• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Can I revive my nonskid?

Mark F

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
Hi Chris,

The Kiwigrip looks good. Do you find it easy to keep clean? What color was your original non-skid?
 

716Ericson27

Lake Erie Viking
Nonskid

How did you prep for that? Did you just put it directly over the original "grid" non-skid?

I gave it a good scrubbing with Simple Green cleaner. The Simple Green will remove any wax as well so plan on re-waxing the gelcoat on the topsides after application of the kiwigrip. Yes, I just went right over the original nonskid.
 

716Ericson27

Lake Erie Viking
Nonskid

Hi Chris,

The Kiwigrip looks good. Do you find it easy to keep clean? What color was your original non-skid?

You do bring up a good point with the cleaning. While not impossible to keep clean, the texture of the kiwigrip does a good job of collecting dirt. I went with white to help keep the deck cool in the sun. However a darker color could help conceal the dirt buildup.
 

sharonov

Member II
Totalthread

Alcodiesel,My nonskid has worn out in places (see pic) and I am considering reviving it with Totalboat Totalthread.
Seems like the best trade-off between effort and results. Well, doing nothing is also a top contender :)
20171231_121753_cmpr.jpg
Could you provide more details on your application technique and end results?
  1. How did you prep the surface? Did you grind off original non-skid or applied over? If over, did you just clean it with soap/solvent or lightly sanded as well?
  2. Did you color-match it? Manufacturer advises against "paint shop" type tints but folks apparently had success with some sort of "industrial" tint.
  3. How well does it hold up to wear?
  4. Did their proprietary anti-skid additive stay uniform or end up in the nonskid valleys just like sand would?
  5. Does it clean up well? Some (all?) nonskid paints trap dirt and are impossible to clean up.
  6. Could you post a few closeup pictures?
If anybody else has experience with Totalthread, please pitch in.
Thanks.
 

frick

Member III
I Know A Guy

I know a guy who used Dave's Deck Wax to make his decks less slippery.
It really work...

I looked it up...

It was Surf Board Wax... Not a permanent but it was sicker and kept dirt out of his non-skid too so it looked nice.

Rick
 

alcodiesel

Bill McLean
Sharanov:

  1. How did you prep the surface? Did you grind off original non-skid or applied over? If over, did you just clean it with soap/solvent or lightly sanded as well? I Just cleaned it with soap and water.

  1. Did you color-match it? Manufacturer advises against "paint shop" type tints but folks apparently had success with some sort of "industrial" tint. I left it white. The rest of the cockpit is slightly off white.

  1. How well does it hold up to wear? It's only been on a few months, but I sail a lot. Wear= 8.5/10
  2. Did their proprietary anti-skid additive stay uniform or end up in the nonskid valleys just like sand would? Uniform.
  3. Does it clean up well? Some (all?) nonskid paints trap dirt and are impossible to clean up. Yes, compared to sand. It seems there are no jagged edges to the surface and it cleans easily and well.
  4. Could you post a few closeup pictures? No pics but it looks just like the one in Chris's pic.\


I rolled it on with a 3" small foam roller. about the same difficulty or ease as paint. 2 coats. Very even distribution and finish of gritty material. Very good grip dry or wet.
 

Starduff

Member II
Non Skid

Just my 2 cents.Every spring before I launch the boat, I wash and wax it from the top down and touch up or repaint the bottom as needed. When I start on top, I use a "Star Bright" product on the deck. It is supposedly not a wax and is recommended for non-skid surfaces and all of the deck. It has " PETF" (not sure about the order), which also protects it all frm the sun.
Like others, I have found that all shoes' & sneakers' soles harden in time. So, I always keep one hand on something solid other that a line as I move around the boat (actually, I do that anyway). I have to say the non-skid deck shown above looks good. I wouldn't strip it or touch it otherwise.
I am going to try the alcohol trick on the soles, I read earlier here.

starduff
Polonius
E-28
I
 

tenders

Innocent Bystander
My nonskid had been primed and painted with Interlux Brightside and, maybe, once before I bought the boat in '91, with something else. The results were good but the paint builds up in the valleys between the nonskid grid, and over time the peaks of the grid wear down a bit. As a result the depth of the nonskid starts to be reduced. This may or may not affect traction when dry, but it almost certainly reduces the speed that rain or splashed water gets off the surface.

Once I start cutting into the deck for core repair, the jig is up for the nonskid.

There is nothing magic holding this old paint onto the deck. So to give new KiwiGrip a relatively uniform surface and the best chance of long-term adhesion, before I tape off and apply it, I take the old nonskid down with a 40 grit disc on a grinder until I can't detect the pattern with my fingers. This is exceedingly easy, quick, nonprecision work, but it does throw a lot of dust, so I recommend wrapping not one but TWO brightly-colored bandannas around the mouth and nose while doing it.

This treatment often also reveals a surprising number of former deck holes from long-abandoned hardware that had been inadequately filled. Better to remedy these situations now rather than deal with the aftermath!
 
Last edited:

kapnkd

kapnkd
Hi Kapnkd,

I would also like to see some closeup photos especially the edges of the material. How is the adhesive holding up? Looks really good and I can imagine it is comfortable and grippy.


I will take some close up photos for you when back up North in February. Meanwhile you can also google eva teak or search for it on eBay as well.

