Hi! I currently have a classic Merlin (sail no.970) and have bought second hand sails for it. They are in great condition, but I need to remove the old sail numbers!. Has anyone out there found a quick way of removing the old glue? I've tried a few things but nothing easy and fast to use!.Thanks for your help everyone!

"Acetone" but now its the ingrediant in terrorist bombs they probably will not sell it in quantity. Other thinners probably do it too but acetone does it ervery time!

Panel wipe works well.

Any car paint shop will be able to supply some.

It evaporates faster than acetone, isn't as strong and doesn't leave any residue.

I found that the Ultrovar solvent from SP turned the glue into a jelly which you could scrape off.  Anything left after could be wiped off with acetone.  The main problem with acetone is that it just evaporates far too quickly and doesn't seem to get a real chance to soften up the glue.  Irrespective of the method it's a horrible job and stinks!!  I've done it twice this year.  Have plenty of kitchen roll handy to wipe the old glue onto.  Best of luck!

White spirit, works just as well.

Do a search on the forum - this topic has been covered many times.  Just thought I'd save Mags the trouble of saying it - perhaps he shouls make it a technical advice note when he's got nothing to do????

This may not be the case with older sails, but it is possible to just peel the old numbers off with no residue as I did on a 2002 Rowsell main recently.

If you warm the numbers up with a hair dryer you'll have more luck with that.

If the sails are more than about 5 or 6 years old they tend to leave a residue no matter how careful you are. 

This depends on the cloth too. It's much easier to get numbers off mylar sails than dacron in my experience.

Thanks for all your replies. I tried a few things, and in the end I used petrol, a pot scourer, a paint scraper and some MDF!. It worked great, and didnt damage the sail! You place the MDF under the area to be cleaned, apply the petrol to the glue, and allow to soak. Then use the scraper which removes the glue! Thanks again!