Hello everyone, I have some Forespar marelon through-hulls and seacocks that I would like to clean before installing. They are coating in wax currently. Will acetone or Totalboat dewaxer harm the material?
How to clean marelon?
- Thread starter Chipmunk88
- Start date
Dawn dish detergent will remove some waxes. Are these new? If so contact Forespar and ask them before using any solvents.
It is probably a glass and carbon-filled nylon composite, though I cannot find a reference.
www.cplabsafety.com
The instructions do not mention dewaxing. It probably doesn't matter.
I could not find an SDS, but other dewaxers contain butyl ketones, which are bad for nylon. I would use xylene. Acetone will work, it just dries fast, but you are only dewaxing a tiny area.
Nylon Chemical Compatibility Chart
www.cplabsafety.com
The instructions do not mention dewaxing. It probably doesn't matter.
I could not find an SDS, but other dewaxers contain butyl ketones, which are bad for nylon. I would use xylene. Acetone will work, it just dries fast, but you are only dewaxing a tiny area.
The wax is there for a reason. My guess is that it's a waterproof, silicone-based grease. If it were mine, I’d grab a rag and wipe off any excess grease that might get on my hands when using the valve. I would not strip it with a solvent. In fact I would want all moving parts that experience friction to be coated.
If you are talking about a boat/car wax, then those will be stripped by any aggressive detergent like Dawn. Or isopropyl alcohol will strip it easily.
Mark
Mark
Maybe lead with that or post pictures...
People here want to help be we are not psychic.
I epoxied backing plates inside the hull. I covered the through hull and valve threads with wax to keep them from being epoxied in place while the backing plates cured. But now I want to remove the wax before I seal the through-hull to the hull with sikaflex 291. I basically followed Maine Sails steps outlined here. Seacock Backing Blocks, Alternate Method No Through Bolts
I heard back from Forespar, they said "You can use pretty mush anything you want to use with the Marelon Material. Something much stronger than swimming pool acid is about the only thing that will eat into the Marelon material given enough time. Sikaflex 291 if fine as a bedding compound. Attached is some further general information for you." They sent several documents which I haven't looked over yet.