This is is our first season with it so I’m as anxious as you to see how it holds up. It is soft to the touch, has excellent grip ability and supposed to last from 5 to 7 years.
 

garryh

Member III
Gico Flexmold

after some back and forth with Gibco (they had the wrong pattern registered for the Ericsons), we determined that GFS115 was the matching pattern. This stuff is NOT cheap (kinda $60/SF ... U.S...!) but with a certain level of skill and patience and two people, would render a good fix for smaller repair areas. Larger areas would take significantly more time, patience and skillGibco pattern.jpg
There are how-to videos on the site. Sorry can't seem to fix the upside-downishness of the pic.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Dragged image to desktop and rotated in Preview.
I wonder if they have a pattern for the pattern on an Olson? (Actually you can use a rubber compound and make a mold of a less-worn part of a deck, but I have only read about it and never done that)
 

Attachments

  • Gibco pattern.jpg
    Gibco pattern.jpg
    96.3 KB · Views: 120

garryh

Member III
thanks Loren. I tried to rotate in my library but it seems to always want to 'send' in its original orientation no matter what I do to it : /
Yes I have considered that option... spray the non-skid with a release agent and lay something up to create a female pattern... but although expensive, the Gibco option seems SO much easier if I do go that way. I much prefer the original non-skid pattern vs removing all and going with KiwiGrip... just not sure how practical it will be in real life. I need to finish my decks first to assess. Maybe even do some sailing!
From talking to (very helpful) Customer Service at Gibco, it seems they have an extensive collection of patterns so could easily have the Olson pattern. It is cheaper in full 4X7 sheets but that is a huge investment.
 

JPS27

Member III
update on nonskid

Since I started this thread over two years ago I thought I'd give an update on my nonskid status and decisions. I did everything I could over that time to keep my nonskid as "sticky" as possible in it's original state. But it was never good regardless of how I cleaned it or what shoes I wore. I practiced with quart cans of kiwi grip and Total Boat products in the garage over the last few months as time permitted. In the end I went with total boat Total Tread paint (kingston grey). The kiwi grip was too much a departure in "look" for me. I only did the cockpit for now and will complete the rest when it's not so hot and humid. Here are some pictures. I'm very happy with the look. The grey is darker than I would have liked but I decided to just get the job started rather than agonize about what ifs. Of course, durability is still a question. I just finished this stage this past weekend. I have only gently walked on it so far, but traction is much better and I like how you can still see the original pattern.

Jay

IMG_1716.jpgIMG_1717.jpgIMG_1718.jpgIMG_1719.jpg
 

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
Great look! I think this is the route I will take when the time comes. As to wear, I would guess that the "middle" sections of each painted area (where everyone steps) are the sections that will wear the paint the fastest. The good news would be that the edges (the hardest part to mask and paint) will probably hold up quite well. Maybe it would be possible to touch up the middle sections every few years without repainting the entire area.

Did you experiment with or find ways to prevent the paint from filling up the lowered "troughs" between the raised non-skid "squares?"

My tan non-skid is just starting to show what I thought was gray-ish "staining." I couldn't figure out where the "stain" was coming from. Now I'm starting to think it's just the beige gelcoat wearing thin and starting to show the grayish FRP below it.
 

JPS27

Member III
I was trying to mentally make note of "things I learned" as I went along. I'll try to capture them here. It was pretty straightforward. It was a job I put off due to my imagination of things that could go wrong. There were very few in actuality. I used regular blue painters tape, one inch wide. There were few long straight lines to tape. Even the "straight lines had some curve. I passed on trying to razor cut the rounded corners and instead used the approach of tearing about 1 inch lengths of tape and curving around lines. I think that made the result much better. I also made sure I saw a smidge of white gelcoat to ensure that I covered all the yellow.

I used a 4 in foam roller like the kinds used for epoxy. They worked fine. I made sure the roller was loaded before my first roll and I did one coat rolling vertically they horizontally. In places you could see faint hints of beige gelcoat but I tried to take the varnishing approach of not "worrying" and overbrushing. The next coat of paint covered those spots just fine. Two coats was a must IMO. 3 might be overkill. I figure I'll use leftover paint for touch ups, but I'm also expecting it to fade. So who knows. I didn't do anything special to avoid pooling etc. It just flowed nicely. I did make sure I worked in the morning and before temps got above 80 (with no rain in sight for a couple of days).

Other thoughts:
I removed tape about 8 hours after the second coat was applied. This required yoga moves since I didn't yet want to step on the painted sections, but didn't want to pull up paint later.
I unscrewed the lazarette hinges to make the taping and painting more precise in those spots.
I had lots of latex gloves and changed them liberally to keep paint from findings its way to unwanted areas. I had plenty of acetone and clean rags and paper towels. I was not as environmentally conscious I would have liked to be in that regard.
pre-cleaning: I scrubbed with Dawn and some TSP, then I scrubbed with simple green contractor grade solution (it's purple, go figure). I did the scrubbing the day before. Then I wiped down with acetone on the day of.
I used a green scotch bright pad in between the coats and used my shop vac to suck up the dust. Jamestown site suggests 220 grit paper, but I went with the pads.

Oh and yes, KennethK, I had dark areas that you speak of are where it has worn through if your nonskid i like mine.
 
Last edited:

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
That looks really, really nice! Assuming the colors in the photos (as displayed on my monitor) is close to reality, I think the color you chose is perfect.
 

frick

Member III
A Cheap and renewable fix

I had a friend who deck became very slippery.
The quick fix was he did a deep clean and then applied a surfboard Wax on the anti skid.
It worked and also kept his deck clean for the season.

If I remember he used Dave's Deck Wax, but most all surfboard wax is non skid.

Rick

also
http://www.starbrite.com/item/non-skid-deck-wax
 
Last edited:
Top