Griptex non skid, but in Gelcoat - Not Paint

[Scubaseas]

Evertex is available in three sizes from US Composites under Fillers
No affiliation other than a long time very happy customer. The Evertex seems to last a long time for me. If you want as pictured you need the coarse grit but if you fall on it you may scrape off some skin!

[Midday Gun]

Thanks, but I'm UK based so the only stuff that's readily available is the interdeck additive which I tried already in gelcoat and found not be not very good.

And griptex, I've already got the fine & medium due to arrive tomorrow so that's what I'll be using. I'm going to do some test panels at home first to see what works.

[Midday Gun]

Okay, so I made a test panel yesterday.


Top left is gelcoat thickened with Collidial Silica. Ratio is around 150ml of gelcoat to 5 flat scoops of silica, I used an old kiwi-grip roller. The texture is to put it bluntly, brutal. It might even be safer to fall overboard then land on that!

The bottom left is griptex - course & fine mixed with gelcoat & rolled on, mix of particles was just slightly over awl-grips recommended amount.

Unfortunately the particles aren't super evenly distributed the sheen in the light isn't so nice.

Top right is the distribution method. I've applied a layer of gelcoat & used a shaker to add the griptex. It needs another coat of gel ontop of those particles, but I only did them this morning so I'm waiting for the gel to go off.

Bottom right will be for paint instead of gelcoat, but I haven't made it that far.

The second photo is an old piece of plywood I coated with the remenants of the griptex gelcoat, you can see the uneven distribution of particles. Despite making efforts to stir regularly.



I'm wondering if I bought a spray gelcoat (so much thinner than the standard flowcoat) I could mix the particles in but to a much lesser amount & simply go over the old molded non skid, this might restore the colour and also add traction, while keeping the original 'look'?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Midday Gun

Okay, so I made a test panel yesterday.

Top left is gelcoat thickened with Collidial Silica. Ratio is around 150ml of gelcoat to 5 flat scoops of silica, I used an old kiwi-grip roller. The texture is to put it bluntly, brutal. It might even be safer to fall overboard then land on that!

The bottom left is griptex - course & fine mixed with gelcoat & rolled on, mix of particles was just slightly over awl-grips recommended amount.

Unfortunately the particles aren't super evenly distributed the sheen in the light isn't so nice.

Top right is the distribution method. I've applied a layer of gelcoat & used a shaker to add the griptex. It needs another coat of gel ontop of those particles, but I only did them this morning so I'm waiting for the gel to go off.

Bottom right will be for paint instead of gelcoat, but I haven't made it that far.

The second photo is an old piece of plywood I coated with the remenants of the griptex gelcoat, you can see the uneven distribution of particles. Despite making efforts to stir regularly.

I'm wondering if I bought a spray gelcoat (so much thinner than the standard flowcoat) I could mix the particles in but to a much lesser amount & simply go over the old molded non skid, this might restore the colour and also add traction, while keeping the original 'look'?

The test results are as I expected. The spray gelcoat over molded non-skid sounds like a much better idea because the thinner gelcoat will allow more grip. I would still favor the paint option though, for tropical environments.

An anecdote: after hurricane Ivan in Grenada, many damaged boats were fixed in Trinidad. One boat we regularly met was spray painted with Awlgrip, another with gelcoat. Both looked awesome. A year later, the Awlgrip boat had zero maintenance and looked like day 1. The gelcoat boat needed wax and buffing every 6 months to keep the look up.

This was the hull. The decks get a multiple of Uv exposure and gelcoat breaks down many times quicker.

[Midday Gun]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

The test results are as I expected. The spray gelcoat over molded non-skid sounds like a much better idea because the thinner gelcoat will allow more grip. I would still favor the paint option though, for tropical environments.

An anecdote: after hurricane Ivan in Grenada, many damaged boats were fixed in Trinidad. One boat we regularly met was spray painted with Awlgrip, another with gelcoat. Both looked awesome. A year later, the Awlgrip boat had zero maintenance and looked like day 1. The gelcoat boat needed wax and buffing every 6 months to keep the look up.

This was the hull. The decks get a multiple of Uv exposure and gelcoat breaks down many times quicker.

To be fair my test panel was knocked up quick and dirty style, so the surface is a bit bumpy.



I do hear what you're saying there. The way I look at is that Gelcoat requires more yearly maintenance, but in 30 years can still look great, my boat was built 1985 and the hull still buffs to a lovely shine.
Regarding non-skid, the shine isn't important, I'm not fully averse to going 2 part paint, its just that I want to give the gelcoat option a try at least. (well on test panels)

And being UK based I don't need to worry about the tropics!

[Phantom Jim]

I know you do not want to use a single part paint, but my experience may be helpful. I used Total Deck non-skid from Jamestown Distributors to recoat the non-skid on my Pearson 365 ketch, located Galveston Bay, Texas. This overcoated a previous 2 part polyurethane paint with granules.

Total Deck is a single part polyurethane paint with granules of a medium size. This paint has held up very well over four years with no wear through or flaking. It has given us a nice looking deck with sufficient non-skid. It comes in some basic colors, but can be tinted at your local paint store.

