De-Gunking Foam Out Of Pelican Hard Cases

PA32Mark · August 8, 2015, 04:57 PM

Whilst cleaning out my garage recently, I came across two large, high quality, Pelican hard cases. These are the real heavy duty ones, suitable to padlock and use for airline shipment of guns; they've been sitting, buried, untouched, in my garage for over 20 years. The cases themselves are in really nice shape, but when I opened them, the foam interiors - that spongy camera case gray foam stuff they are lined with - had deteriorated into this sticky, gooey, falling apart mess. Once I have scraped out the big pieces, does anyone know what would be a good cleaning solvent to use to clean up the sticky, messy residue?

Will-j · August 8, 2015, 05:09 PM

I had somewhat of the same problem, only with the foam pieces in Speer's bullet containers I left new and unopened for about 7 yrs. Imagine my surprise. I simply sprayed some engine degreaser in the box...bullets and all and left them for a couple days, rinsed them off and wiped them down.

Needless to say...Now I open all containers and remove the foam piece and tape up the box until time for use.

Might work for you.

WILL.

burrhead · August 8, 2015, 07:05 PM

Call Pelican.

Rob62 · August 8, 2015, 08:33 PM

Pelican Products are still the Gold standard in my opinion when it comes to building the best case out there. They just replaced a case that was literally worn out under their life time guarantee (I was not expecting that because literally the case was just worn out)

Anyway I second the opinion of calling their customer service. They can probably best answer your question.

http://www.pelican.com/info/support/

Personally I think that if you were to take the cases to one of those do it yourself Car washes the pressure hose would clean out a lot of that gunk. As a good general purpose cleaner I like "Simple Green". Very good and very user friendly.

Good Luck. With I could find some Pelican cases stashed in my garage.

Rob

cryogenic419 · August 9, 2015, 07:14 AM

I imagine nail polish remover or goo gone would probably take care of this stuff.

cptjack · August 9, 2015, 07:21 AM

gas

MislMan · August 9, 2015, 07:42 AM

I also recommend contacting Pelican directly. Just because they are hard cases don't assume they can't/won't be damaged by cleaners. As I understand things they are garaunteed for life. You may be able to ship to them and they will replaced the foam for you..

... Larry S.

PA32Mark · August 9, 2015, 02:56 PM

Thank you all for the helpful tips/suggestions.

August 8, 2015, 04:57 PM	#1
PA32Mark Member Join Date: January 27, 2015 Posts: 54	De-Gunking Foam Out Of Pelican Hard Cases Whilst cleaning out my garage recently, I came across two large, high quality, Pelican hard cases. These are the real heavy duty ones, suitable to padlock and use for airline shipment of guns; they've been sitting, buried, untouched, in my garage for over 20 years. The cases themselves are in really nice shape, but when I opened them, the foam interiors - that spongy camera case gray foam stuff they are lined with - had deteriorated into this sticky, gooey, falling apart mess. Once I have scraped out the big pieces, does anyone know what would be a good cleaning solvent to use to clean up the sticky, messy residue?

August 8, 2015, 05:09 PM	#2
Will-j Senior Member Join Date: December 16, 2014 Location: SW Ga. Near Ft. Benning Posts: 251	I had somewhat of the same problem, only with the foam pieces in Speer's bullet containers I left new and unopened for about 7 yrs. Imagine my surprise. I simply sprayed some engine degreaser in the box...bullets and all and left them for a couple days, rinsed them off and wiped them down. Needless to say...Now I open all containers and remove the foam piece and tape up the box until time for use. Might work for you. WILL. __________________ Life's too short to worry about the small stuff....... IT'S ALL SMALL STUFF. D@MN, I really miss my meds. THE WINDS OF CHANGE ARE BLOWING FROM OUR OWN CAPITOL.

August 8, 2015, 07:05 PM	#3
burrhead Senior Member Join Date: July 6, 1999 Location: Chihuahuan desert, Texas Posts: 1,148	Call Pelican. __________________ Join the GOA, SAF and the TSRA I'm offended by people that are easily offended.

August 8, 2015, 08:33 PM	#4
Rob62 Senior Member Join Date: June 28, 1999 Location: Georgia, USA Posts: 560	Pelican Products are still the Gold standard in my opinion when it comes to building the best case out there. They just replaced a case that was literally worn out under their life time guarantee (I was not expecting that because literally the case was just worn out) Anyway I second the opinion of calling their customer service. They can probably best answer your question. http://www.pelican.com/info/support/ Personally I think that if you were to take the cases to one of those do it yourself Car washes the pressure hose would clean out a lot of that gunk. As a good general purpose cleaner I like "Simple Green". Very good and very user friendly. Good Luck. With I could find some Pelican cases stashed in my garage. Rob __________________ NRA & NAHC Life Member

August 9, 2015, 07:14 AM	#5
cryogenic419 Senior Member Join Date: March 29, 2009 Location: NW Ohio Posts: 569	I imagine nail polish remover or goo gone would probably take care of this stuff.

August 9, 2015, 07:21 AM	#6
cptjack Senior Member Join Date: October 1, 2014 Posts: 314	gas

August 9, 2015, 07:42 AM	#7
MislMan Member Join Date: July 20, 2015 Posts: 57	I also recommend contacting Pelican directly. Just because they are hard cases don't assume they can't/won't be damaged by cleaners. As I understand things they are garaunteed for life. You may be able to ship to them and they will replaced the foam for you.. ... Larry S.

August 9, 2015, 02:56 PM	#8
PA32Mark Member Join Date: January 27, 2015 Posts: 54	Thank you all for the helpful tips/suggestions.