Be gentle
I had the binnacle removed from our E-32 III as part of a project to refinish it and to repair a wet cockpit deck. Because I live 120 miles from our boat and it was done during the early winter months I had a local marine services company do the work. When they tried to remove the base they ran into a lot of trouble with the sealant that was used. I took two men and some careful work with a chisel to remove it. Still, they ended up cracking the base but were able to weld it back together, sand blast it down and then finish it off with Awl Grip. It looks great. As for the wet deck, water came in at the pedestal guard connection to the deck. But the marine service was able to cut out the affected wet core from the bottom so they didn't need to cut into the top of the deck. The wet area was about two feet square.