C-Forum

I am re-outfitting and old slalom boat and am wondering if there is a solvent for old glue that is used for minicel. In particular there is a lot built up where the knee pads will go. The boat is an old Super Batmax, hand laid, Kevlar and S-Glass.

I had a bunch of glue & minicell plus resin from the old anchors in my Viper. I don't know what the layup is (Winterport boat w/o label). I failed a couple of attempts to glass in new thigh-strap anchors & then a buddy told me to get a flapper wheel for my grinder. This worked great Be VERY careful with grinders around glass boats though, one slip & you've got some patching to do

You may want to try hand-sanding or a random orbital sander before bringing out the heavy machinery. The light weight tools were not doing what I needed on this job, but they may work in your boat. I recomend using the least powerful method that will get the job done.

The old glue for minicall is probably contact cement. Try scrapping off as much of the foam as possible, then spray it with WD40 (I know, use 1002!) and then rub it with a cloth. The contact cement tends to ball up and come off as it warms up. Doesn't happen very quickly, but doesn't damage the surface either.

I would be wary of using WD-40 on an area that is going to be subsequently resined as you may have adhesion problems if you don't manage to clean off all the WD-40. Since you have to sand anyway to insure good adhesion, I would stick with that method.

John