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Remove your masking tape!

3K views 29 replies 18 participants last post by  deniseO30 
#1 ·
Just a timely reminder that if you leave it "on" for a few weeks... you may wind up with a sticky mess!

Also, I've switched over to "Frog Tape" I does seem to do as advertised.
 
#8 ·
denise, 3M are very up front about this.

Plain "beige" masking tape is pretty much designed to go on today, come off tomorrow. And the stuff in the sale bin is often old and gummy before your start.

Then they make blue tape and green tape, the blue tape can go longer and leave a finer line than the beige, the green tape is more flexible, and "Frog" targeted that green tape market. Offhand I think both are rated for one week by 3M.

But then 3M also makes a silver masking tape. Damned expensive but rated for a month in the sun--and I can tell you it does work. We masked a deck on one weekend, it rained on the next, the paint went down on the third, but we couldn't get back to strip the tape until the fourth. And it peeled like it had just been laid down.



The Frog folks claim they use a special additive which "clots" when the moisture from latex wall paint hits it, to leave a very clean sharp line. On a boat, that shouldn't matter.

I know 3M aren't the only good brand in the business, but when it comes to adhesives and the like, I know I can trust their product and their 800# will get me fast answers to any question about any product they make.
 
#9 ·
Let the young'n. Help you out. You can leave your tape on for months, even duck tape. The only the you need to make sure you have is.... MINERAL OIL! Yepp, plain ol mineral oil and a little scrubbbing, not much, takes all the residue rgiht off.


I left duck and electrrical tape around the plastic covering open dorade holes for like 2to mnths. When i finally got the dorade vents to install and removed the tape was nothing but residue. I tried everything and it was taking FOREVER to do a little bit. Guy at my marina walking bu sees my struggles and tells me to use mineral spirits. Luckyy for me i have some in the cabin. Poor a little on my scrub pad and bam! It starts falling away like maguc!

So there you go. No more tape worries. Yes it works for 3myou tape too and lots of other stuff you may not think it would apply to.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Mineral OIL and mineral SPIRITS are two different things. Both can help remove old tape but mineral oil will leave an oily residue that may be nearly as troublesome as the tape. Mineral spirits will dissolve most tape residue and leave very little behind if you clean it well. Mineral spirits is pretty flammable, mineral oil, not so much.

Mineral spirits is a solvent that will dissolve the tape residue and let you mop it up with a rag or paper towel. Unfortunately, it will also dissolve some paints and damage some plastics. So, test some on the same type of surface you are planning to use it on before you make a major commitment and find that your shiny topside paint is dissolving and headed for the bilge or worse yet, into the water where it can mess up other things.

Mineral Oil is an oil that will keep the adhesive from sticking to itself or anything else. There is some solvent action but not much.

Mineral oil is available in medical grade from any pharmacy. It can also help release stuck up sailors if that is a problem.

Mineral Spirits is available from about any paint or hardware store.
 
#11 ·
I don't leave the tape on any more then a few days now. I really like frog, it seems to keep varnish or cetol from bleeding under it better the then blue.
 
#13 ·
An older wooden trawler showed up at our marina 4-5 years ago and the new owners started to work on it right away. Using lots of blue tape getting ready to work on the boat.
All work stopped, haven't seen anyone onboard for 4 years, but the tape is still there. I feel for whoever has to remove all that tape.
 
#16 ·
Yes get the good stuff too, the 3M or as I have heard from several people frog tape is good. I am installing laminate floors for my X-wife and she got the cheap beige stuff and I am only leaving it on for about 10 min, just for cuts to help prevent chipping. And it leaves all kinds of mess behind. She was complaining about it, and I said "well have fun getting it off as that is the stuff I told you not to get." I figure if she saved the money by buying the cheap stuff, she should be the one cleaning it up.
 
#23 ·
I myself have only ever used electrical insolation tape. sticks very well to flowcoat or resin with wax in it.
Leaves a very crisp line when painting and is easy to remove...from GPR plastics metals and wood..
and will stay fixed for weeks...
and cheap to buy and has other uses as well
 
#24 ·
Well, today I just pulled the last of the Blue off. I did a little unintentional experiment with Green Frog Tape and 3M blue. I left the green on nearly a week; it came right off. I left the blue on about 4 days. It came off but was way better adhered (not a good thing) It even ripped and left some little strips that I had to go back and lift with a knife. So. I'm for going to stay with frog for now, even though I have lots of the blue laying around.
 
#27 ·
Yes Goo gone is strong stuff, and needs a solvent to get it off as well! We use it by the gallon at work and it will make some plastics look new, but you have to go over it with alcohol to get the greasy coating off. I find WD40 works wonders as well, and does not leave much residue. In fact cleaning and drying out a fishing reel is about all I would ever use it for.
 
#28 · (Edited)
Between the price of goo-stuff, or any solvent these days, and the extra time to use it, and paper towels or scrubbing pads, or whatever...

I think I'd rather spend the same money up front on buying the silver masking tape, and save myself all the time and mess on the clean cleanup.

Just one man's opinion.

denise-
3M even makes a black masking tape http://www.shop3m.com/60455064141.html?WT.z_bynt=1
another special product designed to resist UV and peel clean. They all get ratty if they've been kept around too long though.
 
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