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Deck Nonskid Matching

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
When this boat was built a water-tank fill hole was drilled in the wrong location. No doubt this occurred at 4:56 pm on a Friday.

The mistake was repaired with what looks like epoxy--after the nonskid treatment ("paint") was applied. I believe the whitish feathering is epoxy.

So--how to cosmetically improve this?

We're not supposed to apply gel coat over epoxy (so says my gel coat kit). And anyhow, the area isn't gel coat, it's the nonskid coating.

The color is "stone," with a vague hint of green.

Any ideas? Do we know what the nonskid coating was, back in 1984?

Hole deck E38.jpg
 

Parrothead

Member III
The non-skid is gel coat and is applied in this sequence:
(Note: The deck is created from the top down in a negative mold with the non-skid pattern in the mold)
  1. The mold is waxed (the parting agent)
  2. The non-skid areas are masked off
  3. The entire mold is sprayed with (in your case) white gelcoat
  4. The masking is pulled exposing the mold in the non-skid areas
  5. The entire mold is sprayed with a contrasting color gelcoat. Only the previously masked area shows through
  6. Mat, cloth, roving and core material laminations follow
This may help in forming a strategy for the cosmetic repair of the area you pictured. The attachment is a negative deck mold before any masking or gelcoat application.
 

Attachments

  • Negative deck mold.jpg
    Negative deck mold.jpg
    101.6 KB · Views: 197

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I now have learned (thanks) that the nonskid-patterned areas are indeed gel coat, not paint (other other coating).

Their color is a nicely contrasting "stone" color, only slightly faded after all these years and still providing a degree of traction.

Question, if anybody knows:

How did the factory give gel coat, which is usually rock hard and smooth, that "sticky" attribute?
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
How did the factory give gelcoat... that "sticky" attribute?

there are all sorts of additives you can mix into gel oat, to make a “matte” finish, or give it texture, etc.

I don’t know what Ericson used, but back in the day fine pumice or talc were used fairly commonly. Sometimes microbaloons, too.

$.02
 

Parrothead

Member III
There was no additive mixed into the gelcoat at the factory other than catalyst for the original molding process. If by "sticky" you mean the non-skid pattern, that is in the mold but I don't think that's what you meant. If you mean it has a tacky surface as if it didn't fully cure, that is likely an area that has been repaired with gelcoat with either none or not enough surfacing agent added. Let me explain why the last sentence is not a contradiction of the first sentence.

All catalyzed gelcoat air cures to a tacky finish unless it has wax added. At the factory the wax was applied to the mold as a release agent and the gelcoat picked it up in the molding process to get the rock hard finish we know. Using the same gelcoat for touch up or repair for color matching reasons, it is applied outside of the mold so the wax component must be added. A popular way was to add surfacing agent (a wax) to the repair mix. Another was to spray polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) over the freshly sprayed gelcoat repair.

I suspect if you have a tacky area of your gelcoat it is likely a previous repair by an unknowing previous owner.
 
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gabriel

Live free or die hard
When this boat was built a water-tank fill hole was drilled in the wrong location. No doubt this occurred at 4:56 pm on a Friday.

The mistake was repaired with what looks like epoxy--after the nonskid treatment ("paint") was applied. I believe the whitish feathering is epoxy.

So--how to cosmetically improve this?

We're not supposed to apply gel coat over epoxy (so says my gel coat kit). And anyhow, the area isn't gel coat, it's the nonskid coating.

The color is "stone," with a vague hint of green.

Any ideas? Do we know what the nonskid coating was, back in 1984?

View attachment 27121
I personally wouldn't use gelcoat to repair this. From the pic it looks like the stanchion base doesn't have non skid texture molded into it. Remove stanchion, clean and sand area smooth. "Fair" area with epoxy mixed with west system 410 microlight fairing compound then sand smooth so the fairing only remains in the crack and low areas. tape off and paint with 1 part poly. Go sailing and please make us another entertaining video :D
 
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Baslin

Member III
My boat has the same mistake with the fresh water fill....or was it a mistake??

I just finished painting the topsides last weekend and will be doing the non-skid possibly this weekend coming up. We are using Kiwi Grip
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
there are all sorts of additives you can mix into gel oat, to make a “matte” finish, or give it texture, etc.

Thanks, Bruce. That explains it.

Baslin, here's a theory about this error: When they went from the E38 to the E381, the interior changed. On the 381, the old fill hole was now on the wrong side of a bulkhead.

Yeah but, nobody changed the deck hole template....oops. There are eight hulls between yours and mine, 505-513. I wonder if they all have the wrong hole.


 
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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Here's my "solution" to the offhanded fill of the factory's old mistake.

Hole deck E38.jpg

Sand away filler to make a square.
Fill square with white gel coat.

1-patch 3.JPG

There was no way to match the existing nonskid gel coat color, so I didn't try.

I just declared it a "placard."

1-Patch 4.JPG

(The capacities are a guess. I have not been able to confirm them specifically for the 381.)
 
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bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
I might have labeled one "Rum,"......

Heh. For a couple of years I raced on a sled called "Coruba", named for the owner's favorite brand of rum.

She had a third foot-pump under the galley sink, with a corresponding spigot for... yup, rum. Dedicated rum tank under the sink, just hold your glass in place and step on the pedal.

It's good to have priorities.

(it's probably good to have discretion, too. their tender was called "rum-runner", and that sometimes got interesting when clearing customs...)
 

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
I pulled two leaky deck-fill ports and had to repair the fiberglass in those regions. Rather than mess with gelcoat (which I know nothing about) I decided to paint with Interlux Brightside.

I always thought my non-skid was tan/beige, so I mixed in a little Testors model enamel, in brown and yellow, to the white Brightside. The resulting tan was off a bit (left of photo), so I added some blue, which brought it a little closer (right of photo). The gloss of the Brightside probably stands out more than the color mis-match.

20231031_170508.jpg

match.jpg
 

paul culver

Member III
I have a dim memory of someone posting at this site of a dash of gray colorant added to E-boat gel coat. Ah, Google found it:

Expanding on Frank's comment, Ericson white is not white but a light grey. I discovered this by patching scratches with white. A local repair yard claims that the Ericson gel coat is one of the most difficult to match

This was a response to a post by treilley on 12/21/2006. Lots of other input in there on the topic.
 
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