Epoxy Clean-up (blue tape fail)

[Forrestkk]

Hi All,

Pulled all four locker doors on my 99' 450 EB and found some rot. I cleaned stuff up and filled with epoxy, but my blue tape leaked. ON EVERY DOOR.

So, because it went under the tape I didn't see it and I have a few spots of cured epoxy to remove. Short of sanding, does anyone have any tricks? I have seen some solvents but terrified the gelcoat will dissolve too.

Thx in advance!

 

[Lazy Daze]

Nope, solvent won't do it - none that I'm aware of, anyways. But, yeah, if there WAS something, it would dissovle the gel, too. You may get lucky and be able to chip most of it off, first. But if the epoxy did what it is supposed to do, it's stuck hard and fast to the gel.

How did it get underneath the blue tape? Not pushed/smoothed down tightly?

 

[Forrestkk]

Nope, solvent won't do it - none that I'm aware of, anyways. But, yeah, if there WAS something, it would dissovle the gel, too. You may get lucky and be able to chip most of it off, first. But if the epoxy did what it is supposed to do, it's stuck hard and fast to the gel.

How did it get underneath the blue tape? Not pushed/smoothed down tightly?

@Lazy Daze,

Thx, thats what I thought. It is flexible epoxy so I might be able to scrape carefully. Thankfully, most of it is on the cockpit floor which is covered by carpet. Just a little on the cockpit walls where it was getting through the tape.

I must have missed something before I taped and didn't get a good seal. I was using penetrating epoxy and it did exactly what it was supposed to...it penetrated...ughh.

 

[Blueone]

Need a pic

 

[scoflaw]

What I've learned over the years is not all blue tape is created equal. Don' cheap out

 

[Forrestkk]

What I've learned over the years is not all blue tape is created equal. Don' cheap out

@scoflaw

It was 3M...pretty sure it was operator error.

 

[Forrestkk]

Need a pic

@Blueone

Just walked down to the dock and snapped this image. Even better, the plastic stuck to it making it just a little bit worse.

 

[fwebster]

The doors are Starboard and epoxy doesn't stick to Starboard. It looks like the epoxy has run down the front of the cabinet rather than onto the doors themselves. The cabinet gelcoat and about the only way to remove it is to block sand it off with a very fine sandpaper. It will take a real long time but you might get the epoxy off without damaging the gelcoat.

If you happen to damage the gelcoat, all is not lost; it just becomes a case of stupid tax and a good fiberglass repair technician can fill the damaged areas and spray gelcoat over the repair and bail you out.

 

[Forrestkk]

@fwebster

Lol...love it...stupid tax for sure!

I was thinking the same, carefully scrape as much as possible and then 600 grit follow by compound.