Just bought an old Hunter 25. The topsides gelcoat is chalky. The deck consists of a combination of smooth gelcoat areas and areas of molded-in non-skid texture. I would like to polish/wax the smooth areas to bring back the shine and color. I would also like to paint over the non-skid textured areas. Any suggestions for how to prepare the non-skid for painting? Suggestions for a paint that might look good for 2-3 years? The non-skid areas have been painted previously, but the old paint is almost completely gone, leaving some residue. Thanks!
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Could be gel coat and not paint.
The older Hunters (Cherubinis) has paintable gel coat for the non-skid. You can redo the non-skid with the same stuff and it should last 10-15 years. It is about the same price as a one part poly paint. You can color it and either add a thickner or add sand or some other non-skid additive. To clean up the smooth gel-coat you may want to try the Island Girl treatment (available on this website).
The older Hunters (Cherubinis) has paintable gel coat for the non-skid. You can redo the non-skid with the same stuff and it should last 10-15 years. It is about the same price as a one part poly paint. You can color it and either add a thickner or add sand or some other non-skid additive. To clean up the smooth gel-coat you may want to try the Island Girl treatment (available on this website).
If it was my boat.........
My Gulf 32 is getting a bit old around the non-skid. It is of the "stippled" gelcoat sort. Except for the cockpit (see below) I have a few superficial cracks but the deck is generally in great condition and would have been even better if I had a boat cover. crack (on the coach roof) has rust stains from a bolt. What I am going to do (when I get time!) is to throroughly clean the deck(IG clear , then pink), repair the worst of the cracks (color-marched gelcoat) seal ithe whole deck with a couple of coats of our new sealant. If should protect against further weathering. The way I am going to make the repairs "invisible" is to color match and blend the color, using a latex mold or dremel to make the suface texture match. The cockpit is another thing. I think that painted non-skid often looks amateurish, especially if not done really carefully, but there are so many cracks! Also when ocean sailing, slop from waves evaporates into a salty slurry that is VERY slippery. I used to stand on a towel! For this reason I think I will sand down into the deck and use painted non-skid (two part- like Awlgrip, with the grit that they sell). ALternatively a nice teak grid would be nice!. Enough about me- Now how about YOUR boat? If the moulded non-skid deck is not cracked is in good shape, I would remove that paint (if a singlel part- otherwise you cannot without damage to the gelcoat. and then restore and protect with our system. If it's all the same material its easier to take care of and re-gelcoating is easy if you need to do repairs. If you do pain the non-skid try to use a really good quality (I prefer two part) PU or epoxy and if you use fine grit it won't alter the appearance of the mooulded in pattern. Now these are only personal opintions - La Donaa of Catalinaowners.com has done painted non-skid and can help you . Also I have a customer (a Mr WIlcox) who had a two-part awlgrip deck done professionally. I can get his e-mail address for you if you contact me offline (via IG site). I am still preparing a sort of essay on non-skid but thought that I should actually finish the job on my boat before posting it on this site. If anyone wants to completely redo "stippled" non-skid with gelcoat, Dave Collignon of Fiberglass Hawaii (Santa Cruz CA, ) has done this many times as part of his boat-building and surf-board backbround. Thanks ALW except for the cockpit where there are more cracks and I am not satisfied with the grip anyway for ocean sailing
My Gulf 32 is getting a bit old around the non-skid. It is of the "stippled" gelcoat sort. Except for the cockpit (see below) I have a few superficial cracks but the deck is generally in great condition and would have been even better if I had a boat cover. crack (on the coach roof) has rust stains from a bolt. What I am going to do (when I get time!) is to throroughly clean the deck(IG clear , then pink), repair the worst of the cracks (color-marched gelcoat) seal ithe whole deck with a couple of coats of our new sealant. If should protect against further weathering. The way I am going to make the repairs "invisible" is to color match and blend the color, using a latex mold or dremel to make the suface texture match. The cockpit is another thing. I think that painted non-skid often looks amateurish, especially if not done really carefully, but there are so many cracks! Also when ocean sailing, slop from waves evaporates into a salty slurry that is