Non Skid Deck Repair

saurav16 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-03-2007

The non skid deck in my cockpit is chipping. How do I repair this? I read non skid is a rubbery material but this seems to hard to be a rubbery material. Its on a catalina 27. Anyway was wondering if anyone had the same problem and how it was repaired. Thanks!

sailingdog · #2 (**permalink**) 10-03-2007

Saurav-

It really depends... some non-skid is a rubbery material, some is a pattern molded into the gelcoat of the boat, others use paint with some sort of granular material embedded in it.

If the non-skid in your cockpit is chipping, it is probably gelcoat. You can often repair this, if you know how to gelcoat, using a Gibco flexible mold. If you don't want to or can't re-gelcoat, then you can sand the area and apply either Treadmaster or paint it with a non-skid paint. The non-skid paint I used on my bridge deck project was the Interprotect anti-skid.

Northeaster · #3 (**permalink**) 10-03-2007

SD - I am thinking about painting my complete decks / cockpit this year, as I should be in indoor storage. The decks are in good shape, except for alot of "normal" I believe non structural spider - cracking. Since I put on some creeping crawler crack repair, to prevent any water from getting in any making things worse - now they are even more visible. Do you think I could paint over the non skid, after some light sanding, (or is there a chemical prep?), so I could just use regular 2-part paint - as the non-skid tecture is fine for the most part.

Otherwise, I guess I sand everything, apply non-textured paint to the smooth areas, and then apply non-skid paint to the rest.

Freesail99 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-03-2007

Another idea would be to use the product that was discussed in this thread.

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/showth...highlight=kiwi

sailingdog · #5 (**permalink**) 10-03-2007

NE-

You're really going to have to sand everything in order to get the best results for your paint job. I would paint the entire deck, then, after you've done that, mask off the areas that will be getting non-skid added, and paint them with a non-skid paint. This will let the deck/topsides paint last a lot longer, since it will minimize the areas where it can lift.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Northeaster

SD - I am thinking about painting my complete decks / cockpit this year, as I should be in indoor storage. The decks are in good shape, except for alot of "normal" I believe non structural spider - cracking. Since I put on some creeping crawler crack repair, to prevent any water from getting in any making things worse - now they are even more visible. Do you think I could paint over the non skid, after some light sanding, (or is there a chemical prep?), so I could just use regular 2-part paint - as the non-skid tecture is fine for the most part.

Otherwise, I guess I sand everything, apply non-textured paint to the smooth areas, and then apply non-skid paint to the rest.

saurav16 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007

So I have to sand down to the bare glass before I paint, since it all seems to be gel coat non skid on the Catalina 27?

NOLAsailing · #7 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007

No, but sand down the molded non-skid pattern. You can paint over gelcoat, but you'll want a smooth, clean, well-prepped surface. There is no need to go to bare glass.

In the areas where the gelcoat is chipping, you will have to remove it. In those spots, re-fair the surface with thickened epoxy prior to painting.

chucklesR · #8 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007

No need to sand to bare fiberglass, just to a smooth and secure surface; with the emphasis on secure (to prevent doing it again if it chips up from under). Since you are essentially replacing a non - uniform surface (non-skid) with a non - uniform surface (non-skid of either gelcoat or one of the many products available) you just want a nice uniform place to start from. Minor bumps and blemishes are hidden by the non-skid layer. Don't go berserk on smooth, leave enough tooth/texture for the next layer to get a good mechancial bond as well as the chemical bond (if applicable, depending on what you are putting down as non-skid).
Note I have not said a smooth level surface, leave any deck curvature in place to retain water drainage.
I've only done it once, and I'm anal about not having to do things twice. I put expoxy down, then put crushed walnut layer down, then put epoxy over that, clear coating it in place. Looked great, had good 'tooth' without cutting bare feet and lasted until I sold the boat.

sailingdog · #9 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007

Saurav-

I would definitely not sand down to the bare glass if you can avoid it... just sand as much of the existing non-skid texture down so that you get a fairly smooth, fair surface to start with. 120 or 80 grit is as coarse a paper as I'd go with, and I'd use a random orbital sander to do it.

The prime the fiberglass or gelcoat, depending on how deeply you've sanded, preferably with something like Interprotect 2000E, which is not only a great barrier coat, it works quite well as a primer. One or two coats of that should do it...then sand lightly, and put down your deck paint.

For my bridgedeck project I used Easypoxy, but the two-part paints like Awlcraft are probably better... Put several coats of the deck paint down.

Then mask off the edges of the areas you want non-skid on and use a non-skid paint. What I used was Interdeck, and it works quite well with just two coats.

You do have to be very careful to mix both the Interdeck and the Interprotect 2000E very thoroughly and continue to do so as you use it... since the non-skid material and the barrier coat material both seem to settle out of the paint fairly quickly.

Hope this helps.

chucklesR · #10 (**permalink**) 10-04-2007

BTW - Crushed walnut with epoxy under/overcoats looks wonderful on seat tops in the cockpit too - especially when it is done with smooth white/almond gelcoat borders. Use lots of tape, line it off, do it and go sailing. Easy on the eye, doesn't mind the occasional spilled drink/cigarette ash because they don't show like they do on white on white.