Winter Project

[chad2072]

Anyone out there have any suggestions on redoing our deck? We have a 1978 Ranger 28 and absolutely love it....which is why we want to make her look better!

We want to go with contrasting colors on the deck, ie. non-skid tan or grey and the boat white.

I witnessed a fellow sailor redo his deck this past summer, but only got up to the point of removing all the hardware and sanding everything down.

Are there any good websites on performing this task, as my wife and I would like to attempt everything except for the spraying part, (I figured to let te professionals handle the part that needs to look the best)

[sailingdog]

Chad-

You should be able to handle the whole project yourselves... rolling and tipping the deck isn't rocket science. Did you want a glue-down non-skid like Treadmaster or a painted on/rolled on non-skid like DuraBak or KiwiGrip.

I would highly recommend you go with a very light color, since the darker colors do heat up considerably more..

[Faster]

The ranger 28 has quite a nice molded non skid pattern... unless extremely worn it should not really need such treatment as treadmaster, and I think it would be overly destructive to "sand it out" - not to mention the work involved.

The risk in painting this surface is, of course, reducing the non skid qualities by filling the pattern with paint. If the pattern is painted lightly you should be fine. As an added precaution you could add some grit to the paint you use, or use something like Interdeck. It has a good grip and rolls out quite nicely, however its quite thick and I think you would pretty much bury the existing pattern (which IMO looks pretty good)

Years ago we repainted my brother's R28 - we ended up painting the hull and deck, but not the non skid areas themselves. It turned out great and we didn't impact the nonskid because we left it alone.

[chad2072]

I agree that Ranger 28's do have a nice non-skid pattern... its just that this boat has been painted and re-non-skidded before, and IMO it looks like s---. The non-skid looks like stuco (not a good look for a boat). This is the reason I want to start over.

You said there is a non skid that you just stick down? Like a sticker?

The way my fellow sailor is doing his is, he sanded the whole thing down and then is going to have it primered (he says this will show the imperfections so as to fix them before the final paint)

Then he will paint on the non-skid areas (taped off of course) and then paint the entire deck.

Well I dont thing you could paint the entire deck if you were to do contrasting colors. And as far as the heat thing goes...I would welcome a little extra deck heat as I am up on Lake Superior. So it doesnt get too entirely hot. I was thinking a light tan or light grey.

[Faster]

Make it a VERY light gray... you'd be surprised how warm it gets underfoot if you go with even a medium gray. The original R28 nonskid was a very pale green colour that seemed to go OK with most other hull colours. Too-dark deck colours can get impossible to walk on barefoot!

If the original deck surface has been "done in" then you are essentially starting over. Once you get the surface fair then you can start again. I would suggest painting the smooth deck areas first, then taping off and putting the non skid on top of that. This will involve a little less taping. If you pencil off the to-be-non-skid areas you needn't paint those areas fully on the first go around. Then tape off your non skid pattern and apply that.

If you're having the non skid sprayed, add Awlgrip's "Grip-tex" or similar material, and throw a ball bearing or two into the paint pot to help keep things stirred up, you also need a very large bore paint nozzle to avoid pluggage. This is generally done in one heavy coat (careful, lots of paint will come out with the large nozzle)

Alternatively if you roll it out, the Interlux Interdeck leaves a great gripping surface - better than sprayed - but durability may be an issue (it's a single part paint). I have a my cockpit sole done in Interdeck, and 2 seasons in it's still great.

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by chad2072

I agree that Ranger 28's do have a nice non-skid pattern... its just that this boat has been painted and re-non-skidded before, and IMO it looks like s---. The non-skid looks like stuco (not a good look for a boat). This is the reason I want to start over.

You said there is a non skid that you just stick down? Like a sticker?

That would be Treadmaster, which comes in sheets.

The way my fellow sailor is doing his is, he sanded the whole thing down and then is going to have it primered (he says this will show the imperfections so as to fix them before the final paint)

Then he will paint on the non-skid areas (taped off of course) and then paint the entire deck.

I would paint the deck and then mask and paint the non-skid areas if he's sanded the WHOLE deck down. You don't want to paint over the non-skid once it is down, as doing so generally reduces its effectiveness.

Well I dont thing you could paint the entire deck if you were to do contrasting colors. And as far as the heat thing goes...I would welcome a little extra deck heat as I am up on Lake Superior. So it doesnt get too entirely hot. I was thinking a light tan or light grey.

Go pretty light, you'd be surprised at how hot the non-skid can get.

[mitiempo]

In the Gear & Maintenance articles on Sailnet there is an excellent article about installing Treadmaster nonskid. It's by Sue & Larry and is on page 3. It's well written and illustrated.

[chad2072]

Treadmaster comes in sheets? I imagine that you just cut it to fit? I cant imagine that would look as good as rolling it on.

So what I am hearing is to go ahead and sand it all down, primer, then paint the whole thing (being sparingly in the non-skid areas).

Then mask the non-skid areas and roll on the non-skid?

I imagine you can buy different colors of non skid?

[chad2072]

I cant find that article by Sue and Larry on page 3.

[chad2072]

Never mind, I found it.