Cleaning with 'Natural Alcohol - and finding it first !

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STATUE

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This winter I will be replacing the acrylic window 'glass' in my two side port lights.

Having watched that wonderful man Andy of "Boatworkstoday.com" showing how you do this job using 3M Very High Bonding tape, he explains that where the acrylic touches the tape area, one should clean that area on the acrylic with 'Isopropyl Alcohol' which I think is also called 'Natural Alcohol' .

I have been to two chemist who say they don't stock it.

Ideas please on where do I get this stuff.
 
STATUE said:
This winter I will be replacing the acrylic window 'glass' in my two side port lights.

Having watched that wonderful man Andy of "Boatworkstoday.com" showing how you do this job using 3M Very High Bonding tape, he explains that where the acrylic touches the tape area, one should clean that area on the acrylic with 'Isopropyl Alcohol' which I think is also called 'Natural Alcohol' .

I have been to two chemist who say they don't stock it.

Ideas please on where do I get this stuff.
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Natural alcohol is not the correct term .... it's probably being confused with "Denatured Alcohol" which is essentially meths.

Isopropyl alcohol is colloquially referred to as "Rubbing Alcohol" although both both of these alcohols can contain some ethyl alcohol (colloquially known as "booze") as well. :)

Richard
 
...or literally hundreds of other suppliers that come up when you put what you want into Google.

"Chemists" sell medicines and cosmetics and toiletries and whatnot, not chemicals.

Pete
 
Just bought 5L for about £17 including delivery, which last me a few years from;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003D8QFRI/ref=pe_385721_37986871_TE_item

Ordered on Friday, arrived Monday, price included delivery.

Also known as IPA, Isopropyl Alcohol

Great stuff for cleaning and degreasing, doesn't leave an oily deposit like acetone.

Also the thinners for Coppercoat and will clean uncured epoxy of tools/brushes.
 
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Ian_Edwards said:
Great stuff for cleaning and degreasing, doesn't leave an oily deposit like acetone.
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Reminds me of my chemistry A-level many years ago when there was a procedure called "weighing to constant weight" or something like that. The first stage was to start with a 100% clean and dry reaction vessel which would be weighed to a fraction of a miligram and then cleaned and weighed again until the weight was absolutely constant so that the products of the reaction being studied could be weighed afterwards in the same vessel.

I recall that the chosen solvent for ensuring 100% cleanliness and reproducible weight was ..... acetone. It's because pure acetone evaporates very quickly and leaves absolutely no traces.

Richard
 
it's a long time since I did A level chemistry, and I don't always believe what AMC say about coppercoat, but their website says:

The hull can be washed with fresh water but ensure this is allowed to dry before proceeding. Under no circumstances clean the hull with any solvents or oil-based products(such as Acetone).

http://coppercoat.com/wp-content/up...face-Preparation-and-Application-Final.pdfIPA

But IPA (which is miscible in water) is allowed, and, this was reinforced in a phone call with AMC today.

If acetone doesn't leave some sort of deposit or residue, why are AMC so adamant that you don't use it under a water based epoxy?
 
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Ian_Edwards said:
If acetone doesn't leave some sort of deposit or residue, why are AMC so adamant that you don't use it under a water based epoxy?
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Dunno . Pure acetone contains nothing that will remain as an "oily residue" or any other kind of residue. Maybe the trouble with it is that it evaporates so quickly leaving what it ought to be removing behind.
 
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VicS said:
Dunno . Pure acetone contains nothing that will remain as an "oily residue" or any other kind of residue. Maybe the trouble with it is that it evaporates so quickly leaving what it ought to be removing behind.
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Just a guess, but maybe their experience has shown that some of the acetone people buy for sloshing onto boat hulls isn't entirely pure?

Or maybe the person writing that text had only been told that "solvents" were problematic, and picked the wrong example in an attempt at helpful illustration? :)

Pete
 
Ian_Edwards said:
it's a long time since I did A level chemistry, and I don't always believe what AMC say about coppercoat, but their website says:

The hull can be washed with fresh water but ensure this is allowed to dry before proceeding. Under no circumstances clean the hull with any solvents or oil-based products(such as Acetone).

http://coppercoat.com/wp-content/up...face-Preparation-and-Application-Final.pdfIPA

But IPA (which is miscible in water) is allowed, and, this was reinforced in a phone call with AMC today.

If acetone doesn't leave some sort of deposit or residue, why are AMC so adamant that you don't use it under a water based epoxy?
Click to expand...

It's not because it leaves an oily residue. The boat yard here in Croatia washed my hull down with acetone before Coppercoating, as they apparently always do, so I contacted Ewan at CC who said that provided the acetone was given time to evaporate thoroughly then it should be fine. Obviously, in the Med the evaporation is very quick so the kind of residue which CC are concerned about i.e. unevaporated acetone, is never going to happen. The odd thing is that even in the UK in the temperatures you are supposed to apply CC the acetone is not going to hang around.

Either CC don't realise how volatile acetone is and it was therefore a bad example of a solvent to pick, or they are concerned that the acetone used by boatyards might be contaminated with oil, which, of course, will not happen with water.

Richard
 
Well now, that's the power of forums - thanks everyone.

I have learnt so much about my subject and also about chemistry.

At the age of 10 I failed the 11 + so spectacularly and expectantly.

We didn't do chemistry, we did science - you know, bang bang that's wood, splash splash that's water ... I was 'taught' these things ... but so were those who only JUST failed - poor devils. Anyhow, that's all behind us now ?!
 
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