a razor scraper with a decent handle followed by a bit of 120 grit sandpaper is how i got my hot glue off of my hybrid hull.

a sample of what i am talking about is at the below link (not an endorsement-just an illustration)

https://www.grainger.com/product/6R029?ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIkruJ4pGj8wIVh4XICh3wAgYpEAQYAyABEgJo7_D_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!2966!3!496359975541!!!g!439063557298!&gucid=N:N:PS:Paid:GGL:CSM-2295:4P7A1P:20501231&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkruJ4pGj8wIVh4XICh3wAgYpEAQYAyABEgJo7_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

if you are patient and careful, you will not hurt the boat.   scratching the epoxy is not a big deal and as mentioned above, you will likely need a little sanding to get the final bits off....and you will want to paint a thin layer of epoxy over that as part of finishing it up.

even if you do make a more severe cut, it's on the inside of the boat, and you can just paint over it with epoxy.  unless you were going at it with a sawzall....i would not worry.

all the best, 

h

I agree with hspira's scraper recommendation. Even a bare single edged razor blade is an effective scraper when held nearly perpendicular to the surface being scraped. You can deform such a blade easily with finger pressure to form a slighly bent edge for very careful work.

And remember epoxy's pretty tough stuff or we wouldn't be so enthusiastic about using it to build boats! It yields to mechanical tools pretty slowly unless a lot of effort's put into the activity. Light scraping with a sharp edge isn't likely to do any harm whatsoever. Just go slow until you acquire confidence in your technique for this task. To my mind scraping, compared to sanding, is more of a Zen-thing rather than just plain work.

Hot glue is essentially some formulation of PVC. Using it for temporary positioning of pieces is fine but remember any significant amount of it left behind on your work's surfaces will resist epoxy. When applied it doesn't really 'soak in' like epoxy and other adhesives, it simply adheres to the surfaces. Once the bulk has been carefully removed, small traces left in wood grain ought not be a major problem. There's plenty of surface area nearby for epoxy to form a proper bond after you've removed as much as you can by scraping, maybe light sanding too.

Drat... forget what I said about PVC.

If I'd read my post more carefully before hitting <post message> I'd have caught my screw-up.

Hot glue's mostly polyethylene in some formulation, sometimes with additives for specific purposes...

   Thank you for the input. I used a cabinet scraper. Worked pretty well.

Good choice that, I do much the same. Nice having a set of cabinet scrapers of different sizes, some with curved edges to select from depending on the task being contemplated. They're larger than SE razor blades, easier to grip.