Non-Skid Painting

[suereal]

I know that non-skid has been discussed multiple times but my question is this; in preparation of painting the non-skid, do you sand away all the old factory molded non-skid then apply new paint/sand non-skid? Or can the molded original be cleaned and "roughed up" and painted over. And has anyone ever used the rubberized stick on non-skid and if so would you recommend it? Thanks for your help

Dave
SV Seaclusion
Catalina 34
Hull #364

[ewengstrom]

Going to follow this thread, I'm interested in redoing my non-skid as it's showing its age.
Many years ago a restored a 1974 Catalina 22 and the non-skid was just shot. I prepped the deck by using an orbital sander with 80 grit paper to smooth out the existing non-skid, it turns out it is mostly just gelcoat and it sanded and smoothed out very easily making the prep pretty simple. Not sure if our C34's decks are similar in construction but I'm not going to go tearing into it to find out without being ready to go all the way.
FYI, for my C-22 I used gray gelcoat for the non-skid, I used a 1/2" nap roller to roll it on and it stippled up very nicely creating a great non-skid surface. We owned the boat for 10 years and it held up very well.
There are MANY options out there today that weren't available years ago so I too am interested in others experience.

[suereal]

Eric,

Thanks, it'll be interesting to see hoe this shakes out. Hopefully someone has some experience with this,

Dave

[Noah]

I believe it would be a waste of energy to grind down all of the molded-in diamond patterned nonskid. Just wash/scrub, then use de-waxer, then lightly scuff top with sandpaper and then—if you paint, you may need an epoxy primer first. Also, you may want to add a flatter additive to the final paint. Or, instead of paint, use gelcoat. Good luck.

[suereal]

Thanks Noah. I appreciate your insight.

[Jim Hardesty]

Going to follow this thread, I'm interested in redoing my non-skid as it's showing its age.

On my previous boat went a different direction and was very happy with the results.  What was a chalky deck that held stains and showed it's age changed to a deck that looked near new and stains, ie from birds and spiders, washed right off.  I used sure-step, yes the initial application was a lot of work, and no, I do not find it to be slippery, barefooted or with decent boat shoes.   Liked the easy deck washing so well applied it to Shamrock am very happy with the results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-CYvHhTFk8&list=PLuG2xLpsPuVlX7KUTOxpeS7s40oOJpO3m&index=4

You may want to try it first on a small area maybe the anchor locker lid.  I found 3 jars polished Shamrock initially that included the cockpit.  Now 2 jars does it. 
Jim

[ewengstrom]

Noah, I've seen a C34 where they just painted a non-skid product over the existing non-skid, it honestly didn't look good (to me) and I just remember thinking how darn easy it was to sand the non-skid down flat to apply the new gelcoat. Honestly, sanding it down was the easy part!!!
Jim, I don't know about Dave's boat but on our C-34 the non-skid is worn completely thru in a few areas, it just looks like they sprayed the mold a bit thin in these areas. I've seen this on other boats including other C34's, C27's, etc. The gelcoat is just gone.

I didn't mention it the other day but has anyone had experience with Totalboat's "TotalTread Non-Skid Marine Deck Paint"?  I have had very good experience with all their other products and find them to be very good quality. A friend of mine painted his deck on his Laser with it and it looked pretty good. The results on their website look outstanding as an alternative the the really pricey products so I'm curious regarding others real world experience?

[Noah]

Eric- I was NOT advocating using a NONSKID paint nor gelcoat OVER the diamond pattern. IMO- the existing diamond pattern should stay and use a "regular" (non-textured) paint or gelcoat over the existing diamonds.

[ewengstrom]

Understood Noah, if the pattern remains then yes, that's definitely a good option. But I do believe the pattern itself is made up of gelcoat so if it's worn thru to show the fiberglass underneath, then just paint or gelcoat will end up smooth in that particular area. I do have an area on the spray cover that is a good example of this wear I'm talking about, I'll get a shot of it and see if I can determine if there is any of the original non-skid texture left to it.
Stay tuned.

[Noah]

Here's a crazy idea: repair it by stamping the original pattern in gelcoat?
https://gibcoflexmold.com/patterns/301-gfp/

[ewengstrom]

Noah....now that's a pretty slick idea. 

[suereal]

I have seen this product, flexmold that is, has anyone ever used it?