My last boat had a foam backed vinyl on the interior. The foam dried up and
fell apart, resulting in the vinyl falling off, but leaving a coating of
glue and the remnants of the foam on the fiberglass surface. I removed this
residue with a variety of methods. A heat gun worked, as did a thick paint
remover (making sure to scrape off and wash from the fiberglass as quickly
as possible).

I replaced the old with a closed cell foam material. First used solvent
based liquid contact cement, but I think you will find as I did that this
can slightly dissolve vinyl material.

I then discovered a water based contact cement from 3M. IIRC, it was about 3
times as expensive, but was so much thinner that it had maybe twice the
coverage. Fumes were so innocuous...almost could say it smelled good. I
ordered this product from a NAPA store. Gallons only. Get several cheap
brushes as they get gummed up.

wrote in message
...
I'm in the process of removing the carpeting inside the cabin of my
sailboat. The manufacturer used carpeting with a foam backing to line
the inside hull as sound and thermal insulation. The problem I found
was that the carpeting pulled out easily but left the foam attached to
the old adhesive on the inside of the hull. I started scraping the
foam off but soon discovered how difficult this is, scraping off the
foam inch by inch.
I was wondering if anyone has run into this problem before and found
a better solution than using a hand scraper. I thought heat gun but
wondered whether I'd poison myself.

As a follow up question, I'm replacing the old carpeting with
Seaquest vinyl fabric. Anyone have any suggestions for the best
adhesive to use. The West Marine catalog lists an adhesive they sell,
but states it's for carpeting. Was wondering if I could use carpet
adhesive or if there's something better.

BTW, the old foam is moldy, it has to come out. I can't just put the
new vinyl over it.