Removing Cement From Gelcoart ... Safely

The map pockets on the inside of my DG has fallen apart over the
years. It is made ut of some type of leather like material and
cardboard as an interior stiffner. I am unsure what I will replace
this with as yet.

I removed the old pockets and was left with some brown adhesive on the
interior gelcoat. If I was to guess it is something like Pliobond.

So the questions are, what is the adhesive and more importantly how to
remove it. I have scrapped off what I could but want to get back to
the bare gelcoat.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks, John DeRosa
john at derosaweb.com

On Mar 30, 9:59*pm, ContestID67 wrote:
The map pockets on the inside of my DG has fallen apart over the
years. *It is made ut of some type of leather like material and
cardboard as an interior stiffner. *I am unsure what I will replace
this with as yet.

I removed the old pockets and was left with some brown adhesive on the
interior gelcoat. If I was to guess it is something like Pliobond.

So the questions are, what is the adhesive and more importantly how to
remove it. I have scrapped off what I could but want to get back to
the bare gelcoat.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks, John DeRosa
john at derosaweb.com

I went through the same think with my SZD-55 not too long ago.
You can use a solvent called "Oops" all purpose remover without
damaging the gelcoat. It may take several applications and some time
but it should come off. You can find it in small quantities at Lowes
or Home Depot.
It can be used safely on wood, metal and fiberglass. "DO NOT" use it
on your canopy or any other plastic material.

Hope this helps.

MW

On Mar 30, 6:59*pm, ContestID67 wrote:
The map pockets on the inside of my DG has fallen apart over the
years. *It is made ut of some type of leather like material and
cardboard as an interior stiffner. *I am unsure what I will replace
this with as yet.

I removed the old pockets and was left with some brown adhesive on the
interior gelcoat. If I was to guess it is something like Pliobond.

So the questions are, what is the adhesive and more importantly how to
remove it. I have scrapped off what I could but want to get back to
the bare gelcoat.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks, John DeRosa
john at derosaweb.com

If it is Pliobond acetone is about the only thing that will take it
off. Test beforehand.

Darryl

On Mar 30, 6:59*pm, ContestID67 wrote:
The map pockets on the inside of my DG has fallen apart over the
years. *It is made ut of some type of leather like material and
cardboard as an interior stiffner. *I am unsure what I will replace
this with as yet.

I removed the old pockets and was left with some brown adhesive on the
interior gelcoat. If I was to guess it is something like Pliobond.

So the questions are, what is the adhesive and more importantly how to
remove it. I have scrapped off what I could but want to get back to
the bare gelcoat.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks, John DeRosa
john at derosaweb.com

If it is old Pliobond acetone will take it off. Test beforehand. More
recent cleanup lacquer thinner or I think MEK works OK. I've just had
to clean up some for a non-glider application and acetone was far
easier than other things. Test beforehand.

Darryl

On Mar 30, 8:01*pm, Darryl Ramm wrote:
On Mar 30, 6:59*pm, ContestID67 wrote:





The map pockets on the inside of my DG has fallen apart over the
years. *It is made ut of some type of leather like material and
cardboard as an interior stiffner. *I am unsure what I will replace
this with as yet.

I removed the old pockets and was left with some brown adhesive on the
interior gelcoat. If I was to guess it is something like Pliobond.

So the questions are, what is the adhesive and more importantly how to
remove it. I have scrapped off what I could but want to get back to
the bare gelcoat.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks, John DeRosa
john at derosaweb.com

If it is old Pliobond acetone will take it off. Test beforehand. More
recent cleanup lacquer thinner or I think MEK works OK. I've just had
to clean up some for a non-glider application and acetone was far
easier than other things. Test beforehand.

Darryl- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have had great success with 3M Adhesive Remover. Available at many
auto part stores.

I takes longer on some adhesives but generally worked better than
acetone, alcohol, MEK, Naptha and Bestine on several different glues
and surfaces.

YMMV

Mike

My go-to solvents for removing old adhesives are Naptha and Xylene. I
have never used "Oops" as suggested by MW but having just googled it,
I see that 2 of its four ingredients are Naptha and Xylene. The other
two ingredients are Ethyl Alcohol (which probably wouldn't be
effective against the OP's brown crud) and Toluene. Anyway, Naptha
and Xylene are readily available at the paint department of the big
box stores. Acetone often works well too but it's annoyingly volatile
and Acetone will more frequently have deliterious effect on the
underlying surface.

I was curious about the composition of 3M adhesive remover and found
an online source indicating that it's a blend of xylene, naphtha,
ethylbenzene, toluene, and benzene. Sure enough, the common
denominators are xylene and naptha.

On Mar 30, 6:59*pm, ContestID67 wrote:

So the questions are, what is the adhesive and more importantly how to
remove it. I have scrapped off what I could but want to get back to

Sawzall.

Fsor new pockets, try Home Depot or any Lumbert store, the
construction trads have a great many types and styles of zippered
pouches to store tools & stuff in, many are great map puches in
waiting.

As a followup to my original posting, I used "Goof Off" (a mixture of
Xylene and Benzene) and which worked well to soften the adhesive. I
then used a plastic paint scraper to get most of the now gooey
adhesive off. Finally I use a 3M Scotch cleaning pad to get that last
bit off. I was now clean. I found that the recessed area which had
the map pockets was not jell coated.

I am trying the following idea to add new map pockets. I found some
industrial 2" wide black velcro at the local fabric store. I put the
(soft) loop part on the side of the cockpit wall trimmed to fit into
the recess. Looks really nice. The idea is that I can then put the
hook side onto anything that I want to mount on the wall. Pouches of
course but also a small count-up timer, a pen, etc, etc.

I then went scouting for some pouches. My first try are the 3-ring
binder pencil/pen nylon pockets found at a office supply store. They
work just OK, kind of small and don't have the elastic top like the
old pockets. I will keep searching and may end up sewing my own
pockets.

The nice part about the velcro system is that it is all very versitile
and something I can easily change as I try to find what works best for
me.

- John DeRosa