removal of rubbery stick stuff

[triton 496]

Hello to all,
Well I am back aging with sticky problem pertaining to port light sealant.
Yesterday my son and I removed eight leaking port lights that seemed to be glued in place with this white rubbery stuff from hell. Going at it with a chisel, scratch awl and flat head screwdrivers this stuff was terribly elastic and had the strength of a rubber band from Arnold's gym! Any idea what this junk is and how do we clean it from the port light frames with out damage.

As always any thoughts or experience with this would be greatly appreciated. Al

[Rachel]

Uh-oh. Sounds like it might be white silicone? If so, you are finding out why it is the agent of the Devil. Hopefully it's something else (many caulks can be sticky, but your description does make it sound a bit like silicone).

Edited to add: And in addition to my whining about it, you can find an excellent thread devoted to silicone removal here (I found it by searching with the phrase "remove silicone"):

http://plasticclassicforum.com/viewtopi ... e+silicone

If it is silicone, I don't know of any really good way. You can use mechanical means (razor blade or other scrapers, etc.), and I've heard of some chemical silicone removers (such as available at auto body shops), but I haven't heard anyone say they work really well (please let me know if you find one!). Oh, I recently saw 3M's aerosol adhesive remover (citrusy) recommended as a silicone residue remover (on the can, I think), but I have not tried it.

One thing to be careful of is that you don't grind the silicone (and its long-lasting residue) into the fiberglass, on the boat side of things. That means taking off as much as you possibly can before you sand (so you don't sand the contaminates into the 'glass). The residue would make it hard to ever paint and is also somewhat resistant to accepting other caulks.

If it's another type of caulk, then you'll have more choices of removal solvents, depending on what it is (mineral spirits, etc.). The rubberyness does sound like silicone to me though.

Sorry to sound gloomy about it; I just get that way about silicone caulk.

Rachel

[Oscar]

Sharp (new) razorblade.

[triton 496]

Thanks for the feedback, I think you are very right, it is evil. The question is why, why do people do it, could be ignorance or the devil sitting on their shoulder whispering yes just do it do it now. All the Best, Al