Three strategies to tackle sticky problems

Don’t get stuck! Not to be tacky, but goop removal is a critical step when doing boat maintenance.

When working on a boat, you will be faced with all sorts of challenges involving goop. This could be bits of blue tap leftover from a varnish project, absurd globs of silicone that the previous owner foolishly used to stop leaks, or marine adhesive such as 4200 left over after removing some piece of bedded hardware. Regardless of the type of goop – also known as schmutz, it must be removed before anything else can happen.

Approach

How you choose to address your de-gooping will depend on several factors. Use the guiding questions below to reflect on your challenge before getting started:

• If removing sticky tape, will you need a tool such as tweezers to carefully extract every last remnant and will the tape leave any sort of residue? For example, did some heinous nitwit use duct tape that has now basically melted onto every surface that it has touched?
• If removing an adhesive substance such as silicone or 4200, do you need to first protect the area around it for scrapes or scratches?
• Are any of the adhesives or solvents flammable? If so, remember to use good safety and not have an open flame anywhere.

Now that you have reflected on your challenge, consider these specific strategies.

• Removing blue tape remnants – the good news about blue painters’ tape is that it does not leave behind any residue. To pull it up, do your best to get long strips going by applying even pressure along the width of the tape. If it tears in little corners or where it wedges into something, use tweezers or fingernails to carefully pull it out.
• Removing duct tape – after you have finished cursing the person who put it down in the first place, do your best to pull up the tape with your hands or tweezers. To get the sticky stuff off of the surface, coat it in Goo Gone and then start scraping with a rag (not paper towel as it will tear). For extra leverage, use a plastic paint scraper inside the rag. Under dire circumstances, and if you don’t care about the surface, start scraping with a slotted screwdriver. Reapply Goo Gone as needed.
• Removing silicone or marine adhesive – surprisingly, a heat gun is a great tool for this challenge. Lightly heat the surface until the sealant becomes pliable and then carefully pull it off. You may need to use Goo Gone and a scraper to get just the final remnants.

Regardless of your approach to de-gooping, the final step should always be to wipe down the area with a damp rag to remove any Goo Gone or residue and then clean the area with acetone or some other solvent.