Cleaning off old 5200

Apr 8, 2010
1,942
Ericson Yachts Olson 34 28400 Portland OR
I am removing my deck fittings for a repaint. Before putting some parts back and re-bedding with newer less-obnoxious sealant, there are some major metal fittings and fastenings I would really like to clean up for re-use.
Some strong solvents, like acetone or lacquer thinner seem to soften it some, but what is needed is something to dissolve it.

Have you all found anything that really works?

BTW, our deck coring is 99% dry, so at least *5200 has done a darned good job for over three decades. There are places where teak pieces left wood bits behind, and some small bits of gel coat were removed.... :(

*Maine Sail calls it 'the devil's glue" and with good reason! :)

Thanks for any help.
 

Johnb

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Jan 22, 2008
1,419
Hunter 37-cutter Richmond CA
Elbow grease. I have an old plastic ice scraper and lots of ice cream sticks I use for scraping - never anything metallic. I replaced 11 portlights that were glued in with 5200 and it was not all that bad, lots of patience needed.