Applying Anti-Skid

[n4lbl]

I'm planning to coat the deck with either Durabak or KiwiGrip anti-skid.
On some of my deck the gel-coat is completely worn away. The Durabak
folks assure me that that is a non-issue with their product. They say I
will need to sand the fiberglass just as I would the gel-coat. I don't
expect to hear back from the KiwiGrip people until Friday. I was wondering
if anyone has any thoughts or advice on coating the fiberglass without a
coating of paint or gel-coat.

I also am contemplating applying anti-skid to the entire deck including the
companionway "slider" (I don't know the correct word). I seem to put my
feet anywhere, not just where the molded-in anti-skid is located. Are
there any reasons that I shouldn't do this??

I have a new and original reason to procrastinate on this project. I live
about 10 miles from the Waldo Canyon fire and we still are getting some
ashes. (For those out of the U.S. who may not know, the Waldo Canyon fire
is a forest fire near Colorado Springs that has been particularly
destructive.)

Sorry for all the sentences that begin with "I"!!

thanx,,,
Alan
Minke, #2505

--

Facts have a well-known liberal bias.[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

 

[tiempo2010]

Alan

As long as the fibers in the deck aren't exposed bare fiberglass is fine
for painting. Gelcoat is really just resin with pigment added. The only
reason you may want to do something to fill it is if there is a noticeable
dip where it is worn away.

 

[n4lbl]

Brian:

You made me observe better and (as usual) I'm confused. In one large area
(about a foot in diameter) the peaks of the molded-in anti-skid have their
gel-coat. The valleys are dark and are full of hard dirt that I had
difficulty removing with a pointy razor blade. Since I didn't look closely
before, I thought I saw the inverse, bare peaks with gel-coated valleys.
Other areas are like that but have visible white lines that look to me to
be fibers from fiberglas mat. If the gel-coat is intact I don't believe I
should be seeing those lines that I think are from mat. I really don't
know what I'm seeing.

I guess what needs to come first is a very good cleaning. I had no idea
that what I was seeing was dirt. Since the dirt was difficult to remove
with a pointy razor I guess that I'll have to find some offensive chemical
cleaner.

 

[tim_klynn]

I had pretty good luck using a baking soda paste and a scrub brush to clean off years of dirt. tg
________________________________
From: n4lbl alan.schulman@...
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 3, 2012 4:40 PM
Subject: Re: [AlbinVega] Applying Anti-Skid



Brian:

You made me observe better and (as usual) I'm confused. In one large area
(about a foot in diameter) the peaks of the molded-in anti-skid have their
gel-coat. The valleys are dark and are full of hard dirt that I had
difficulty removing with a pointy razor blade. Since I didn't look closely
before, I thought I saw the inverse, bare peaks with gel-coated valleys.
Other areas are like that but have visible white lines that look to me to
be fibers from fiberglas mat. If the gel-coat is intact I don't believe I
should be seeing those lines that I think are from mat. I really don't
know what I'm seeing.

I guess what needs to come first is a very good cleaning. I had no idea
that what I was seeing was dirt. Since the dirt was difficult to remove
with a pointy razor I guess that I'll have to find some offensive chemical
cleaner.

 

[n4lbl]

Tim:

I'll try that first. Thanks,,,

 

[pjacobs55]

I'm not a big fan of them, but maybe this is a job for a pressure washer (rent one for a day).

Peter
www.sintacha.com

 

[n4lbl]

Peter:

If the baking soda fails then I may try this. Thanx,,,

 

[SVFlyAway]

My boat lives not too far from a rail switching yard so we get a lot of
soot. Also, when in San Diego, boats are right under the landing path for
the city's airport. So soot can be a problem.

What i did was to go to Home Depot and buy a small, $100 pressure washer.
It is quite small and light and fits easily in a car's trunk. (These little
washers are available all over the place I've noticed, not just HD). The
pressure isn't great, but enough to clean a deck for sure. Better than
renting since you know own the thing. I also use it to clean my condo deck
and even my cars as the pressure is about 1000psi and won't hurt anything.
I don't use a soap as my marina doesn't like that and I haven't needed it
anyway.

One other thing I found it works great for cleaning canvas. Half my dodger
looks like new, the other half hasn't been cleaned yet