Help! The "non-skid" on the CD33 I purchased this summer is more accurately described as "slip". The former owner made the non-skid look real nice by painting it with a shiny exterior enamel house paint. I'm sure he was trying to cover up the many hair line cracks that all CDs seem to develop in their gel coat, and he did a good job of that. When it gets wet though, watch out! You'll be on your back before you know what hit you. It's hazardous and I must do something about it. As far as I can tell my options are as follows: 1) I can chemically strip the paint off and live with the original non-skid that I find underneath, 2) I can sand the paint and original non-skid off and replace it with new non-skid. Anybody got any suggestions? A fellow CD owner down the dock from me said he thought that there were paintable non-skid products out there. I guess you paint them on and they somehow form a rough surface. I'd love to hear what you all have to say about this one.
Ryan T
s/v Zenobia CD33 hull no. 100
rdtec@aol.com
Slippery Non-Skid
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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sam
Re: Slippery Non-Skid
INterlux makes a non-skid you can mix with paint (also a flattening agent so the paint is not as shiny). The non skid is a hi tech sand like material. If you repaint your decks with Brightside paint and add the non skid it will help a lot.
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Tom
Re: Slippery Non-Skid
Ryan, at your local paint store there are porch paints with non skid already in them. You can also buy the grit separately and add it to the pint of your choice. Both of these are pretty glumpy for boat decks. The traditional way to do non-skid decks is to buy fine sand (clean and sifted so all the grains are the same size - don't use beach sand.) Put the sand in a salt shaker or punch holes in the bottom of a tin can. Now paint a few feet of deck and while the paint is still very wet sprinckle a thing layer of sand on it. When the paint dries brush the excess of with a broom then apply a second coat of paint on top. Use flat paint so you don't have to add flatting agent. If the paint you love doesn't come in flat add flatting agent as Sam mentioned. Not as good but OK.Ryan T wrote: Help! The "non-skid" on the CD33 I purchased this summer is more accurately described as "slip". The former owner made the non-skid look real nice by painting it with a shiny exterior enamel house paint. I'm sure he was trying to cover up the many hair line cracks that all CDs seem to develop in their gel coat, and he did a good job of that. When it gets wet though, watch out! You'll be on your back before you know what hit you. It's hazardous and I must do something about it. As far as I can tell my options are as follows: 1) I can chemically strip the paint off and live with the original non-skid that I find underneath, 2) I can sand the paint and original non-skid off and replace it with new non-skid. Anybody got any suggestions? A fellow CD owner down the dock from me said he thought that there were paintable non-skid products out there. I guess you paint them on and they somehow form a rough surface. I'd love to hear what you all have to say about this one.
Ryan T
s/v Zenobia CD33 hull no. 100
The problem with paint is once you have committed to using it you pretty much have to paint your deck every year. Rough surfaces collect everything in the way of leaves, shoe marks, strands of kelp, etc. The original deck was gelcoat, that wonderful low maintenance product, but to spiff a boat up for selling(or to hide deck cracks) people sometimes paint them with gloss paint because they look so nice (and are totally impractical). Paint remover will take paint off of gelcoat, but it also eats gelcoat. You have to do a small patch and then get the paint remover off quickly and rinse well, or you'll eat through your gelcoat. Don't let the paint remover run down your hull through the scuppers or you'll damage your hull.
The chances are, if your decks are already painted you don't want to remove the paint. You will have to paint over it with the proper stuff. Don't be tempted to use walnut shells for non-skid. They were fashionable a few years ago because they looked nice -- at first. As soon as the paint wears off the top of the shells the walnut stain contained in the shells starts running and leaving impossible wlanut stains on everything. I haven't done this in awhile, but as I recall most people prefer #22 grit sand (in any case you want fine sand, too coarse eats the skin off your bare feet.) If your paint store doesn't have sand, the local concrete and rock supplier usually does. My decks are painted and I redo them every year at haulout. I don't add sand every year. It's tedious, but at this point one has no choice.
TacCambria@thegrid.net
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Matt Cawthorne
Re: Slippery Non-Skid
Ryan,
I reworked a couple of areas on my deck that had gel coat cracks. I had some matched gelcoat paste made up and when the cracks were filled I smeared a layer of the paste on. To get the non-skid I just blotted it with a paper towell. A thick layer of the paste leaves a large pattern of tall peaks and a thin layer leaves a fine layer of small peaks. The deck looks good and the non-skid properties are good, but it is a little different than the original non-skid. I kind of like the original better, but others tell me they would never have noticed a difference if I had not pointed it out to them. The peaks are sharp on the new stuff. I am not sure how it will be on bare feet. I will try and dull them with a light sanding. For my next attempt I will put sand in the gelcoat mix. The process of putting the gelcoat on was simple and quick once the deck was prepared. Your big decision is whether to sand the paint off or not. If you are going to use gelcoat I would recommend removing the paint. Please post whatever solution you try and how well it works. As always try samples before attempting to do the deck.
Good luck,
Matt.
mcawthor@bellatlantic.net
I reworked a couple of areas on my deck that had gel coat cracks. I had some matched gelcoat paste made up and when the cracks were filled I smeared a layer of the paste on. To get the non-skid I just blotted it with a paper towell. A thick layer of the paste leaves a large pattern of tall peaks and a thin layer leaves a fine layer of small peaks. The deck looks good and the non-skid properties are good, but it is a little different than the original non-skid. I kind of like the original better, but others tell me they would never have noticed a difference if I had not pointed it out to them. The peaks are sharp on the new stuff. I am not sure how it will be on bare feet. I will try and dull them with a light sanding. For my next attempt I will put sand in the gelcoat mix. The process of putting the gelcoat on was simple and quick once the deck was prepared. Your big decision is whether to sand the paint off or not. If you are going to use gelcoat I would recommend removing the paint. Please post whatever solution you try and how well it works. As always try samples before attempting to do the deck.
Good luck,
Matt.
Ryan T wrote: Help! The "non-skid" on the CD33 I purchased this summer is more accurately described as "slip". The former owner made the non-skid look real nice by painting it with a shiny exterior enamel house paint. I'm sure he was trying to cover up the many hair line cracks that all CDs seem to develop in their gel coat, and he did a good job of that. When it gets wet though, watch out! You'll be on your back before you know what hit you. It's hazardous and I must do something about it. As far as I can tell my options are as follows: 1) I can chemically strip the paint off and live with the original non-skid that I find underneath, 2) I can sand the paint and original non-skid off and replace it with new non-skid. Anybody got any suggestions? A fellow CD owner down the dock from me said he thought that there were paintable non-skid products out there. I guess you paint them on and they somehow form a rough surface. I'd love to hear what you all have to say about this one.
Ryan T
s/v Zenobia CD33 hull no. 100
mcawthor@bellatlantic.net