Marian vs. PL 400

Ok so let’s talk about Goof Off. Not goofing off because we all know about that. Goof Off is a nasty chemical used to remove goo and I’ve been using it liberally lately. We’ve been noticing for a couple of years that the non-stick treads were coming off the running boards on the camper van. This year I got fed up and pulled them the rest of the way off, thinking it would be a simple matter to replace the worn ones with new ones.

I found, what I thought was, the perfect rubber mat material. I very carefully cleaned off the old adhesive using WD40 and judiciously scraping at it with a putty knife. The process turned out very nicely and I was left with fairly clean and shiny fiberglass running boards. Having just been introduced to the wonders of construction adhesive on the recent baseboard project, I thought that would be the perfect way to stick down the new rubber mats.

I squirted a liberal amount onto the running boards and pressed the mats down. I duct-taped the mats so they would hold until the glue cured. I stood back and admired my work. The new mats looked fabulous and I was sure we were set for our upcoming camping trip.

When I went out the next morning the mats weren’t nice and flat the way I had left them the night before. They were kind of buckled where they wrapped over the edge. On closer inspection they weren’t really stuck down at all. The adhesive had stuck to the fiberglass but not to the rubber. Notice, in the photo, that the duct tape is the only thing holding the mat on.

You know how English teachers were always telling you to read the directions? Well I should have read all of the directions. In the fine print near the bottom was a little sentence explaining that the adhesive didn’t stick to some types of rubber.  Ok, I’ve now confirmed the truth of that statement. No problem, I thought. Although I was a little bit annoyed at my lack of foresight I figured I would just go at the adhesive with more WD40 and elbow grease and the running boards would be back in condition in no time. Then I could experiment with other means of sticking down the mats. I went at the dry, crusty adhesive with the WD40 and a putty knife. Let’s just say it wasn’t as co-operative as the last adhesive had been even though the mess looked similar. Right, so we went camping with crusty running boards and I took the putty knife and the WD40 with me.

One afternoon when we were sitting around camp, I tried again to get rid of the dried goop. I worked away at it until supper time and didn’t make much headway. I decided to leave it until we got back into internet land where I could do further research.

Who knew that I would be down a rabbit hole where fiberglass boats and corvettes lurked? The short answer to what I learned about the best way to remove construction adhesive is not to put it on something from which you’ll eventually want to remove it. I was reminded of canoeing days when some wiseguy said the best way to dry out a sleeping bag was not to get it wet. However, some of the suggestions were truly entertaining as I moved from construction adhesive specifically to how to remove decals. I never thought I could watch so many hours of people scrubbing, blotting and scraping. Some folks swore by petroleum jelly. Nope. Someone else said Crisco shortening. Didn’t try that one. Coconut oil was another one. Already tried mineral oil and I didn’t want to waste good peanut butter. One oil probably behaved much like another in this application. Magic Eraser was another suggestion. Nada. 

Another method that ranked highly for sticker removal was a wheel eraser. It’s some kind of synthetic disk that you chuck into a power drill and, like an eraser, it erodes and takes the gum and guck with it. I ordered one. Another very popular method was to use a heat gun. I have a heat gun. The only issue, for me, was that some of the sources I read said that fiberglass can soften at 212 degrees F and in order to strip paint, and I assume soften adhesive, you need a temperature of 300F. I’m a chicken when it comes to the possibility of igniting anything and I couldn’t bring myself to crank up the temperature on the heat gun to any more than 200F even though I told myself that I would keep the gun moving and that if the air coming out of the tip was 200F the fiberglass wouldn’t likely reach that temperature very readily. The heat may have softened the goop a little bit but there was still a lot of scraping and some gouging of the gel coat on the running boards that happened. 

Then there were the stronger chemical solutions. De-Solv-It seemed popular. I couldn’t find it locally and I didn’t want to wait for it. Goo Gone got mixed reviews. Goof Off got good reviews in all the YouTube videos I watched. When I came in cursing under my breath, Richard went on a mission to get Goof Off, heavy vinyl gloves, and scrub pads. I started in as instructed by soaking a rag in Goof Off and then rubbing at the adhesive. That did almost nothing. I remembered seeing one video where the guy just poured the stuff onto the surface and then scraped up the goop. I poured and discovered that the adhesive did soften and it was easier to scrape off as long as the adhesive was wet. There was still a problem with the really thick bits of goop.

Today I got fed up and took the palm sander to it. I’d already gouged the gel coat in several places and, although the Goof Off worked, my patience for sitting and scraping for hours on end had just about run out. I started with 150 grit sandpaper which took some of it off. Then I thought I’d try 80 grit paper. That worked more quickly but also chewed through the gel coat more easily.

Once I knocked down the highest peaks of goo I switched back to the 150, then to 220. I was able to get the running board pretty much levelled with the 220 so I went back to the Goof Off. I’m officially calling the removal part of the process done. The running boards aren’t pretty anymore and I’m probably going to have to do a little creative painting to cover up the gouges. In the meantime, Richard found and bought some anti-slip tape which is supposed to be permanent and which he thinks is what was on the running boards when we bought the van. We know from experience it’s not permanent but if it sticks I’m really hoping that by the time it starts to peel it will be a problem for the van’s next owner! Perhaps by the end of the week we’ll have the tape on the running boards and the scratches and gouges covered in a new coat of paint. One can always hope.