Has anyone ever painted the non skid?
If so please give details on what paint, prep work etc.
Thanks
Doug
Hull 279
If so please give details on what paint, prep work etc.
Thanks
Doug
Hull 279
Non skid painting
- Thread starter Dfox
- Start date
If you are painting OVER the non-skid, then acetone wash it... and apply 2 part perfection over it... use a flattener, because perfection is VERY shiny...
if you are attempting to RE-non-skid, you will need an additive to accomplish that. Honestly there are several ways to skin this cat....
1st - you can grind off the existing non-skid, primer with a nice primer, interprotect would work, but is probably overkill.... then use brightsides 1 part (if you want a light duty solution), perfection 2 part (medium duty solution) with an added nonskid like Intergrip (its just sand-like additives for the paint difference is these are perfectly spherical particles)... You must shake these particles over wet paint (think salt shaker only bigger, more is better, vacuum off what doesn't stick), sometimes it helps to paint again once it dries, to knock down the aggressive tread.
2nd - you can grind off the existing non-skid, and just paint over it with a product like kiwigrip... it's a thickened 1 part enamel that has a texturized roller (like stucco roller) that creates the non-skid pattern. This is by far the easiest approach, but I can't personally vouch for how hard it actually is to get a good result, but this seems pretty popular as a solution.
3rd - and this is kind of the "master plan" version. You can grind off the existing non-skid, and tape off like above, but then either buy a pattern matching your non-skid, or make one from an existing spot on the boat using a mold (like dental mold material)... and using gelcoat and PVA (Poly Vinyl Acetate I think it is)... spraying the mold, you can gelcoat the non-skid, and apply the mold with release agent (PVA) sprayed on it, on top. Lay some pressure on it, so the gelcoat dries in the pattern... your MOLD should be flexible if possible, because gelcoat needs to be "squeezed on." I contacted http://gibcoflexmold.com/patterns/ and they seem to charge about $100/sqft for mold patterns. They have the most common mold patterns it would seem. They were pretty cool about sending me a sample, in both negative and positive patterns. I haven't actually done this work yet, but am thinking about finishing up my cockpit seat with the pattern they sent me (which would give me the closest approximation of a repair I'd need for my flat area).
For my money, I think I'd avoid painting the deck at NEARLY ALL cost. My personal opinion on painting a boat (and I've done it twice now), is you never quite get it as good as you want, no matter how good your skill level is. Also it nearly never holds up as well as gelcoat. Gelcoat by contrast, takes long to do, but is very forgiving in that you can sand the heck out of it, and start over fresh. Minicraft of FL has nearly every make/model of boat made in their database, and can color match just about anyone's gelcoat. It's not cheap but a worthwhile look if you are only repairing a small area.
If your goal of course is to redo the WHOLE boat's deck, non-skid area, then obviously that's another story... but if that is the case, consider doing actual nonskid sheets on the deck bonded (instead of painting), this is very popular over in Europe... they are basically rubberized mats adhered to the deck... Like this... http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|2276179|2276198|2276203&id=1495948 Someone mentioned this to me who was from "out of town" and it struck me as odd that people don't do this much in the US, that it seemed like such a simple solution to hours of back-breaking work. I'd still sand down the existing non-skid of course, but this could literally allow you to paint over the smooth spots, roll out the non-skid like carpet, glue, cut to size, and be done.
if you are attempting to RE-non-skid, you will need an additive to accomplish that. Honestly there are several ways to skin this cat....
1st - you can grind off the existing non-skid, primer with a nice primer, interprotect would work, but is probably overkill.... then use brightsides 1 part (if you want a light duty solution), perfection 2 part (medium duty solution) with an added nonskid like Intergrip (its just sand-like additives for the paint difference is these are perfectly spherical particles)... You must shake these particles over wet paint (think salt shaker only bigger, more is better, vacuum off what doesn't stick), sometimes it helps to paint again once it dries, to knock down the aggressive tread.
2nd - you can grind off the existing non-skid, and just paint over it with a product like kiwigrip... it's a thickened 1 part enamel that has a texturized roller (like stucco roller) that creates the non-skid pattern. This is by far the easiest approach, but I can't personally vouch for how hard it actually is to get a good result, but this seems pretty popular as a solution.
3rd - and this is kind of the "master plan" version. You can grind off the existing non-skid, and tape off like above, but then either buy a pattern matching your non-skid, or make one from an existing spot on the boat using a mold (like dental mold material)... and using gelcoat and PVA (Poly Vinyl Acetate I think it is)... spraying the mold, you can gelcoat the non-skid, and apply the mold with release agent (PVA) sprayed on it, on top. Lay some pressure on it, so the gelcoat dries in the pattern... your MOLD should be flexible if possible, because gelcoat needs to be "squeezed on." I contacted http://gibcoflexmold.com/patterns/ and they seem to charge about $100/sqft for mold patterns. They have the most common mold patterns it would seem. They were pretty cool about sending me a sample, in both negative and positive patterns. I haven't actually done this work yet, but am thinking about finishing up my cockpit seat with the pattern they sent me (which would give me the closest approximation of a repair I'd need for my flat area).
For my money, I think I'd avoid painting the deck at NEARLY ALL cost. My personal opinion on painting a boat (and I've done it twice now), is you never quite get it as good as you want, no matter how good your skill level is. Also it nearly never holds up as well as gelcoat. Gelcoat by contrast, takes long to do, but is very forgiving in that you can sand the heck out of it, and start over fresh. Minicraft of FL has nearly every make/model of boat made in their database, and can color match just about anyone's gelcoat. It's not cheap but a worthwhile look if you are only repairing a small area.
If your goal of course is to redo the WHOLE boat's deck, non-skid area, then obviously that's another story... but if that is the case, consider doing actual nonskid sheets on the deck bonded (instead of painting), this is very popular over in Europe... they are basically rubberized mats adhered to the deck... Like this... http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|2276179|2276198|2276203&id=1495948 Someone mentioned this to me who was from "out of town" and it struck me as odd that people don't do this much in the US, that it seemed like such a simple solution to hours of back-breaking work. I'd still sand down the existing non-skid of course, but this could literally allow you to paint over the smooth spots, roll out the non-skid like carpet, glue, cut to size, and be done.