C-Forum

I want to remove a saddle from one boat with the intent of putting it in another.

Any suggestions on how to do this without wrecking the foam?

Thanks!

Dave

Plastic putty knife.

A metal bladed paint scrapper or putty knife with a thin blade will work too. Just be careful not to dig into the vinyl layer of the Royalex. Sometimes it helps to score the glue bond around the very edge of the saddle with a sharp knife before going at it with the putty knife as it keeps the minicell from breaking.

If your glue work is really solid a flexible flush-cut saw works great

I just removed and remounted a saddle 2 weeks ago. The putty knife and a bit of care worked fine.

Those ideas work, but so does dental floss. Double it up and saw it back and forth as close to the bottom as you can. There may be some foam left on your boat, but the saddle should have a nice clean cut with no gouges. Then you can take a wood chisel and carefully scrape the rest of the foam off of the hull, or, use a hacksaw blade, holding it with both hands and sawing the foam off of the boat.

I wouldn't worry too much about wrecking the foam on the bottom of the saddle. It's going to look chewed after its out but it doesn't matter, I've transferred one saddle between 3 different boats using the classic putty knife removal technique and it stayed fine each time. The only way to get a fresh base again is if you know someone with a bandsaw that has an deep cut.