Hi all,
Any suggestions/advice on how best to handle this? Sanding? Painting? Neither? A solvent I haven't tried yet?

My latest purchase (a nice old JL Kwad) comes "well loved"... I.e. deep paint chips in what seems almost a gel/urethane kinda paint and really REALLY hard-set old glue residue.
I've tried: soaking it for hours with a turps-drenched towel -- it made no difference, zero softening.
I've tried, elbow grease and turps, citrus oil, aerogard (shout out to CMC for that one), etc, but it has made no difference.

(Maybe I'm doing it incorrectly? ) I have successfully removed old glue residue from a previous SUP, but it wasn't as hard-set as this substance.

Now, I think I'll put new rail tape over it (after removing the old tape further back on the rails than these chips). As you can see, it will mean placing the RSPro tape a fair bit further forward than normal...

SO: How to I best prepare the surface for new tape? Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Greeney said..
Stand down.
I've ordered new rail tape. Think I'll apply masking tape around the edges of the affected bits and then sand off the worst of the hardened glue. Then I may dab tiny bits of solarez into the chips and sand smooth, and/or apply spray paint to provide a nice surface for the new rail tape. Nothing can possibly go wrong. (I.e... once I eff it up, I will cover it up ).

Good advice!
Sand and re-paint is the go but not sure about using solarez as a filler. Something that is more of a paste would be much easier to apply and sand eg Q-cells, body filler or good old plasti-bond. Solarez might not be a very good base for paint.
Good luck.

Yep, let us know how you go with that Greeney - and put up some photos of your progress too please can ya!

Cheers MangoDingo, thanks for the good vibes. And thanks, Rick. Geez, we've got the A-Team on it now.

wazza66 said..
I know you have tried this already but give this a go.... have you tried a little bit of heat from a hairdryer or heat gun on low to soften the glue. Then using turps on a rag give it a good hard rub on the rail, then try eucalyptus oil on a rag.

Then give it sand as it is only paint with some wet and dry paper so the chips are now smooth . You can then get the colour matched from any good paint shop. I got the paint matched and put into a spray can and then resprayed my rails and it came up like new. Then let it dry overnight and retape the rails.

I used this to tidy up the rails on my Laird 10'6 and it came up like new again

Thanks Wazza! I will try the heat.
Have only tried the various solvents and LOTS of rubbing, and a turps-soaked towel left on for hours with plastic over it to prevent dehydration.
If heat doesn't work, I'll get to sanding. The paint matching is a good tip. Cheers. (This model Jimmy Lewis Kwad is a strange limey/lemony almost fleuro yellow... doesn't really show in the pics. )
I may not get it perfect but I will get it good.

Mark _australia said..
And that is why I hate rail tape

Tape the paddle. Use a good bag.

No loss of resale value from the horrid mess that rail tape causes.

Cheers Mark. I appreciate the input you've had to a few repair threads in here. Always solid advice. On this board the rail tape is okay (not great) but I think the previous owner bashed the rails up front (should've tape the paddle, hey) then glued some non-standard/random tape over the bashed bits, then peeled the tape off, leaving what you see in the pics. This pic shows where the rail tape stops and the carnage begins. I thought it would soften with a solvent, but so far, no luck.
Still, I like the board and it's water tight, so I can tinker away.
I am not a very handy kinda person, but as my wife said... "hey, you can't make it worse."

Good question, Mark.
Is fill n paint a product to fill the chips? (I was thinking of just a few light sprays of paint)...
(I added 2 pics to my previous post to better show the scale of the grotty bits...)
I'm not all that experienced in these things.. was thinking of 1. removing current rail tape, 2. cleaning as best I can, 3. sanding the hard crap off (if heat doesn't help budge it). 4. Applying a few light sprays of paint to fill the chips and level/smooth the surface out and then 5. sticking RSPro rail tape over most of it to cover up the inevitable imperfections. (But the damage on the right rail is so far forward that I may not want to bring the rail tape that far up, in which case I will try hard to paint match). Hope this makes sense.
Happy to take your advice! Thanks for taking the time to give your feedback.

DavidJohn said..
You could cover it using black (or coloured) rail saver tape.

Thanks heaps, DavidJohn...!
That's the exact stuff that is currently winging it's way up from somewhere near Merimbula...
(and i've watched your 'how to' vids before applying it to previous boards. Much appreciated!)