Wire chase nightmare - expanding foam

[Bob Bradley]

I've been trying to clear some space in my wire chase in anticipation of replacing my electronics and have encountered a major problem. Some creative person decided to pump expanding foam like Great Stuff into the top of the chase up on the bridge. This has filled all the voids and effectively glued all the wires together. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to dissolve the cured foam? The internet seems to think it cant be done.

[SEVEN]

A few years ago I discovered a soft spot on the flybridge walk around. The soft spot was dry but flexed when I walked on it. I punched a couple quarter inch holes to inspect and found that the core was gone. I injected some of the expandable foam to fill the void. It did a fabulous job until I noticed the light over the side door looked yellow. I discovered that the foam had seeped through the wire run into the light. I took the light out and was able to chip the foam away. Other than that I don’t see it being dissolved without hurting the existing wires. Good luck with this one.

[boatwright]

acetone will melt most spray foams perhaps a copper tube with acetone dripping out could be pushed through has the foam melts. will not work on closed cell foam but will on GreatStuff and such type foam

[Bob Bradley]

I tried both acetone and lacquer thinner on a sample chunk that I had cut out. Both softened it somewhat, but neither actually dissolved it. I do worry a bit about compromising the insulation on the wires. Thought about carb cleaner but have the same concern.

[rustybucket]

Man, that is terrible.... gotta love it when people try to fix something that isn't broke, with something that breaks it.

[Nonchalant1]

Hopefully, there is more than one wire chase to the bridge. If not, one possibility is wire tracing of existing wires. Most electronics can operate with rather small wire sizes, so find the wires you do not need and put a tone or trace signal on the bridge end of the wire and then track it down on the other end of the chase and test for the tone to make sure you have a single copper wire. Do this with as many wires as you need for your new electronics. This is a major hassle because electronics frequently have specialized plugs with multiple wires, but it can be done if everything is carefully marked and carefully reattached even though many of the wires are different sizes than others and different sizes than originals.

[Captain Ralph]

Find some adhesive remover like Goo-Gone or Goof-Off.

[rwaldrop13]

Maybe try gently tapping a capped piece of PVC pipe thru the foam to make a new wire run? Good luck otherwise.

[Bob Bradley]

Just spent 6 hrs working with a buddy pulling out dead end wires, many live. Found 2 coils on the bridge that were coiled live, but none of the 12v breakers would turn off. Took the face panel off and found the other ends screwed directly to the common power plate that all the breakers attach to. Only way to de energize them would have been to shut off the main.

[JuiceClark]

It's universal. You can buy 2 quarts of 8 lb closed cell foam for $30 - the stuff our stringers are full of. Still, people buy a can of Great Stuff and bring it on the boat. It holds water like nothing else.

I found several spots full of the can foam years ago under a flybridge helm and could find no short cut to removing it. I even tried gasoline, knowing what it does to a styrofoam cup...and it just made a dangerous mess.
So, I grabbed a razor knife and just started hacking away until it was all pieces small enough for the shop-vac.