Cleaning cockpit floor

Captn TJ

Active Member
Sep 19, 2017
872
Catawba Island, Oh
Boat Info
2005 280DA
Raymarine E80
Engines
5.0 with Bravo 3
On our new to us '05 280, we threw away the old carpet since the foam backing was disintegrating under our feet (see photo below). Some of the foam vacuumed up well but a lot of is stuck to the floor. Has anyone had to deal with this? What did you use to remove the foam embedded in the floor
IMG_4952.JPG
 
A stiff brush and some simple green remove mine easily.
 
Started w/ Stiff Brush then used Scotch Brite Pad
 
Try a medium bristle carpet cleaning brush on a drill, or even better yet, a random orbital or rotary polisher if you have one.
You can find the brush for your drill on Amazon or for a polisher either there or most auto detailing supply websites.
Do a small section at a time.
Spray the cleaner of your choice on the surface then deep clean it with the brush on the power tool.
 
Spray 9 Cleaner or Starbrite Deck Cleaner. Try to stay away from bleaches as they are too harsh for the gelcoat.

-Kevin
 
Those little guys gave me nightmares on my 310. I used almost every suggestion above but then I still had to get on my hands and knees and slowly remove the stubborn ones with a small head screwdriver/knife. I'll never forget that day either, it was close to 150 degrees..
 
I used easy off oven cleaner. It worked well but required a few applications.
I will second this! I tried everything and nothing else worked.
 

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When you do the cleaning, try to keep that stuff from draining into the bilge. It will make a mess of the bilge and gum up your bilge pumps.
 
I remember I had the same issue years ago on a 370, soft scrub and a stiff hand brush took it off pretty easy. It did not harm any gelcoat and smelled good too!

Bow Tie
 
Just bumping this to the top incase there are other ideas. I've tried many of the recommendations in this post including; oven cleaner. acetone, soy based strippers, soapy water with grout brush, etc. The deeply impacted stuff is still there! Really frustrated.

Any help would be appreciated as I'm one of those clean freaks. Note we are putting on Infinity Vinyl - but just knowing what's going to be under it will drive me crazy.
 
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Not trying to be funny, because Easy Off was the only thing that worked for me. I realized neither Peter or me mentioned scrubbing with the oven cleaner, or allowing it to sit. Did you use a stiff bristled with it and let it sit for a few minutes first?

When I did it, it took A LOT of elbow grease still, but no other chemical I tried seemed to work.

I can’t blame for being a clean freak. We spend a lot on these boats, and they should be taken care of. It always saddens me to see a dilapidated or unused boat in the marina.
 
Yup - let it sit for about 5 minutes and used a still nylon bristle brush (grout brush) and to no avail. Not step maybe using a gelcoat safe stripper - but they're so dam expensive. Also once the boat gets out of storage I will also try pressure washing in conjunction with 'easy-off'
 

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