David,

Glad the tear-off worked, at least.

I wouldn't use lacquer thinner or any petroleum distillate-based product for exactly the reason you mention. Sanding will work, but the adhesive residue will clog your paper, so you'll need to change it often.

I've had good luck with Orange Goop. It got rid of 3 month old duct tape residue very well (it does a good job on hands covered with Christmas tree sap, too). It's non-toxic, smells like orange Tic-Tacs and is based on citrus oil. After it's gotten off all the residue that will come off, just wash the hull thoroughly with plain water and sand of what's left.

For what it's worth, the brand of tape I used was sold at Home Depot and it left no residue.

Good luck,

Laszlo

Is this method applicable to all boats and where do I find it?  I'm going to build a wherry.

You can also try Bio-Solve from MAS Epoxy.

Snip:

Bio-Solv is an environmentally friendly solvent that can be used in place of Acetone, Xylene, MEK, thinners and other petroleum-based solvents.

It effectively cleans or prepares surfaces to be painted or epoxied, removes adhesives and cleans tools. Bio-Solv is a tried and proven green solvent with a 500+ KB Cleaning Value, that out performs traditional solvents such as Acetone, Xylene, MEK, Toluene, Lacquer thinner and other solvents. A True Green Alternative Solvent

I used Lazlo's technique, but instead of using packing tape, I used 1 1/2" or 2" wide low-stick 3m masking tape. It worked perfectly! I was a bit concerned that masking tape wouldn't work as well as packing tape, but it was easy to cut or tear the cloth, and no residue was left on the hull when I pulled the tape. Thanks to Laszlo for another great tip!

Mark

Thanks to all of you for your responses.

Good to know the answers are here on the forum!!

David

Hi guys,

You're right, any non-petroleum-based cleaner which removes adhesives should work fine. And as Mark showed, it doesn't have to be packing tape, either. Any tape which epoxy doesn't stick to will work fine.

Jeff,

What we're talking about here is using tape to define a clean edge where the deck glass overlaps the hull glass. It greatly reduces the mess and amount of sanding involved and is applicable to any glassed boat. There's a description with pictures at my WD12 construction page if you want to see the details.

Laszlo

Excellent and thanks!