Silicone Remover?

[Steve_N_Janna]

After about 12 hours of scraping away at the two layers of silicone caked on the belly band of my Scamp I broke down and purchased a $10 bottle of the DAP product. I had a concern that anything strong enough to melt that demon caulk might soften the gel coat. Not so !!! The stuff worked beautifully for me, though I had to do a repeat application - possibly because I wasn't patient enough to wait more than about 45 minutes after applying it (lack of patience is one of my chronic personality flaws).

I'm not sure why the previous owner felt a need to caulk around the belly band, though it does look like moisture could hide behind the aluminum and then cause possible damage if it freezes. My plan is to brush a layer of epoxy along the top of the band, allowing it to fill the gap.

I'm open to suggestions if anyone has dealt with this.

[kdhanso]

My Scamp has a silicone bead around the entire belly band. I had always assumed it was done at the factory rather than by a previous owner. There is also silicone globbed around the roof vent which is an original install as far as I know. Can anyone confirm that my assumption is correct that Scamp puts silicone on their trailers?

[Donna D.]

I can't confirm the caulk around the belly band of my 1988 16' Scamp is original. I'm the third owner and don't know what the first two may have done. But I do know it's SILICONE (it's peeling away in spots). I mentioned to Dave on this thread, that I had already removed it all. I completely forgot about the belly band... dang.... glad there's something other than my thumbnails to remove it (and plastic knives and ice scrappers). Guess I should volunteer my trailer at the NOG for a test.

[Gina D.]

I have it all around my belly band too aarg!

I miss my Burros..no rivets, no belly band LOL

[Earl E. November]

Something tells me we are going to have a bunch of much improved belly bands around here in the near future..

[Hambone]

I assume there is some kind of lip under the belly band? So I removed all my caulk and i'm just going to leave it bare, does look better and if its peeling, missing in spots what good was it doing anyway!!!

[Hambone]

Ken,
Scamp sells silicone tubes on there parts website!!!

[Donna D.]

Maybe this summer I'll remove the 40' of silicone(?) around the belly band of my Scamp, it's peeling up in places. But, I will replace it with something better (if I can get it to stick). I don't believe the caulk is there to prevent leaks, but more for asthetics. And, it seals the area from dirt, dust, moss, etc. from filling in that area. I don't really care to wash my trailer with a toothbrush and unless caulked... I may have to do just that. YMMV

BTW: I think the only current molded trailer manufacturer who DOESN'T use silicone anywhere on the exterior... is Escape.

[john warren]

yes they use it, with what seems liberal abandon.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by john warren

yes they use it, with what seems liberal abandon.

That's a nice way of saying a 3 inch paint brush!

[BCDave]

I overheard one guy talking about Scamp's quality slipping - ha actually found a spot that wasn't covered in Silicone!

[bomni]

For the record...DAP gets my vote!! I haven't removed all the silicone (because it would be impossible...it's everywhere) but I have removed it in visible areas with the DAP remover...I left it overnight & it is still took a bit of scrapping, but, not much and it had softened it up considerably. The gelcoat was nice and clean underneath afterwards too!

Happy de-siliconing...
Lindsey

[theresa p]

hi dave---your (excellent) product review could not have been more timely---but, alas, not for my trailer! i am in the process of regrouting and recaulking my bathtub in the house and had just spent a couple of hours reading labels in cdn tire and another home building supply store....and left without that DAP silicone-be-gone simply because they do not identify any ingredients on their label at all....
....now, though, i am intending on heading directly back to pick up a bottle to make the removal of the old caulking stress (and curse) -free!
thanks a zillion!

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by theresa p

... and had just spent a couple of hours reading labels in cdn tire and another home building supply store....and left without that DAP silicone-be-gone simply because they do not identify any ingredients on their label at all....

Theresa, perhaps you would like to check out the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for the remover?

[theresa p]

thanks, donna. that's one heckuva lot of info, isn't it?!! it told me what i wanted to know.

[ThomasE]

I didn't have much luck as you using Silcone-be-gone in the past, but I didn't wait as long as you did. Did you cover up the area with plastic wrap to keep the stuff from drying out when you waited? Did you pre-scrape the silicone down so it wasn't as thick?

[BCDave]

Neither-just painted it on, went back into the house for a coffee and catch up on a few websites that I "haunt", went back out after 3 hours and started scraping with a plastic thingy. The silly-cone was a nearly-liquid jelly.

Might matter how thick you put it on?

No idea - I "painted" the stuff onto the silly-cone pretty heavily and the result was that the silly-cone plus silicone-be-gone was about the same jelly-like consistency as the silicone-be-gone had been when applied

[ThomasE]

I put it on pretty thin, maybe that's why I didn't get such good results.

[theresa p]

this morning i called toronto and spoke with the customer service person there named lise. she was very helpful. i wanted to ensure that the bottle that i bought was actually supposed to be such a thick, gel-like consistency and not just an old bottle left on a shelf....
i didn't find that the supplied brush worked well....in hindsight, i'd use an old toothbrush next time. because i have an old tub that has been refinished, i was loathe to over-apply the silicone-be-gone for fear of ruining the finish....
i left it for 2 hours and found that the silicone caulking just peeled away in a long strip! awesome!! i did have a little bit of scraping to do with my plastic putty knife, took only a minute or two...and no damage to the tub that i can see.
all in all, i am pleased with the way it worked. i have gone from being a doubting thomas to a delighted theresa

[Karen L W]

Has anyone tried Silicone-Be-Gone on the ensolite in their trailer? A PO tried to cover some on the seams with gobs of silicone in my boler and besides looking like crap, paint won't stick to it. I would like to repair this area without melting the ensolite wall covering.