How to remove silicone sealant

[jwing]

Originally Posted by Wotname

I am sorry to say that there is no easy way to remove silicone apart from purely mechanical means;

That's certainly the conventional wisdom if one deosn't venture away from the sailing forums.

But the internet is much bigger than that:
McKanica® Silicone Caulk Remover Gel (0354) - Pure Silicone Caulk - Ace Hardware

[Cadence]

I was going to suggest a razor as Rock Head did. You might try GE. The original silicon sealant was their RTV so they may have a suggestion.

[Dave852]

Originally Posted by jwing

That's certainly the conventional wisdom if one deosn't venture away from the sailing forums.

But the internet is much bigger than that:
McKanica® Silicone Caulk Remover Gel (0354) - Pure Silicone Caulk - Ace Hardware

Tried that, does not work like DR5. Lots of talk about sanding and wire brushing silicone to remove it. That will drive it into the gelcoat or whatever surface. Razor knifes followed by chemical is the way to do it imho.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[sartorst]

The silicone removers that I have used did not to well and left an oily residue that had to be clean off

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by crabcake

US Distributor Tool for Dow-Corning 2025

This product requires the equipment to be immersed or in contact for 1 to 4 hours to be effective. Not sure if its a gel, but this will be a challenge on vertical surfaces.

Originally Posted by jwing

That's certainly the conventional wisdom if one deosn't venture away from the sailing forums.

But the internet is much bigger than that:
McKanica® Silicone Caulk Remover Gel (0354) - Pure Silicone Caulk - Ace Hardware

There are quite a number of products that claim to remove silicone.
You try the one you trust most and cross your fingers - you'll know if it works or not a few months down the road.... What if it doesn't?
I use a razor blade to remove as much as I can see then sand the surface to remove a bit of the top layer until I have a rough substract where water does not bead.

[JMK]

Thanks for all of the tips. I really do hate silicone sealants, but a PO put the ports in with it so that's what I've got to deal with before I can use a real sealant. Seems like it takes longer to remove that oily residue than anything else.

[coastalexplorer]

I have taken the broken glass panes out of an aquarium by softening the silicone with kerosene. If you can hold stips of cloth soaked in paraffin or kerosene along the top of the joint and wait For the soak to work: Perhaps even re-wet them often, That could be a cheap way to help the situation If those other High tech products are not available.

[hellosailor]

Hard to say without knowing just how the installation was done. If the silicone was just used as a bedding compound on the interior/exterior, I would use a single-edged razor followed by a STIFF putty knife to break to bond all around, as best you can. The pull or pry the interior/exterior rings off.


If they are plastic, Mark Plastics actually used to use massive amounts of silicon around the edges of the portlights where they ran through the hull, so you couldn't cut the silicon, it was necessary to break out the glazing and then "implode" the trim rings to pull the away from the hull thickness. Followed up by chewing out whatever silicone was left.


There are some release solvents, Home Depot sells a pale (opaque) "natural orange" goo that will loosen silicone but also removes paint and as a goo it doesn't penetrate well. They also sell a "rocket fuel" stripper in a tall aerosol spray can, and I can tell you that will penetrate and dissolve and release almost anything--but it also finds ay bare skin and burns like all hell, you have to be very careful using it.


So if a box of single-edged razor blades (or one of those fancy oscillating saws) and a putty knife will work, that may still be the best way to go.


Look into 3M "VHB" tape to seal the new ones in. It isn't your grandpa's old double-stick tape, it is structural quality, but can be released with solvents.

[sparrowhawk1]

What UNCIVILIZED said. Maybe guitar string instead of dental floss. Start with guitar string then fillet knife, then a very thin putty knife then a thicker putty knife and then put the sim putting knife in another spot and if you have another thick putty knife put that in and then pry it out enough for a couple of screwdrivers and pry it out more and put in a chisel and keep doing this slowly working around the port

[jwing]

Originally Posted by Dave852

Tried that, does not work like DR5. Lots of talk about sanding and wire brushing silicone to remove it. That will drive it into the gelcoat or whatever surface. Razor knifes followed by chemical is the way to do it imho.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

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

[IolantheSF]

Silicone may be necessary for some parts and glazing (polycarbonate). Check the manufacturers recommendations.

5200 on metal parts is a piece of cake. Warm up the part with a heat gun or propane torch to about 300 degrees, and the stuff will melt. I pulled all the stainless tangs and other fittings off my mast with about 5 minutes work each, and there wasn't one char mark on the wood.

[jongleur]

"Silicone may be necessary..."

This is never true on a boat.

It is gratifying to see the
overwhelming show of disdain
for silicone on this board. Hope
we can finally put the stuff out
of our misery.

[Seafari]

Originally Posted by JMK

I know this is rather mundane question given some of the other posts I've been reading today, but I have five opening ports I need to replace and I'm trying to figure out the best way to take them out with minimum damage to the boat. They were installed with generous amounts of silicone sealant and the few I have taken off so far was not a pretty event. I was wondering if a hot air gun would be helpful at all (heating the port to try and soften the silicone).

Thanks,
J.M.

This stuff really does work! Marine Formula – DeBond

also reviewed here:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...one-19343.html

[rosatte]

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

[JMK]

One more variant on the monofilament/guitar string idea. If you have access to it Gigli wire is what I am going to try. It is a medical product used to saw through bone in tight spaces. I'll also experiment with a couple of the solvents mentioned above. For some previous ports I've already taken out I did end up sanding, but the area was previously painted so it was easy enough to repaint after removing the ports.

Thanks again. Now if it will just stay nice over the next week or two I can get theses done!

J.M.