Old School Nonskid Repair
Published: Monday, December 10, 2018
By: Zuzana Prochazka
About the only thing more frightening than a slippery deck surface when you’re out trying to reef is discovering that the aging non-skid is cracking and peeling right under your feet. If your deck looks like it has a bad sunburn, it may be time to go into full nonskid repair mode.
Diagnosis and Removal
The first signs of nonskid trouble on a 1985 Celestial 48 ketch showed up after a boat bath. Areas of non-skid bubbled up and trapped the water, which oozed out for hours. Eventually, long, spidery cracks appeared and the peeling began.
We wanted to replace with an aggressive surface but one that wouldn’t remove skin, and since we were only doing six of the ten areas, we had to match not only the finish color but also the texture of the original. The question of which medium to use was quickly answered — no ground walnuts (too rough), no plastic pellets nor premixed non-skid paint (weird to apply), no Treadmaster nor Flex-Mold (texturally different). Sand was the answer (or rather 20 grit silica from a hardware store) and AWLGRIP two-part polyurethane paint.
The Celestial has molded and raised nonskid areas separated by water channels on the cabin top. Most of the removal on one side was easy and needed only a plastic scraper but the other required a heat gun and much elbow grease. The key was to avoid singeing the gelcoat and nearby varnished surfaces. We cleared and prepped approximately 50 square feet.
Surface Prep
The raised areas actually helped in surface prep. First, it was easy to follow the curves when taping and second, it was easier to keep the power sander only on the areas that stood proud and avoid scratching the rest of the gelcoat.
After removal of the old nonskid, we roughed up the surface with an angle grinder and 80-grit sandpaper. We used 3M Fine Line ¼-inch polypropylene film tape because it hugs curves well. Rubbing the tape with a Scotch-Brite pad made sure it adhered evenly so paint wouldn’t squeeze beneath. Regular 1-inch tape was then used to widen the protected edge. A third layer of 1-inch tape was applied for removal between coats.
Application of Medium and Paint
We used AWLGRIP two-part polyurethane paint mixed with AWLGRIP topcoat converter. There is a third ingredient — the Pro-Cure X-138 accelerator, or “hot sauce”, the catalyst, which determined the kick, or drying time. The more hot sauce, the faster we needed to work. We found about a capful to a quart of paint worked well.
Our primer coat was AWLGRIP applied directly to the sanded and wiped gelcoat. The paint was applied by one person while the second liberally sifted the sand onto the wet paint spreading it as if tossing feed to chickens to an even depth of about 1/8-inch. It was key to keep about a foot of clean wet edge between the painter and the sifter to keep the sand out of the roller nap and to work with the breeze rather than against it.
Within 45 minutes, we used a leaf blower to remove all the excess sand and were left with a very even and consistent surface. Some people espouse the saltshaker method but with that, you can almost never get a consistent surface. Thorough silica coverage and the leaf blower did the trick.
We then pulled the top (the third) layer of tape to start with a clean edge for the next two coats. We found that rolling along or with the edge (rather than toward or away from it) minimized tiny paint splatters on the surrounding gelcoat. We used ordinary short nap 6-inch, small diameter rollers from a hardware store.
AWLGRIP needs to be applied in coats when it’s still tacky so we had no more than another 45 minutes between the two topcoats and that was just enough to mix the new batch. We found that two coats gave us the texture we wanted but a third coat could have been applied for a smoother surface.
We used about a gallon of paint in total for the three coats. The first coat on top of the silica ate up more paint because there was more surface area to fill. However, we did have left over paint after each coat, which we used for engine room floorboards.
Finishing Touches
We began pulling tape 30 minutes after the last coat of paint. Waiting longer resulted in the slippery vinyl tape separating from the paint unevenly. Where we didn’t get a clean edge, we trimmed the nonskid with a razorblade and then pressed it down with our fingertips. It was all dry to the touch after 90 minutes and fully cured after 24 hours.
Four of the sections were done one weekend in a cool breeze. The other two sections were done the following weekend in a hot, dry wind where the paint dried very quickly and we had to hustle. The high temperature also caused the tape to leave adhesive behind. We found the best clean up was to wait a week as the adhesive dried and yellowed so it was visible and then scrape it off with a plastic scraper.
Tips and Thoughts
There is no nook, cranny, channel, nor pocket that sand won’t find and settle into. It makes for an extremely messy job that will revisit
you weeks later when you shake out a cover or pull a winch handle out of a locker. Sand or silica medium is also abrasive and can scratch Lexan, gelcoat, and varnished surfaces and therefore, it’s best to clean thoroughly with lots of flowing water before any wiping.
The lighter color the silica, the better. No matter how good the paint, a nonskid surface has many points and ridges from which the paint will eventually wear off and a light colored medium will look better under a light colored topcoat. Actual sand will trap moisture and your nonskid will grow mold in the future. Also, it’s best to leave any small bugs or bird poop on the last coat until the paint is completely dry. This will brush or wash off later and you don’t want to make indentations as you pick stuff out before it’s dry.
Prep was 40% of the job and cleanup was another 40%, which left a very quick and easy application in the middle. Overall, this is a fairly manageable DIY project for two that will erase years from your boat and leave you confident when going forward on deck, no matter the weather.
About the Author:
Zuzana is a freelance writer and photographer with regular contributions to over 18 sailing and power boating publications. A USCG 100 Ton Master, Zuzana is the founder of a flotilla charter company called Zescapes that takes guests adventure sailing at destinations around the world.
Zuzana serves as an international presenter on charter destinations, safety issues, and technical topics, and she's the Chair of the New Product Awards committee for innovative boats and new gear. She is a member of the American Society of Authors and Journalists and a board member of Boating Writers International.
This article first appeared in the Year End Issue (Nov/Dec) 2018 of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt magazine.
tags: Do It Yourself (DIY), Flooring, Paint, Service & Repair
