Topside refinishing

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Bryan Howell

My recently acquired 1975 Hunter 25 is in desperate need of topside refinishing. I have an odd paint/gelcoat condition that I was wondering if anyone had experinece with. Particularly in the areas nonskid was applied to the deck, it is peeling off in many areas. Beneath is smooth white gelcoat. However, there are splotches of a light blue in those areas. The surface is smooth, and it appears the color is somehow imbedded in the gelcoat. The color is not solid, it is in spots, streaks, etc. I have no clue as to where this discoloration could have come from. My concern is in repainting, the blue might somehow bleed thru the new paint. Also, I am puzzled as to what in the world the source of this situaiton could be and if any remedial steps need to be taken. I very seriously doubt that the boat has been painted prior to this. Any ideas?
 
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John Visser

I assume you are referring to the deck,

not the topsides. from: http://www.tcmall.com/nauticalknowhow/GLOSSARY.htm TOPSIDES - The sides of a vessel between the waterline and the deck; sometimes referring to onto or above the deck.
 
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Bryan Howell

Gee yes

Yeh. Pardon my terminology faux paus. Thanks for the helpful comment. I have not seen nonskid applied to the hull. Have you?
 
Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
Gelcoat non-skid.

Bryan: These boats 'had' gelcoat non-skid. You can redo it with the same thing or use a single part or two part poly paint. If you are going to use paint, I would suggest that you use two part. This should last as long as the original. If you want to use gel coat you will need a paintable/rollable type. There is some tricks to doing the non-skid. The most important part is the prep and the masking. There was a post in the last couple of months where one of the HOW member did this to his H'33. Based on the pictures the job looks like a new boat.
 
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John Visser

Correct way to repair this

If the gel-coat non-skid textured surface has indeed lifted off and left a smooth surface beneath, this can be repaired by casting a new gel-coat surface in the place of what has come off. You can purchase vinyl molding material with the texture that matches your boat's. The company that you can get this from most likely supplied it to the boat manufacturer for use in making the molds. You can then mix the gel-coat material with any color tint you please, and cast it in place on the deck. With a little skill, the repair will look as good as new. The company that supplies the mold material also includes complete, well illiustrated intructions for how to do this.
 
Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
John V, not a cast non-skid!

John: The Hunters (most of them) just had a rolled on non-skid finish. This is especially true of the Cherubini era boats. Some of the next generation boats had molded non-skid (like a Catalina). Redoing the non-skid on these boats leaves the owner with several options. None of which involves casting a non-skid pattern.
 
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J. Tesoriero

Hunter non-skid

The older Hunters had the non-skid painted on. A couple of years ago you could buy some of the special non-skid gel-coat from Hunter, but recently they said it was not available. I would call them anyway and ask, Try 1-800-771-5556. In an earlier forum, I asked for suggestions for the same question. I don't like the gloss gel coat or epoxy coatings with sand or other additions. Several people suggested flat house paint. West Marine has a flat, non-skid paint that I am going to try on the seating surfaces in the cockpit.
 
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Jim Maroldo

How about Awlgrip?

While I have never used it myself, I have seen the results of others who have used Awlgrip by US Paint. Quite good-looking, and durable as well! This stuff is a 2-part Polyester Urethane paint. As such, professional application is indicated (I believe dure to hazards involved in it's use!). They also make a textuing ingredient called GRIPTEX®, which are translucent polymer beads that are sprinkled on the surface between coats. Anyway, that's what I know of it, for what it's worth!
 
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Peter Roach

Non-skid with sand

If you choose to use the non-skid with sand in it you need to apply the non-skid with a roller or a brush and once it is on the deck have someone go behind you with a dry brush and hit the paint with the flat side of the brush. This causes the sand to come to the top of the paint (I guess it is lighter) and will give you a much better apperance. I know that the H27 that I had did not have a smooth non skid deck. It looked like the non skid was applyed with a very thick roller (almost like a house celing roller). One way to look at this repair is - it has got to look better than it does now. Good luck and have fun
 
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