I've been researching non-skids for the Wanderer and trying to make my mind up between durabak and kiwigrip. I have to assume they are at least pretty simular products. I know that durabak is good. I personally applied it to a DNR research vessel last spring. The crew seems to love concrete blocks as well as iron for bouy anchors so I have to admit that I was surprised when it came back in fall how good of shape the nonskid was in. It was the gray but looked like new. I also have to admit that I was still curious so I myself dragged/(somewhat lightly) dropped a couple of their blocks on the surface with seriously no effect at all. Even some of the 2 part epoxy smooth paint was chipping off. But the durabak was solid. I also have a friend who used the durabak and just took his boat to Florida this year. He reports no problems with his nonskid except for bike tires (he stores them on deck) wanting to stick to it on very hot days. Some of the photos from previous threads here have been just been leaning me towards kiwigrip. Especially the edges of the durabak peeling. After all the work of sanding all the gellcoat nonskid off my deck that would piss me off. I can't help wondering if that must just have been some "not perfectly prepped" areas though. Maybe not roughed up or entirely wax/oil free?
Durabak
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I'm sure that's all it was. My edges aren't peeling. That stuff is bomb proof! . . . Seriously. I saw a show where they exploded a bomb by a cinder block wall. The wall was demolished. They did the same thing with a wall painted with a durabak type pick-up bed liner. Just the standard coat and the bomb had no affect whatsoever. The show wasn't an infomercial but a discovery channel type on anti terrorist techniques and defense. The military is all over that stuff! The only real complaints I've heard is that it oxidizes on the surface for a dull look on decks . . . mine's on the inside in lockers so mine is shiny and the boat smells like an innertube. I personally wouldn't use it on my deck unless it was a work boat purely for aesthetic reasons but that's just me.
I don't know anything about the Kiwi.
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