from my fiberglass Necky Elaho without screwing up the finish? Is it possible? Goo gone, mineral spirits, blowtorch? Anyone had any luck? Thanks.
Try rubbing alcohol. I used that in my hair a glob of pine sap drip from a tree. WD-40 is versitile, its the only solvent I found that would remove silicone grease from polyurethane anti-sway bar bushing. Test first. Then minersl spirits.
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How do you remove hardened pine sap?
WD-40
- Spray WD-40 directly on the sap stain and allow it to soak for 5 minutes.
- Apply a wet cloth, soaked in hot water, on top for added penetration. ( Optional)
- Use the cloth to rub away the sap, repeating steps 1 and 2 as needed.
- Once the sap is gone, wash the area with hot water and soap.
Said vinegar also.
Start with rubbing alcohol. I removed a blob of pine sap from my truck’s fender or hood by soaking a bit of paper towel with alcohol, “painting” the blob with that, letting that sit a few minutes, and then gently wiping/lifting the blob. It took a few reps before I got it all off. Then I rinsed the area with plain water.
That was a fairly soft blob to start with, not too old. I don’t know how well it would work on a hard blob. Maybe an ice pack on a hard blob would make it possible to break off.
Razor blade for the majority
Gasoline
I live in the Pine Tree State so I understand but to be honest its just about impossible to keep up with the exudate from my pines
Lot of options. Rubbing alcohol is especially good to remember when harsh solvents would be a problem - like hair, clothes, leather, shoes, rugs . . .
After a major battle in trying to remove Keeleazy adhesive using Goof Off, alcohol, and acetone we found that ordinary mineral spirits based paint thinner worked far better that the others. It’s what we used as kids for removing pine sap from hands and hair. Cheap and readily available. When used for this purpose will not harm plastic or composite kayaks. Wash off any remaining residue with soap and hot water.
It will remove wax and things like 303®, so reapply to the boat after getting the pine sap off.
Flammable. Avid breathing fumes and avoid skin contact, things that many painters ignore. Dispose of used rags or paper towels safely. Like many solvents, a spontaneous combustion hazard.
Breathing the fumes is the best part!
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I agree with using mineral spirits, but another alternative is turpentine, which is actually distilled from pine tree sap. Either will work without damaging the plastic or gelcoat.
This is weird. I just walked into the house from removing a bunch of pine sap off my old Royalex Mohawk. Open the computer, and the first thing I see is this post. I used a putty knife to knock the bulk of it off, then rubbing alcohol saturated on a rag to dissolve the rest. Worked well.
That’s what cleaned the hull of all the pine sap. A 50/50 mixture of rubbing alcohol and elbow grease. Thanks for the responses.
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Great. Good to hear alcohol mixes with elbow grease.
Mineral spirits.
I bought a Necky Narpa at an estate auction that was covered in sap. Mineral spirits took some off but I could see it would be a long summer getting all the sap off.
My solution was to run a very sharp wood chisel lightly until each glob of sap popped off. Clearly you have to be very careful not to get into the boat itself and this was an extreme amount of sap.
When I was done I added a coat of wax.
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I’ve used GooGone and it worked great.
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I’ll second the Goo Gone.
Hand sanitizer ( with alcohol) works great also.
Let it sit for a bit and gently rub/ wipe off.
Do this all the time on my vehicles.
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Also, plain old varsol works well.