gelcoat cracks in nonskid

[fupa]

I have a tartan 34''and have some gelcoat cracks that run across the nonskid area in my cockpit. I was wondering if anyone knew a way to replace the nonskid pattern after I fix the cracks. The crack repairs I can do, I''ve done them with success in the smooth gelcoat on my boat, but the nonskid stumps me. I really don''t want to sand it all off and paint it with a nonskid powder. I have heard of some builders being able to send you a small mold to lay down on the wet gelcoat to reestablish the nonskid, was this a fable or am I on the right track.

[paulk]

I''ve heard of people making a mold of their own nonskid by coating a section with wax and applying fibreglass to it. Matching up the cross-hatching (if that''s what it is) in the repaired section and pushing down to make the right impression while the new goop is setting up sounds like a real trick.

[mrputzo]

I''ve seen sample non-skid patterns from a company that produces flexable non-skid molds just for the application that you are describing. I don''t remember their name exaclty but it something like GelTex and I think they were in texas. Try doing a google search on non-skid

[gkornreich]

A rep from the Hunter factory showed me this method and it works beautifully on small cracks.

Grind out the crack with a Dremmel tool, as you would with smooth gelcoat. Mix and color-match your gelpaste and apply it into the void (gelpaste works better than runny gelcoat). Now take a large utility knife blade and run it against and over the gelpaste in the surrounding, non-ground-out diamond shape nonskid, and you will be recreating the original pattern in the center. Do this in 4 directions, two for each side horizontally and two vertically within the pattern and voila, ya got it!

I've used the patterns and they leave a mark that's not too pretty at their edges, but they are needed to rebuild larger defects, and can usually be obtained from the boat manufacturers.

[feetup]

One method that worked well for me was as follows.
Buy some liquid latex rubber at an arts and crafts type store and paint 4 or 5 coats of the stuff over the area to be repaired. Let each coat dry. You might try spreading some old strips of panty hose materialbefore the last coat and saturating just like you would with a fiberglass repair. When the last coat is dry, trim with a sharp single edge razor blade following the non-skid pattern carefully, and pull the "mold" free like skin after a bad sunburn. Do your repair like you would any gel coat repair, being carefull not to overfill the crevice. While the new gelcoat is still wet, carefull reapply the mold in exactly the same location ( you might mark the perimeter of the mold before you peel it with a non-permanent marker) being careful to "mesh" the mold with the non-skid. press the mold down firmly squeezing out any air and weight the thing well with something heavy and soft( a sand bag or shot bag) till the gel is cured. Then peel away the mold and check for bubbles or pin holes whick can be left if not too visible or filled with a toothpic and more gel. If your non-skid is the diamond checker type you can do a really good job of final cleanup after all is cured using a triangle "rifler" file and some patience. Rest the heel of you hand in the deck and push the file with thumb and index finger, using the other index finger for downward pressure and control. The repair can be virtually invisible because the non-skid pattern will disguise any minor color difference.
Good luck.

Tim