VERY slippery. I used to stand on a towel! For this reason I think I will sand down into the deck and use painted non-skid (two part- like Awlgrip, with the grit that they sell). ALternatively a nice teak grid would be nice!. Enough about me- Now how about YOUR boat? If the moulded non-skid deck is not cracked is in good shape, I would remove that paint (if a singlel part- otherwise you cannot without damage to the gelcoat. and then restore and protect with our system. If it's all the same material its easier to take care of and re-gelcoating is easy if you need to do repairs. If you do pain the non-skid try to use a really good quality (I prefer two part) PU or epoxy and if you use fine grit it won't alter the appearance of the mooulded in pattern. Now these are only personal opintions - La Donaa of Catalinaowners.com has done painted non-skid and can help you . Also I have a customer (a Mr WIlcox) who had a two-part awlgrip deck done professionally. I can get his e-mail address for you if you contact me offline (via IG site). I am still preparing a sort of essay on non-skid but thought that I should actually finish the job on my boat before posting it on this site. If anyone wants to completely redo "stippled" non-skid with gelcoat, Dave Collignon of Fiberglass Hawaii (Santa Cruz CA, ) has done this many times as part of his boat-building and surf-board backbround. Thanks ALW except for the cockpit where there are more cracks and I am not satisfied with the grip anyway for ocean sailing
Interlux has a nice non-skid paint
The painted non-skid on my 1983 Hunter 27 was getting too smooth. I had heard that Interlux had a pre-mixed non-skid paint. I just masked off the areas I wanted to paint, and rolled the paint on with a 4" wide roller. It took longer to mask the areas, than it did to apply the paint. I even painted some previously unpainted areas. The paint has been very non-skid all season, and the grit applies evenly because it is suspended in the paint. Go with a light color to keep it from getting too hot.The attached picture is just prior to painting.
The painted non-skid on my 1983 Hunter 27 was getting too smooth. I had heard that Interlux had a pre-mixed non-skid paint. I just masked off the areas I wanted to paint, and rolled the paint on with a 4" wide roller. It took longer to mask the areas, than it did to apply the paint. I even painted some previously unpainted areas. The paint has been very non-skid all season, and the grit applies evenly because it is suspended in the paint. Go with a light color to keep it from getting too hot.The attached picture is just prior to painting.
Attachments
A Survey..on non-skid. Please Help!
I am preparing a reference artlcle on non-skid decks, but I don't know much about painted-type non-skid. I have seen some describptions here about ready mixed no-skid by Interlux and have heard of similar from Awlgrip. I have also seen done (and heard about) epoxy paint that then has sand sprinkled on it then pain put over than, both single part and (as I prefer) two-part. I also saw (some yeaers ago) about a rubber particulate non-skid treatment and the military have special non-skid also on their submarines (have seen this). I could do with feed back on this from people who have done the procedure or have contacts. In the meantime I'll do a search and contact manufacturers as much as possible. I pretty much know how repairs and replacement of gelcoat nonskid is done and this will be included in the article too. Finally- any input on teak decks (naturally non-skid) I understand that ny type of sealant or varnish, even cetol ruin the non-skid properties of teak. Are there any types of mats used for the cockpit area (other than teak grids?) Please Help! JimWillis
I am preparing a reference artlcle on non-skid decks, but I don't know much about painted-type non-skid. I have seen some describptions here about ready mixed no-skid by Interlux and have heard of similar from Awlgrip. I have also seen done (and heard about) epoxy paint that then has sand sprinkled on it then pain put over than, both single part and (as I prefer) two-part. I also saw (some yeaers ago) about a rubber particulate non-skid treatment and the military have special non-skid also on their submarines (have seen this). I could do with feed back on this from people who have done the procedure or have contacts. In the meantime I'll do a search and contact manufacturers as much as possible. I pretty much know how repairs and replacement of gelcoat nonskid is done and this will be included in the article too. Finally- any input on teak decks (naturally non-skid) I understand that ny type of sealant or varnish, even cetol ruin the non-skid properties of teak. Are there any types of mats used for the cockpit area (other than teak grids?) Please Help! JimWillis
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