How to remove carpet glue or left over adhesive from woven roving without damaging it

[apson]

This thread has been posted before but I haven't found any new results since 2006 so I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask in case someone's discovered a new method.

The most common advice I've found seems to be wire wheel or wire cup on a 4 inch angle grinder. Another more recent suggestion was a belt sander.

My problem is that the adhesive is down in valleys of the roving; like cold butter in a waffle. We're not talking deep valleys here, but just enough so that if I go at it enough to get it out I've inevitably gotten into the roving.

I'm not sure what kind of carpet adhesive I'm dealing with. The boat is a 1960 Glasspar. In the areas where the glue is very thick (we're talking 1/8" to 1/4" in places!) the wire wheel just heats it up and swirls it around like melted plastic...flinging tiny bits of it at such high velocity that I think it's shooting this hot lava right through my Tyvek.

Has anyone tried RemoveAll 700? I read a two-year-old post by someone claiming that it will safely remove almost any adhesive without damaging fiberglass. http://www.freeworldenvirotech.com/r...er/product/1/8

It seems I'm going to need to find a chemical solution. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[rasorinc]

If you can rig up a steam nozzle and heat it up till it is soft, a small flat blade should be able to get under it and lift it out.

[apson]

rasorinc: Just got done trying steam and it worked very well on the carpet glue that was under my splashwell, but has no effect on the stuff that was on the rest of the sole. Must be a different kind of glue/era.

I read another suggestion to lay a small rag over your working area and saturate it with acetone. Wait 5 minutes, pull up the rag and scrape/wipe. I might try this today after sunset. Under the bow is going to be a doozy...that stuff is really laid on thick up there.

[DGreenwood]

apson

The second mentioned method works. Just try xylene first. Most adhesives use xylol or xylene for their solvent and can be soaked off with a solvent dampened rag. You can use poly sheeting to cover the rag to reduce the evaporative loss and help with your exposure. Xylene is less volatile so that will help as well. Xylene is the active ingredient in those popular hardware store adhesive removers that are used to remove labels etc. (Goo-Gone ---Goo Away...etc). You can get straight xylene by the quart or gallon.

Oh and ...wear a mask!


Edit: At least you can get it here...I don't know about California?