Removing Lettering from Sails

[Anonymous]

How can I remove the glue residue from adhesive letters stuck on my sails? The sail valeters say the best way is to use acetone, and it takes ages, so best to DIY. Is there a better way? I don't fancy working with acetone for hours without the right safety gear. Indeed, what is the correct safety procedure for using acetone (in the open air)?

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[Thistle]

Try turpentine / white spirit (but, as with any other cleaning method, try it on an unimportant area or old sail first). I've used this in the past to remove numbers from dinghy sails.

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[geoffatstanpit]

"Goo-Gone" is pretty good at getting all sorts of gluey residues off. Smells like lemons!

Geoff

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[aitchw]

If you haven't removed them yet warm the sailcloth from behind the number/letter with a hair dryer and peel of while still warm. Do them one at a time and re-warm as needed during the process. This softens the glue line at the sail side and allows more of the glue to stick to the number and less on the sail.

Once they are off you can clean off the residue. I have tried several proprietory solvents and none have been particularly effective. Turps subs/ white spirit can be very slightly oily and takes a long time to work, sometimes not at all. Surgical spirit is a bit more volatile but in the end I have always had to revert to acetone. You need loads of soft absorbent rags, small pieces, as they need constantly replacing as soon as they are contaminated with dissolved/softened glue otherwise you just spread it around. Work smal areas at a time removing all the glue before moving on to another patch.

It's a pain but unavoidable.

Howard

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[huldah]

In my trade we often had to remove sticky labels that were out of reach, from office equipment. I used to drip white spirit in and then wait up to ten minutes for the glue to take up the spirit. It would then be easy to remove. I removed my Solo numbers by making a temporary tank out of four pieces of wood covered with a sheet of polythene. The sail was held in position with a weight, white spirit poured in and left to soak. With time the glue expanded and could be rolled off leaving the sail clean.

The secrete is to make sure white spirit is continuously available for the glue to soak up. The same thing works with silicone rubber.

Philip

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