Kiwigrip Questions

[JulieM]

For those of you who have used Kiwigrip, have you had any issues with staining? Is it difficult to keep clean? Thanks for your feedback!

[Dsanduril]

Welcome to CF Julie.

In late 2017 we put Kiwigrip on a bunch of areas on our boat that had no non-skid. It is still mostly going strong after a couple of years in the tropics and a couple more in the cold. We do have a few small places where freeze/thaw has done some damage.

In terms of keeping it clean we just scrub it exactly the same as the rest of the deck. And I'd say it's no harder, and also no easier, to keep clean than the molded-in non-skid sections of our decking. Might be a little more resistant to stains left by our avian friends, but the Kiwigrip is darker (our factory decks are white) so it could possibly just hide things a little better.

Aside from care after applying, as with just about any paint job, prep work is key. Bad prep and the stuff won't stick, good prep and it should last a long time.

[BillKny]

Originally Posted by JulieM

For those of you who have used Kiwigrip, have you had any issues with staining? Is it difficult to keep clean? Thanks for your feedback!

Prep is really important. Especially around the edges.

When I managed a charter fleet we put it on a few of our smaller boats where the factory texture was wearing smooth. The biggest problem we had was to get it looking good.

One of the touted "features" of the product is that you can vary the texture by varying your application technique. Well, guess what? One of the BUGS of the product is that the texture and appearance varies with minor changes in application technique! Not a problem if it is used in a small area, but across a wide flat deck the changes in the size and density of the ridges made it really hard to get a professional looking job, and there really isn't any way to rework it. Some people might not notice, and some not care, but I'd never use it on my boat for that reason.

Looks aside, as non-skid it is fine, although it can be more than a little rough on bare skin. In nearly daily use in a charter fleet it lasted about 3 years before it started to wear off.

[fourlyons]

I haven't found it is anymore prone to staining or harder to keep clean than other textured deck treatments, but I'm totally unimpressed with it's nonskid qualities. My point of reference for nonskid is bare teak and sand or crushed shell in paint, both far superior.

[tkeithlu]

You have not described your potential use. I used it as floor on a 16 ft skiff, after the slippery aluminum sole gave me a knot on my head. For that, it's really a good choice. For smaller areas I would consider non-slip tape, which is available in several colors, and for large deck areas I would go with grit in the paint because it is easy and not as expensive.

[pcmm]

We applied kiwigrip 2 years ago and aside from being a bit fragile for the first 48hrs. It's been great. We've seen no staining so far ( we applied the cream colour) and applied it in a method different. The deck on our boat isn't divided into sections of nonskid. The cabin top is one large surface and we were easily able to do the whole top in one go (41' sailboat), just have to keep a wet edge going and keep moving. Same for the sidedecks. Really foregiving to apply, really easy to keep an even texture even over a large surface!