3M-5200 Adhesive/Sealant - Removal

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Johnny

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- another hot topic here on TinBoats -

I just removed the transom material from the stern of my Crestliner.
it is not wood..... it is made it out of 3/4" solid oriented strand fiberglass
foam material used in military applications that I came across years ago.....
anyhoo - I fabricated the inside transom panel as well as the "Transom Outboard Plate"
and adhered a sheet of 1/8" aluminum plate on top of that with 3M-5200 Regular (which is the slow dry).
- - - - Fast forward 15 years - - - - time for renovation.
I thought I could use some 85 pound braid fishing line to see-saw through the adhesive and it
would just fall off - wrong..... after using several kitchen knives, hacksaw blades, and whatever else
I could get between the boat hull metal and the panels, it finally came loose. The remaining adhesive
was removed with wide wood chisels and an assortment of power tools.
The aluminum hull was primed and painted prior to applying all this stuff. I would say that this boat
has been used in salt water 10-15% of the time over the last 15 years. There was some corrosion
under the painted surfaces but nothing that would be considered excessive.

this information is just to lend more credence to the holding powers of 3M-5200 when used as an adhesive.
a rotary wire brush removed most of the 5200 adhesive while the rest of it had to be heated with a torch
to get it completely off...... Other than that - it performed as advertised by the manufacturer.
So - be careful of how you use this product - you may have to remove it some day. (which could be a chore).
1979 Johnson.JPG
Crestliner Rebuild 006.JPG
Crestliner Rebuild 008.JPG
Crestliner Rebuild 009.JPG
Crestliner Rebuild 010.JPG
Crestliner Rebuild 011.JPG
Crestliner Rebuild 012.JPG
Crestliner Rebuild 015.JPG

here is a sneak-peek at how the new transom will look.......
it is Florida Cypress preserved then 8 coats of Epifanes Marine Spar Varnish.
- - - - a work in progress - - - -
new transom 6.JPG
new transom 9.JPG

and there are NO adhesives of any sort between the boat hull and the wood panels.
the refurbished hull transom area has 2 coats of aluminum primer and 3 coats of paint.
on the outside transom plate, I will run a thin bead of 5200 around the edges only.





.
 
Thanks for the story! On another boat, I did a boo-boo and bonded aluminum gusset plates around a bronze pin using 5200. In salt water, it actually fizzed! I found "Anti-bond 2015" (similar appearance to WD40) which helped me peel the 1/4" AL plate off the hull.

Tenacious stuff.
 
I have heard of guys rigging a 'hot wire' to cut thru the 5200. They used stainless mig weld wire & a 12V battery. Buyer beware on this story!
 
I, also, was going to suggest the "hot wire" approach. We had some guys remove 8 x 10 mirror panels from our walls using a thin wire. I used the hot wire system to build a foam cutter for model airplanes.
 

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