Removing epoxy/sealant from gelcoat

[Ms. Mymoney]

Hello friends, during this past off season I had a company redo my bimini, side windows and aft cover. My boat is older and during the reno they suggested I go to the welt and Flex-A-Rail track system like newer boats utilize. They would glue/screw the track along the fore and aft of my arch and secure the bimini and aft cover to the track with the sew in welt stuff. Great! Sounds awesome, easier to get on and off, modernizes my late 80s vintage boat some. Win win right?

Well here we are mid season and the track has pulled off the arch in places. In addition the welting is coming right out of the track. It appears the wrong size track was used (too big) and not nearly enough screws were used to secure it, especially in the radius around the arch. No surprise like usual if you want something done to your liking you do it yourself so Ive ordered the track, it was only like $40.

My question: for someone reason they used copious amounts of some clear epoxy in addition to the double sided tape and screws. And a lot of it. To make matters worse it obviously wasnt marine grade stuff because by now its yellow from the sun. Some dock mates suggested acetone to thin it enough to where I could scrape it off with plastic razor blades. Anyone else have any experience doing this? I just dont want to make an already shaky situation into full on gelcoat repair also.

bill

 

[Chris Nowell]

Sorry to hear about the sloppy job. We had a similar occurrence a couple of years ago with a contractor using some kind of epoxy to attach our pump out fitting. When a leak developed I tried everything from lacquer thinner and acetone to a special epoxy thinner from "Industrial Plastics" to remove the stuff. Ended up asking the fiberglass shop for advice and they said to get it off with varying grits of sand paper being careful not to go too deep, and then bring it in for a gelcoat touch up job. It's as good as new now but it took a while for the shop to get it in as they're usually quite busy. Matching and blowing gelcoat seems to be an art of it's own. Around here I only know of one shop that can do it properly. Good luck and I really hope someone else can offer you an easier solution.

 

[Ms. Mymoney]

Thats what I was afraid of, thanks for your input. Looks like sanding may be the only way to go, Im not getting anywhere with other methods. The good news is the canvas strips that go into the track that have the keder welt sewed to them covers the track and gelcoat. It wont be perfect and that kind of stuff bothers me but I dont think I would have much luck finding someone to match 25yr old gelcoat. The boat is old but IMO in amazing condition for its age and Id like to keep it that way.

 

[Lazy Daze]

As you found out, acetone won't touch it. Sanding is the only method. A handheld, carbide-tipped scraper may be useful, too. However, if the existing epoxy does not interfere with the attachment of the new track, don't worry too much about getting it all off. For it's worth, epoxy will indeed yellow in the sun since it's not UV stabilized. If you want to keep it from yellowing, you have to topcoat it.