Dried Watco on Royalex?

Any ideas on how to remove dried Watco oil on a Royalex Bell Wildfire? I picked up a real nice Wildfire today and when I got it home, really noticed the excess dried oil on the interior and exterior of the hull. I tried some citrus cleaner but it was alot of work. Any ideas on how to make it any easier? Thanks in advance for any input…

More Watco…
Sometimes yer kin’ get dried Watco to dissolve wit more Watco, then wipe it off.





FE

how about some of the Coleman white gas?

– Last Updated: Nov-04-09 9:31 PM EST –

Bnystrom said it was a good degreaser......do you think it would harm the royalex? Something different on this boat... the inwales are ash and the outwales are cherry...sorta makes a nice color effect....

Mineral spirits?
I believe that is the main solvent in Watco.



Jim

I have no idea
but remember the adage “test in an inconspicuous spot”?



I wouldnt add more Watco…unless you want to deal with more of a gooey mess and slid around for a while…then stick for a while.

I agree…
This is what I would start with in a small area of the gunked up spots.

Don’t try acetone or any solvent that
would attack vinyl. Spilled acetone from a leaky can went right through the vinyl on my Royalex Synergy, and then disrupted both the ABS layer and the underlying foam. Even the outer ABS layer softened.



I agree that mineral spirits are a good bet. Maybe cautious, low angle scraping with a chisel can help lift the Watco residue without scratching the hull. I have used Watco exterior oil on gunwales, and it does not seem to leave as hard a result as, say, Watco 209. So some careful mechanical wedging may help.

If more Watco helps, then …
… I would reach a conclusion by logic rather than (so be careful) by experience.



Watco is a combination of oil, varnish and solvents. I would logically conclude that it is the solvents in the more-Watco that would dissolve the dried Watco. The cost of this dissolution would be the laying down of more oil and varnish, which I assume one would immediately try to wipe off.



I think it would be more logical to try to identify the solvent chemical in Watco, and then just apply that unitary chemical to the dried Watco. What that solvent is, however, I know not. I’d try mineral spirits as others have suggested.

well…
I tried mineral spirits but maybe I didn’t let it sit long enough. I went back to citrus cleaner and with considerable elbow grease, I got the interior really clean. I was doing this in my house so the mineral spirits test was probably too quick. I still have much to clean on the exterior and I was even thinking of removing the gunnels to really get the hull cleaned up. I’m a lot anal when it comes to my stuff! Probably too much so… I had the boat out both days this weekend and was pretty happy with it. My set-up is the boat coupled with a Cooke’s t-pad and a Dogpaddle river touring paddle. I’m not a kneeler usually as all my other solos are sit-n-switch, but I’m gonna give kneeling a go with this boat.

Use Denatured Alcohol, then some
good ol’ 303