Keel Guard Replacement

[tdonoughue]

My Keel Guard was falling off (in the middle). Sent them a photo and they sent me a new one--no problems. Of course, that was last year during the season. So this weekend I finally put it on.

As has been previously reported, the difficulty is getting the old one off. You need to get all the adhesive off to put the new one on. Pulling the guard itself off was not too bad. The adhesive.... ugh. I experimented with a few techniques and a couple of chemicals. My findings:
- The adhesive is the consistency of half-dried rubber cement. It is stringy, but will not hold to itself enough to let you pull a length of it off--it will snap first and leave just the little bit in your fingers.
- The firm metal drywall knife worked best for me (followed by the flexible one).
- The adhesive is too thick for the chemicals to work well on it right off. You need to scrape off as much as you can first.
- The 3M general adhesive remover that they recommend worked best for me. @zipper 's Debond Marine worked, but not as well for me. The 3M stuff works best when wet. If you let it soak, you are wasting your stuff. As the remover dries, the adhesive goes back to being goo again. So work in small sections (about a foot or two at a time). Spray and scrape again to get off as much as possible.
- Once all scraped, there may be little bits and balls remaining. Re-spray with the 3M and then take a rag to it (I used painters rag) to get the last cleaned up.


Viola!

After that, I cleaned it up with acetone, let that dry, did the primer and stuck on the new one. Installation was, as normal, a breeze.

End of report.

 

[Bluewater272]

I'm not looking forward to having to replace mine someday, hope it stays stuck. Seems like all the awfulness of removing seadek, but on your back under the boat lol.

 

[AZMark]

How long did the first keel guard last?

 

[Ronnie]

I had a very similar experience. What worked best for me was a heat gun and stiff putty knife along with and eraser wheel at times. I was rarely on my back under the boat usually on my knees or on a shop stool. Eventually paid my that 15 year old to finish it off.

It was still such a crappy experience that this year I considered replacing it with a red one (to match the new upholstery) but remembering what it really takes to install and remove one killed that idea QUIKLY .

@tdonoughue , no pic of the completed project?

you know know the rule rule right?

 

[Babin Farms]

Here is the link to replacing my damaged keel guard.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/what-did-you-do-to-your-boat-today.20703/post-602973

https://jetboaters.net/threads/what-did-you-do-to-your-boat-today.20703/post-603113

 

[Marvin willis]

I put one behind the one on the front. Thinking just in case. It fell off on my first trip out. Company sent me a new one. Next time I went out one foot of it peeled back. So I 5200 that sucker on. Next time out it fell completely off. Had to spend another $50 for chemical to remove the 5200 and other adhesive. I’ll never do that again. If I ever want that protection again I’ll have the bottom sprayed. Over it.

 

[zipper]

My Keel Guard was falling off (in the middle). Sent them a photo and they sent me a new one--no problems. Of course, that was last year during the season. So this weekend I finally put it on.

As has been previously reported, the difficulty is getting the old one off. You need to get all the adhesive off to put the new one on. Pulling the guard itself off was not too bad. The adhesive.... ugh. I experimented with a few techniques and a couple of chemicals. My findings:
- The adhesive is the consistency of half-dried rubber cement. It is stringy, but will not hold to itself enough to let you pull a length of it off--it will snap first and leave just the little bit in your fingers.
- The firm metal drywall knife worked best for me (followed by the flexible one).
- The adhesive is too thick for the chemicals to work well on it right off. You need to scrape off as much as you can first.
- The 3M general adhesive remover that they recommend worked best for me. @zipper 's Debond Marine worked, but not as well for me. The 3M stuff works best when wet. If you let it soak, you are wasting your stuff. As the remover dries, the adhesive goes back to being goo again. So work in small sections (about a foot or two at a time). Spray and scrape again to get off as much as possible.
- Once all scraped, there may be little bits and balls remaining. Re-spray with the 3M and then take a rag to it (I used painters rag) to get the last cleaned up.
View attachment 201334

Viola!

After that, I cleaned it up with acetone, let that dry, did the primer and stuck on the new one. Installation was, as normal, a breeze.

End of report.

Glad to see that 3m knows how to release/remove their products better than others do. Assuming 3m adhesive on the keel guard.

 

[tdonoughue]

How long did the first keel guard last?

Um... 8ish years?

 

[tdonoughue]

I had a very similar experience. What worked best for me was a heat gun and stiff putty knife along with and eraser wheel at times. I was rarely on my back under the boat usually on my knees or on a shop stool. Eventually paid my that 15 year old to finish it off.

It was still such a crappy experience that this year I considered replacing it with a red one (to match the new upholstery) but remembering what it really takes to install and remove one killed that idea QUIKLY .

@tdonoughue , no pic of the completed project?

you know know the rule rule right?

True. I do.

Unfortunately, I had to put it into service immediately after the repair (which looks, in truth, exactly like when I put the first one on). So below is as close as I can presently get...

 

[tdonoughue]

Glad to see that 3m knows how to release/remove their products better than others do. Assuming 3m adhesive on the keel guard.

Yes, it is. The Debond worked, but make it stickier. The 3M stuff (which is what the Keel Guard folks mention to help the process) seems to break it down a bit better. You get a 'drier' (note: not dry) result...