Sticky glue...

[SailorGirl7497]

My parents and I have a small Mirage5.5 for about a year and its been great to sail on, but the inside is quite disgusting and requires some cleaning up. I noticed some flakes the colour of peanut butter around the walls where this filthy carpet was. I began pulling the carpet of and now there is a fiberglass wall covered in this unknown glue. Ive tried scraping it off every way imaginable but Im too scared to try any chemicals since I have no clue what it will do to the glue. If anyone has ideas or can tell me what the stuff is and how to remove it that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
-Amanda

[Caribsailors]

I had the same type of situation on my O'Day 25.....I tried chewing gum remover to freeze it and then scrape. But then found the remover was actually propane!!

Not sure where you live, and it's not the season now, but I waited till the coldest day of the winter and scraped it off then.

Good luck

Cheers

[knottybuoyz]

Or try a little heat from a hair dryer or paint stripper.

[noelex 77]

It will be contact cement.

[senormechanico]

I service sewing machines for a living and have to remove all manner of ancient tape debris and various old service labels.

I'd start with paint thinner and work up to Acetone if needed.

[SailorGirl7497]

Thank you all who have answered my problem! I will use your advice asap!
I would still like to hear what others say though so please keep posting ideas!

[hummingway]

3M makes something called Citrus Adhesive Remover. Since they make a lot of adhesives I suspect it works but I don't know what is in it. The fact that it says Citrus won't preclude toulene etc. being in there.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by hummingway

3M makes something called Citrus Adhesive Remover. Since they make a lot of adhesives I suspect it works but I don't know what is in it. The fact that it says Citrus won't preclude toulene etc. being in there.

Looked up the MSDS to see what's in it. 80-90% citrus extract which is most likely D'Limonene, a purified extract of the oil in orange and other citrus peals. Very safe and very effective and it smells good too. Same stuff used to make orange flavoring for foods.

BUT the other ingredient is propane. I'm guessing that would be the propellant for the aerosol can. If there is a non spray version I would try that or just look on the shelf for an orange based solvent without the nasty ingredients.

[David_Old_Jersey]

If Plan A (potions and magic lotions!) fails - Plan B of a wire brush attachment (brass, not steel - they come in different shapes and sizes) on a drill will do the trick (including when the glue is rubbery - and sanding doesn't work - and also where the fibreglass is lumpy / has no gelcoat.....ideally only where you will be covering up the results with something like carpet - but with a bit of practice (and care!) results look like original and good enough for paint, if you can live with painted fibreglass)....if it is a gelcoat finish then as the wire brush is a tad brutal (it will wear through f/g!, so will eat gelcoat very easily - it's somewhere between a disc sander and an angle grinder) then I would exhaust all of Plan A first as the finish with a wire brush won't look so great!

Expect lots of fine dust!

[Cheechako]

Hard to say, but it's likely "landau top adhesive" , a form of contact cement.
Often the installer sprays it on the boat and on a piece of carpet that is cut larger than the final piece. He then just sticks it in the boat and cuts the outer trim to fit with a razor knife.

[SailorGirl7497]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Hard to say, but it's likely "landau top adhesive" , a form of contact cement.
Often the installer sprays it on the boat and on a piece of carpet that is cut larger than the final piece. He then just sticks it in the boat and cuts the outer trim to fit with a razor knife.

Yea that seems to be my problem.... Plus its been on there for 20+ years.... T~T its so hard to get this poor little boat to look pretty! XD

[SailFastTri]

It's been my experience with solvents that they do melt the adhesive but they remain sticky -- so when dealing with a large surface, you end up just pushing the stuff around with rags or scrapers, with little progress in removal. I dealt with this a few years ago after removing foam-backed vinyl hull liner.

If the other suggestions don't work well-- There's a product called 3M Woodgrain and Stripe Remover sold for removing vinyl letters and stripes. You can get it online or at a well stocked auto supply store.

You spray it on and it converts the adhesive to a white gooey substance (similar to soap consistency) that isn't sticky, and is easily removed with other adhesive removing solvents (e.g. citrus) or plastic scraper. Once converted, it comes off easily -- that's the difference.

Use protective respirator filter rated for toxic aerosols so you don't breath it in.

[atoll]

your best bet might be rather than cleaning it off is to wipe it down with acetone,remove any lumps,then get some scotch guard type carpet,cut it to size then glue it on using contact adhesive.

[hellosailor]

Scrape off what you can, then it is "mechanical abrasion" and your choice of solvents. It will be old contact cement of some kind, no real telling what. Do work with adequate ventilation, fan forced if you can, a respirator mask if possible. Even the "citrus" solvents are similar to turpentine, not really good stuff to be inhaling.

[Astral Blue]

That glue is adhering to resin. If you use a remover that compromises the resin, your hull will be weakened/damaged at that section. Please carefully research whether the solvents you are using will leave the resin intact.