Best way to remove varnish and duct tape residue from fiberglass?

[patrickkidd]

Hi there!

The previous owner of my boat left duct tape glee residue and stray varnish swipes on the deck after maintaining the wood in various places. What's the best way to remove these? This should really improve the aesthetics of this boat...

Thanks!

 

[fred1diver]

for the duck tape I like googone
for the varnish try with a razor blade and acetone

 

[Warren Milberg]

I had the same problem with my boat many years ago. Cleaning up the wood is easy: sand and refinish (I used Cetol). I tried a number of things on the adjacent fiberglass, none of which worked. In the end I matched the color of the deck with new white paint. Worked really well.

 

[Fred]

WD 40 is worth a try on the duct tape residue. Not sure about the varnish.

 

[Bill Roosa]

goof off is a great product for the duct tape. Varnish? well the good news is it appears to be in the sun and is a self correcting problem. It will eventually secumb to the UV in sunlight and flake off. The only thing I've found for rapid varnish removal is mechanical scraping and picking. Not possible on some of your situations. Sandpaper in a hard sanding block and lots of elbow grease.

 

[patrickkidd]

WD 40 is worth a try on the duct tape residue. Not sure about the varnish.

WD-40 actually worked really well for the tape glue. What would we do with that stuff?!

Now just to wait until the varnish flakes off I guess. I see no way to scrape it off the no-slip deck coating.

 

[Capt jgw]

If that's regular varnish it will flake off pretty quickly. If it's Cetol, that could take a long time. That's why we use it. Careful scraping will take it off .