Deck Care

[Joe M.]

I have a Hunter 30, 75 vintage with the painted deck.I love the boat except that the topside area is ugly. It is painted and the non-skid is just paint with an abrasive mixed in.I'm in awe of the O'Days that have the nice clean look of the inlaid non-skid.What can one do to improve the look of the old Hunters? Can a non-skid carpet of some kind be bought? Is there a better way to paint or do you have to buy a pretty but slow O'Day?ThanksJoe M.

 

[Jim WIllis]

Redo the Grit or replace with gelcoat non-skid

Actuallythe paint/grit has much better grip, especially in salt water conditions. You could always redo it in a cleaner more colorful way. There is also a rubber particle non-skid material used on some ferries and military applications.If you did want to replace gelcoat non-skid, you make up gelcoat with enough cabosil to make it "stiff" like cake mix and used a roller to stipple the surface.The expert on this is a John Collingnon at Fiberglass Hawaii inthe Santa Cruz Branch 831 476 7464.THey also sell all the materials that could be sent to you by surface transportation (flammable).Hope this is of some helpJim Willis

 

[Steve Dion]

It's not paint!

Joe:Unless your deck have been redone, it is not paint but a brushable, rollable gel coat. Thanks to Tim Schaaf(Cabo Tim) I became aware of this. You should be able to redo the deck quite easily yourself. If you go to the fiberglass 101 web site they explain the process.www.fiberglass101.com The gel coat is not too expensive and should last for another 20 years. Cheaper than high quality paint too.