gonggongboy

I was wondering if there was a way to remove epoxy froma fiberglass hull.

I have a 44in fiberglass mono and im replacing the railing...
When i removed the railing there was tons of extra epoxy that i need gone

Should i just use a dremel and grind it away... or
Use a heat gun a scrape it off when it starts to melt
Or something completly different... let me know how you've removed it before

advanced builder

gonggongboy I have a fiberglass hull & I epoxied the stuffing tube to the glass hull . Nitro laying inside the boat softened up that epoxy, the stuffing tube pulled right out of the hull ,If all else fails try some nitro , You Said A ton of epoxy get the dremel out & a hand file & go at it. LOL

Dreamin Hemi

If you already have the rails out, all you can really do is carefully take that Dremel and grind away...little at a time, you don't want to go through the hull! Nitro is a waste of time, over time it may soften epoxy, but it won't work for your application.

gonggongboy

Thats what i have been doing... I have a wire brush attachment and its doing a pretty good job... not the fastest but leaves a smooth finish and doesnt grind through the fiberglass...



What about heating it up and scraping it offff.... Will that just weaken the hull and get un needed warping

One other thing will nitro cleaner spray soften it up or electric motor spray

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

Nitro, brake or carb cleaner won't cut it.

advanced builder

Heat is not a option. What about making some new rails? 1/4 birch ply

R.J. West

Since you pulled the old rails out, you have not much of a choiceother than toremove the old epoxy as well. Theres really no easy way to do it realistically.I would suggest using a dremel with a right angle drive with a drum sander. set it to a slow-medium speed and have a go at it. maybe even clean it up with a mini dremel steel wire brush attachment after using the drum sander. Its "ok" to sand or scuff up the fiberglass under the old epoxy as your going to need something good for the new epoxy to grab onto. After its all said and done your not going to notice anything different other than new rails!

gonggongboy

I have just use a high-speed dremel with a wire brush not the fastest but not bad..... I see if i can find another way

Ron Olson

My Feedback: (1)

I'm curious as to why you had to rip the rails out in the first place.

R.J. West

The dremel wire brush is fine.

gonggongboy

I took the rails out because they were old and i was just redueing the boat to make it look nicer... and the rails were spaced to far apart and i have other stuff in mind for it