CONTINUOUSWAVE

I'm going to remove several spots of old varnish from the interior of our 1981 Sport 13. A previous owner was a very sloppy wood finisher so I want to get things squared away.

The instructions on the MEK can say to mix four ounces to a gallon of water. I suspect that will be too dilute to remove old solidly adhered varnish from fiberglass. Unless I hear otherwise I will just use undiluted MEK.

The worst mess is the forward/anchor locker. Varnish is slopped all over the place and is a real mess. I need to know how best to remove the varnish. Most of the other varnish is smallish widely separated spots probably removable with MEK on a rag. The larger areas may do better if the MEK is painted over it, allowed to sit for a while, then wiped away with rags.

But, I really don't know how to use this stuff so how about some tips.

I am in the process of removing all the paint from a skiff. I didn't want to use toxic paint removers, so I used brake fluid. Yes, that is correct, brake fluid. If you have ever spilled some on a fender you know what a great paint remover it is. In your case you might want to try a trick I saw on You Tube. A guy mixed his remover with flour, making a paste. That kept the remover from running and drying too soon. I tried it and it did actually work pretty well. Just thicken the fluid up and dollop it on the varnish spots. Give it time to work. What I liked best about the brake fluid was that it didn't smell, or burn my skin, washed off with water, and didn't leave any residue. Being hygroscopic it absorbed moisture from the humid summer air and didn't dry out prematurely. It even softened the Gluvit epoxy I used as a sealer as well as the epoxy primer.

Thanks for the tip. I have the MEK on hand and don't have brake fluid so I think I'll try my luck with the MEK.

I'm hoping for some responses from those with some MEK experience>

I started to use the MEK this PM. So far, on drips, I've found that a towel with MEK poured onto it and left for a few minutes on the varnish spot makes the spot relatively easy to remove. On the other hand, I found that a towel with with some MEK poured on it used as a rubbing cloth to remove spots didn't work very well unless the spot was pretty thin. Soaking is good rubbing is less good.

Be careful with that stuff. It also melts some plastics and may harm the fiberglass. You should read this MSDS sheet: http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927358