass brush. It only took some minor scraping with the brush to see that stuff come off - whew, I'm pretty happy about that! The fumes are pretty strong though...even for the little part I tried with all windows open. When I get at the rest of the boat I'll need to probably get a respirator; can someone recommend one that will 1) keep fumes out and 2) that will also keep small particles out if and when I ever did any interior sanding?

Thanks, I'll post some pictures soon of the job - regards.

Mario G · Post by **Mario G** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 4:28 am

Bryan find a auto paint supplier in your area and get a 3m paint mask about $22 you can get the remover also . You might want to put a fan in the boat also. if your going to paint a lite sanding with 180 0r 220 grit sand paper would help the paint to adher to the gel-coat.

Jmckamey · Post by **Jmckamey** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 4:40 am

Hello, 3m adhesive works well, also you could use toulene in the same manner. It is a little cheaper and can be had at Lowes or home depo. For the really tuff stuff you could use MEK (methel ethol ketone) All these chemicals are mean stuff. You could set up a fan for ventilation. As for the respirator, any automotive paint supplier will carry good units for this purpose. The most effective form would be a postive air flow system using a full face mask. Considering this is a one-time job a standard respirator should be ok. Be sure to use gloves as these chemicals are accumlative in the ol' liver and they will enter your bod thru your skin. Happy scrapping.

al the pal · Post by **al the pal** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:48 am

Great point about the gloves, but make sure they are not thin nitrile or latex. You want something thicker and more resistant to the specific chemical you are using. Several manufacturers publish tables like the following link. They will detail how well specific materials can resist chemicals from passing through or destroying the glove. Just find the chemical you are using and then select the most appropriate glove for any manufacturer.

http://www.ansellpro.com/download/Ansel ... eGuide.pdf

Also, make sure that whatever respirator you purchase (most likely an air-purifying respirator (APR) for a one time job) has cartridges that will resist organic vapors as well as fine particulates (P-100 indicates high efficiency filtration for particulates), and that it fits your face. Good respirators come in different sizes and if air leaks in around the face seal it is not helping you as well as it should.

Make sure that you start the ventilation before the work starts. You don't want flammable vapors accumulating in the cabin to a concentration above the lower explosive limit and then start a fan that may spark and cause an explosion.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 4:39 pm

Another point concerning fans and flamables: Use the fan to blow into the confined area, not suck out of it. If you create a positive pressure the fumes will be blown out whatever openings are available. If you use the fan for suction, all the flamable fumes are being pulled through a constantly arcing and sparking motor... not good!!!

Paul

bryan · Post by **bryan** » Tue May 04, 2010 8:59 pm

Hello all, I finished up removing the glue from the interior recently - very impressed with the results. Here is a quick before and after photo:

Before:

After:

Ready to rumble:

Basically I followed this method:
1) Bought a 3M respirator, wore goggles and used thick rubber gloves. Also opened every window available and put a fan at the main cabin door blowing air inward. Also, it was a breezy day when I did the work which helped. These fumes are really awful - do what you can to properly ventilate!

2) Used 3M General Purpose Adhesive Remover. Applied it with the following methods: spray it on with a spray bottle, dipping rags in a bucket full of it and continually running the wet rag over the areas, or just laying the saturated rags directly on the surface.

3) Left it on for 15 to 30 minutes until it turns a little yellow in color - then it is really dissolving and ready to scrape off.

4) Used 3 sizes of brass brushes to scrape off the dissolved glue.

5) If the initial application of the remover doesn't completly remove the glue - keep adding more to keep it wet with the stuff and keep scraping with the brush; it will dissolve eventually.

Well that's it - this stuff is gone now and the walls are clear.

Regards, Bryan

Chrysler Sailors Forum

Old glue removal

Old glue removal

Re: Old glue removal