How to remove silicone sealant

[moepitman]

Originally Posted by jwing

Good to know. I wonder why DR5 did not appear in the results of my web search.

It's DSR5. Amazon sells it.

[ben373]

A caramel or sometimes called tractor wheel in the drill will do the trick.

Sent from my G630-U251 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Ziggy]

Originally Posted by rosatte

Where can i buy debond replacing two aft ports in spring ..

Try West Marine

[zboss]

Teluene has high reactivity with silicone and is easily available. NASA uses it, hexane, or heptane to remove silicone residue from spacecraft parts.

[hellosailor]

If you mean Toluene, even that won't remove the residue of silicone sealant (as opposed to silicone sprays or lubes) from porcelain, fiberglass, and other common materials.


Maybe NASA is using is to remove silicone oil (commonly used in laser printers, on the fuser rollers) from impervious metal surfaces, but those are easy things to clean.

[puffcard]

I just replaced two Beckson portlights, last weekend. You remove the trim ring first and cut the old port out. Then go buy a couple of those $2 razor knives, fully extend the blade and with the new edge shave as close to the gel coat as you can. This next tool is the greatest, it's made by 3M and called a Bristle disk 120 grit. Insert in a drill and clean remaining silicone off, careful to the stay withing the trim rim. If you go to far off don't worry with gelcoat. The disk isn't that aggressive it's made with nylon and mine the light scruff marks buffed out very easily, but removes the silicone very fast. If you have Beckson portlights they recommend using silicone like Dow 795 for the reinstall. I been dealing with silicone on this boat and this tool is great. The plastic razor blades don't to well for scraping the old sealant off, but work great for trimming any excess after the install around the trim piece.