Rubber Paint???

After a couple weeks of hard hand and mechanical sanding on the cabin top of my 36' '55 Monk, I came to the conclusion that the paint I was trying to remove is some kind of elastomeric / rubberized deck grey coating. I tried my old reliable...Peel-Away # 1 and even it had unsatisfactory results. So it looks like I'll have to go back to hand sanding unless someone has a solvent or remover they can suggest. Under this coating on all weatherdecks and overheads is an owner applied fiberglass treatment. After much discussion including this forum I have settled on Interlux Perfection 2 part epoxy paint. Once I'm down to the glass I will utilize a solvent wash, fill with Watertite fairing compound, prime, and then apply the topcoat. But getting rid of the current rubber ( it's almost like liquid sikaflex) is the real issue. I had thought about using a heat gun, and a 3" putty knife but I'm worried about what it might do to the wood under the glass. So, my knowledgeable fellow fixer-uppers....any suggestions would be very welcome!

 

If it isn't Sikaflex it is something similar, a urethane compound specially formulated not to dissolve and not to peel off.
Sika says in their marine products brochure: after curing, only mechanical removal is possible.....

 

It's very likely a truck bed liner or elastomeric roofing compound, both work very well. They usually have a dull or slightly satiny sheen and are difficult to remove, which is a good physical attribute for a membrane coating.

 

Yuck....a messy job.

When I was disassembling my Silverton I used a variable temperature heat gun and three inch blade. It took some effort, but was not terribly difficult. I'm in the finishing stages of this project now and am using Perfection as well. The key to Perfection (and they stress this in the literature) is the prep of the substrate. If I were in your shoes, I'd go ahead and get that top stripped down to bare wood. With a variable temperature heat gun you have control of the temp and will quickly learn how much heat to use. My guess is that the fiberglass is stuck down with polyester and will come off pretty easily. You'll know it's polyester if you get that styrene smell when you heat it up. Sounds likew you have to get under the glasss as that truck bed compound won't come off clean.

So strip it, clean it, then start with the epoxy. Others will probably weigh in here, but I'd consider a seal coat of unthickened, a second coat of unthickened, perhaps a third coat of unthickened (depends on how uneven the surface is). I'd use fiberglass cloth with the final coat of unthickened, probably 6oz cloth and then a finishing coat of epoxy with some fairing compound mixed in to get you a nice smooth base. You can use your new heat gun to go over the surface after you apply the epoxy to get any bubbles out of the coating before it gells. I just play the hot air over the surface (not too much, just enough to pop the little bubbles, you'll see when you do it) and save yourself some sanding.

Finish with epoxy prime coat and Perfection and you'll have a great looking new top. That paint is kinda pricy, but it works really well if you have a really well prepped subtstrate.

One more thing, I'd invest in a good respirator mask if I were you as the paint and the 2333n solvent really smell pretty toxic. I'm no chemist but to me it's pretty nasty.

good luck,
MIA