Discolored gel from adhesive

[tski97]

On our 97 sport we have some foam pads around the deck that the old owner had put on. I am doing some buffing to the boat and i do not like them so i took 2 of the off. Under the adhesive that held them on the gel has turned yellowish. My question is how deep would the adhesive penetrate. I have thought about wet sanding however i did not want to if it will not help. Also is is possible that the sun could fade it out?

Any thought would be appreciated.

[DanielC]

RE: Discolored gel from adhesive

There is a good possibility the sunlight will fade it. Wet sanding them might also help. If you use grits above 600, it will remove a minimum of gelcoat, and also leave finer scratches to buff.
I have also used a mix of toilet bowl cleaner, and hydrogen peroxide to clean the bottom of boats. This solution will also help bleach out the stains, but keep it off of everything else, including yourself. Get the toilet bowl cleaner that has hydrochloric acid as the active ingredient.
Wear eye protection, gloves, and old clothes when handling this stuff.

[tski97]

RE: Discolored gel from adhesive

Thanks Daniel. I will try the wet sand and buff and if that does not work the toxic combination above. Would you start at 600 or a less agressive one and go down if needed?

[DanielC]

RE: Discolored gel from adhesive

I would actually try toilet bowl cleaner first. It does not remove any gelcoat, but you will have to wax it when done. If you are patient, see what the sun will do, also.
If you use really fine grits of sandpaper, it means less work buffing the sand scratches out. A random guess, try 1500 grit to start. If that does not clean the gelcoat, use coarser. 1000, 800, or 600. Once most of the stain is gone, work back up to the finer grits, before buffing.
After the buffing is done, I like to use Meguires polish, and then Meguires pure wax.
The painful part it that the part of your boat you just did will look better than the rest of the boat, and you will end up doing the whole boat.