My praise for this paint is that I can repaint deck areas where the deck surface has become damaged, like where the anchor was inadvertently drug across the foredeck and where the side decks had repairs. The application is simple: clean the surface, scrub the surface with acetone and a 3M scrubbie, mask and paint. This is simple and quickly done. It is inexpensive. It is predictable.

It may not be the most aggressive non-skid, but it is adequate. It looks good. It lets me keep the deck really good looking at minimal effort and cost.

Again, I know you want to have the longevity not usually seen in a single part paint, but this may be a suitable compromise.

[Cheechako]

Treadmaster. Made in Great Britain right? It is a bit brutal on bare feet though.

[Midday Gun]

Originally Posted by Phantom Jim

I know you do not want to use a single part paint, but my experience may be helpful. I used Total Deck non-skid from Jamestown Distributors to recoat the non-skid on my Pearson 365 ketch, located Galveston Bay, Texas. This overcoated a previous 2 part polyurethane paint with granules.

Total Deck is a single part polyurethane paint with granules of a medium size. This paint has held up very well over four years with no wear through or flaking. It has given us a nice looking deck with sufficient non-skid. It comes in some basic colors, but can be tinted at your local paint store.

My praise for this paint is that I can repaint deck areas where the deck surface has become damaged, like where the anchor was inadvertently drug across the foredeck and where the side decks had repairs. The application is simple: clean the surface, scrub the surface with acetone and a 3M scrubbie, mask and paint. This is simple and quickly done. It is inexpensive. It is predictable.

It may not be the most aggressive non-skid, but it is adequate. It looks good. It lets me keep the deck really good looking at minimal effort and cost.

Again, I know you want to have the longevity not usually seen in a single part paint, but this may be a suitable compromise.

All good suggestion, but I'm not going single part paint.
I've done it before on my old trailer sailer & the 1/4 tonner after that, it looks reasonable, but for this boat I want a really nice looking and hard wearing non-skid.
I mean the original has managed 35 years, so gel-coat can't be all bad!

Tread master is probably what I would fit on the boat I was going to do an arctic expedition on or something, great grip, but I find it looks a bit agricultural. Great product, but not for this situation.

Hopefully I can get another coat of gel on the non skid particles tonight & see how that one comes out.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Midday Gun

All good suggestion, but I'm not going single part paint.
I've done it before on my old trailer sailer & the 1/4 tonner after that, it looks reasonable, but for this boat I want a really nice looking and hard wearing non-skid.
I mean the original has managed 35 years, so gel-coat can't be all bad!

Tread master is probably what I would fit on the boat I was going to do an arctic expedition on or something, great grip, but I find it looks a bit agricultural. Great product, but not for this situation.

Hopefully I can get another coat of gel on the non skid particles tonight & see how that one comes out.

I thought it looked really good on my Hans Christian. But hard on the feet. I only mentioned it because your samples looked pretty darn industrial/home built to me. But I imagine you will find something that looks decent.

[Matt Johnson]

Could you sand the panel with the Kiwi-grip rolled section to knock down the aggression? Seems to look very consistent, but like kiwi-grip, it may be difficult to keep clean.

Matt

[Midday Gun]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

Could you sand the panel with the Kiwi-grip rolled section to knock down the aggression? Seems to look very consistent, but like kiwi-grip, it may be difficult to keep clean.

Matt

That had occurred to me, I may try that with an additional sealer coat of gel on top to fill in the gaps.

Its possible that I just added too much silica, with less it should 'slump' a bit more after being rolled out. I'd give it a go but unfortunately I ran out of Acetone so my kiwi-grip roller is encased in gelcoat!

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Midday Gun

That had occurred to me, I may try that with an additional sealer coat of gel on top to fill in the gaps.

Its possible that I just added too much silica, with less it should 'slump' a bit more after being rolled out. I'd give it a go but unfortunately I ran out of Acetone so my kiwi-grip roller is encased in gelcoat!

I'm lost, there's a sample picture with Kiwi Grip somewhere? I thought the upper left aggressive texture was Gelcoat Silica?

If your Kiwi is too lumpy, you dont need a special roller, try some different hardware store rollers. I used that years ago in my one and only Kiwi attempt... Those "mohair" style of fiberglass rollers may work well.

[Matt Johnson]

Here's Mohair roller gelcoat:

https://www.usfiberglasssupply.com/a...oyourboat.html

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

Here's Mohair roller gelcoat:

https://www.usfiberglasssupply.com/a...oyourboat.html

That looks pretty good!

[Midday Gun]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I'm lost, there's a sample picture with Kiwi Grip somewhere? I thought the upper left aggressive texture was Gelcoat Silica?

If your Kiwi is too lumpy, you dont need a special roller, try some different hardware store rollers. I used that years ago in my one and only Kiwi attempt... Those "mohair" style of fiberglass rollers may work well.

Its thickened gelcoat, but I used a Kiwi-Grip roller that I've had lying around the garage for the last 5 years.
I tried to thicken the gelcoat to the consistency of kiwi-grip, but I may have overdone it.



I appreciate all the locations to buy stuff that people are posting, but I'm UK based, and buying US products is usually cost prohibitive by the time tax + import duty + postage has been added.