Dave G.
1984 E30+ (SOLD)
So I decided to use acetone. As you know it evaporates very quickly but is also water soluble. So I mixed a 80/20 solution to slow the evaporation and used a spray bottle to apply it. I realized pretty quickly that the tape was not coming off the sail so my mission was the remove all the adhesive on the outside of the tape. The adhesive is very tough stuff so it took multiple applications to remove it all. I first wetted out about a 4' section then laid paper towel on top and wetted again, let it set for a few minutes, then used a 1" plastic scraper to get as much of the loosened adhesive off before the solution started to dry. Wet again, scape again x 2. Wet again and wipe with paper towel in one direction flipping or changing out paper towel on every pass. Some areas took 5-6 passes and some took 8-10 to remove all the tackiness. I didn't see any obvious damage to the Dacron and once dry it seemed to have the same feel as the surrounding areas. So now I have a couple 3/4" shiny stripes on each side of the sail but can now fold and flake it without it sticking to itself ! Maybe the 3M product would loosen the tape itself ?? Don't know but I think it would still require a lot of mechanical/scraper force to do that which would probably due a lot more damage to the sail than any solvent would IMHO. Another side note is that did try 91% alcohol and it did loosen the adhesive although at about roughly 1/2 rate of acetone. As I said earlier the 70% alcohol was not effective. Hmm maybe next time mix the acetone with alcohol...?? LOL...maybe
