Filon adhesive/glue removal

[TorQ]

Hello there. I just bought a fiberglass class c with some water damage. I am going to attempt to renovate the affected areas. So far I have taken a lot of video and photos which I hope to share here at some point. I've started with the cab over bunk flooring but I have run into a snag. The layer of wood that is bonded to the fiberglass exterior is mostly rotted away and I need to figure out if I can remove it. I am wondering if there is a method for delaminating the wood from the fiberglass. I have searched for adhesive removers but haven't found any specific answers. I also have seen some tangential information that suggests applying heat with a heat gun will work. Can anyone help me with this? Thank you very much.

[TorQ]

Just wanted to report in. Bought an elcheapo grinder tonight and some flap disks. I will report on my progress in a few days. I have other steps that I need to attend to before the grindening!

[westend]

On most of the filon there is only a millimeter or so of wood remaining attached. I would like to try a chemical stripper before resorting to sanding. I might go get a heat gun after work tonight and give that a go. Any thoughts on how filon reacts to heat? Should I worry about warping it?

I wouldn't use heat gun, there is a possibility of getting some bubbles with that. Acetone softens a lot of adhesives but you definitely won't like using that. Same for MEK.

If it was me, I'd try to remove anything loose, mechanically. Maybe spread an epoxy type of resin over any really rough surfaces. Your replacement sheeting would then have a good surface to bond to.

[westend]

DrewE wrote:

westend wrote:

DrewE wrote:
A piece of countertop laminate, for instance, should work just fine.

Drew, I hate to correct you since your advice is typically spot on but an owner using countertop material should make sure it is not made with paste board or MDF, the usual materials for constructed laminate counter tops. Both of those materials don't have much loading strength and there are better choices like OSB or plywood.

Please do correct me when I'm wrong! It does happen sometimes.

In this case, I was thinking of the thin sheets of the actual laminate surface that can be glued to a substrate of plywood or whatever, and not the preassembled countertop units that, as you point out, are often particle board stuff that is heavy, none too strong, and anything but waterproof. I did not very well describe that in the post, though, even though I knew exactly what I was thinking. It's funny how that works.

Gotcha!
I kind of made a mental leap thinking you meant the assembled tops but you really didn't state that.

Hey, even an objective Director of the FBI gets it wrong, sometimes. :B

[DrewE]

westend wrote:

DrewE wrote:
A piece of countertop laminate, for instance, should work just fine.

Drew, I hate to correct you since your advice is typically spot on but an owner using countertop material should make sure it is not made with paste board or MDF, the usual materials for constructed laminate counter tops. Both of those materials don't have much loading strength and there are better choices like OSB or plywood.

Please do correct me when I'm wrong! It does happen sometimes.

In this case, I was thinking of the thin sheets of the actual laminate surface that can be glued to a substrate of plywood or whatever, and not the preassembled countertop units that, as you point out, are often particle board stuff that is heavy, none too strong, and anything but waterproof. I did not very well describe that in the post, though, even though I knew exactly what I was thinking. It's funny how that works.

[TorQ]

Will do.

[Mich_F]

Good luck, it's easy, fairly quick ,but very dusty. It would be interesting to see some pics of what you're dealing with. I have a bunch of pics of various RVs in different stages of repair and disrepair. :B

My son repairs these things for a living, and I frequently help out, just for something to do. 😉

[TorQ]

Okay cool. I might give that a go. Your photo looks pretty much like what I have to deal with. I tried using Denatured alcohol and mineral spirits tonight. The mineral spirits didn't do anything except give me a headache. The alcohol was better but will still be a ton of work. I need some new Ryobi batteries so I might see about getting a tool pack or something with a cordless grinder. I'd like to get this project done so we can use our new RV in this lifetime!

[Mich_F]

That was done with a 5"or 6" air grinder. It was done with a hard disc of 80 grit, I believe. An electric grinder could get the same results. Dust will go everywhere.

[TorQ]

Grinder huh? What kind of grinder do you have? I don't have one yet so I would need to buy or borrow one. More importantly though, what kind of disc did you use? I imagine that the dust is a bit nuts.

[Mich_F]

A grinder will get it off. This is a pic of part of the side wall of a Class A Windsport (from the floor down). The whole wall on the driver's side, had to be replaced (other than the slide out wall). All the filon above the floor had to be replaced, but the filon from floor level down was salvageable.

[TorQ]

At the moment I would like to maintain the filon that is there. The RV is a 98 and looks pretty nice still so if the filon needs to be replaced I would almost certainly replace it with a new sheet of the same material. It seems that it is easy enough to get.

On most of the filon there is only a millimeter or so of wood remaining attached. I would like to try a chemical stripper before resorting to sanding. I might go get a heat gun after work tonight and give that a go. Any thoughts on how filon reacts to heat? Should I worry about warping it?

[westend]

DrewE wrote:
A piece of countertop laminate, for instance, should work just fine.

Drew, I hate to correct you since your advice is typically spot on but an owner using countertop material should make sure it is not made with paste board or MDF, the usual materials for constructed laminate counter tops. Both of those materials don't have much loading strength and there are better choices like OSB or plywood.

[DrewE]

It depends on what the adhesive used was.

If the wood is far enough gone, you can remove the bulk of what used to be wood easily enough, and then clean up the sheeting as seems best. I had good luck with a sort of solid sanding block I picked up somewhere and since forgot the brand name of, a kind of soap-bar sized brick of sand grit held together with a binder of some kind.

For the bottom of the bunk board, it would not be hard at all to put in most any sort of waterproof sheet product rather than the original Filon. A piece of countertop laminate, for instance, should work just fine.