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KSmith
06-09-2011, 08:14 AM
Howdy! I am removing the 3D Chrome Moomba lettering from the sides of the hull. The new big chunky 3D Moomba lettering. Seems a couple of the letters were trying to remove themselves and got caught on the trailer guide pole, messed them up pretty good.

Anyway, I tore off the rest of the letters but in many places the foam tore off from the lettering and is stuck to the adhesive which is stuck to the gel-coat...

I have tried every chemical I can think of and nothing is working. Seems the solvents aren't getting through to the adhesive due to the foam...

Heat gun made matters worse, pretty much turned the foam into a solid mass of impenetrable hard black plastic...

Any ideas??

I ordered some plastic razor blades as a last resort. Which is fine, I can take a day to gently scrape this junk off, but I prefer an easier approach as I am inherently lazy ;-)

Thanks!

mmandley
06-09-2011, 09:16 AM
Id have to go with Heat gun and plastic putty knife.

Heat the boat right next to the foam, not the foam directly, then just start working the putty knife in there.

Other then that not to sure.

KG's Supra24
06-09-2011, 09:23 AM
Id have to go with Heat gun and plastic putty knife.

Heat the boat right next to the foam, not the foam directly, then just start working the putty knife in there.

Other then that not to sure.

I use this same method for pulling lettering off the cars. It is time consuming. Once I get the foam off I wipe the adhesive off with a rag with some gas poured on it. Just be sure to clean the boat real well afterwards.

wolfeman131
06-09-2011, 09:36 AM
I say leave the sticky goo on the side and see what you can catch out of the lake with it.

Did you ruin the letters? If not, do you think they could be remounted and would you want to sell them?

kaneboats
06-09-2011, 11:45 AM
Did you try WD40? I use it all the time for sticky stuff.

spoon03
06-09-2011, 12:01 PM
Second the WD-40..

KSmith
06-09-2011, 01:07 PM
I say leave the sticky goo on the side and see what you can catch out of the lake with it.

Did you ruin the letters? If not, do you think they could be remounted and would you want to sell them?

LMAO.. yeah, could be interesting. The black foam still stuck to the hull does have a somewhat abstract appeal to it :-)

The letters are destroyed now, tough to get them off. After the first ones were damaged by the trailer guide poles it was a free for all LOL rip and tear curse and swear...

Thanks Guys, I tried WD40, Acetone, Goof Off, Paint Thinner, Lacquer Thinner, Dizolvit (sp?) from Wally World (a suggestion from another forum), um... what else... several other chemicals, seems I inhaled the fumes a bit much as I can't recall what they were...

Oh at one point shot it with wasp killer, WTH right?

at any rate nothing worked.

EDIT: I have some plastic chisel point razor blade on order, should be here tomorrow, but I may not get around to spending a day gently scraping the goo until the weekend or next week...

viking
06-09-2011, 01:17 PM
U shoulda left the ones that weren't damaged. People would be asking you why you have a big

MO M ....... on the side of your boat :)

STANG KILLA SS
06-13-2011, 02:27 PM
ive removed badges from cars. my favority method is two pieces of dowel rods (or bic pens etc) and string, i prefered spider wire fishing line.
you tie it to the two rods about 12-18" pieces,slide it behind the badge/letter and saw the foam backing tape in half.

garantees no scratches to the finish. especially with our soft gel coats.

KSmith
06-13-2011, 02:32 PM
U shoulda left the ones that weren't damaged. People would be asking you why you have a big

MO M ....... on the side of your boat :)

LOL Yeah, the last 3 were okay, so I could have left MBA and made them wonder... Oh well...

sandm
06-13-2011, 02:33 PM
dental floss is how I used to de-badge cars. get the foam a little soft with a heatgun and then use dental floss using a sawing motion back and forth.

KSmith
06-13-2011, 04:37 PM
Yeah it isn't the removal of the letters themselves, they are off. It is the junk left stuck to the boat. The adhesive is stuck to the boat, but there is foam that came off the back of the letters stuck to the adhesive so the solvents aren't getting to the adhesive. So if you were to think of it in layers you'd have gel-coat, adhesive, foam.

I got some plactic razor blades and have now scraped off all the foam exposing the adhesive. Next step remove the adhesive... what a pain...

Good practice I guess as my new SeaDek swimpad should be showing up soon :-)

Razzman
06-13-2011, 11:45 PM
Use mineral spirits, it will literally turn the glue foam and glue to a state where you can wipe it off. You may have to apply it a couple of times. Follow the instructions to a T and it will not hurt the gelcoat at all. It's what Seadek recommends for removing their product btw.

iwaterskihard
06-14-2011, 11:25 AM
Don't use chemicals! Rip your boat to a body shop or detail shop. They should have a flapper wheel that they can run over your letters and remove them with no trouble in less than 5 mins.

I have a buddy here who used to be a detailer and he removes everything for me like that whether on my boat or my truck. No free dealership advertising for me!:p

KSmith
06-14-2011, 11:52 AM
Use mineral spirits, it will literally turn the glue foam and glue to a state where you can wipe it off. You may have to apply it a couple of times. Follow the instructions to a T and it will not hurt the gelcoat at all. It's what Seadek recommends for removing their product btw.

Thanks Razz, I'll grab some on the way home.