Aloha!
I'm repairing the
deck, topside
paint and non-skid on Caelestis. She is 24 years old and we are considering other options for new non-skid.
Hull is balsa &
fiberglass core with fairing compound layer on top of the
fiberglass. When we purchased Caelestis, she had a good amount of the
deck delaminating from the fiberglass below it. We repaired all the delimitated spots but over the past 10 years, time and heat has caused other areas to delaminate from the fiberglass below it. I can only conclude that there could have been a better mechanical bond between the two when the
boat was built. The cancer (delamination) will be an issue for the remaining life of the
boat and we have resigned ourselves to that fact. It is what it is.
I'm faced with the reality that there will be other areas of
delamination in the future.
Our non-skid is currently a LP
paint layer with broadcasted sand and another layer of LP paint on top of the sand.
Here is my conundrum. Every time there is
delamination over a non-skid area of the deck, we have to chisel out the cancer and fill the hole, sand and contour it, prime it and replace the non-skid in some capacity. Original plan was to repeat the paint, sand, paint, like we did 10 years ago. But, knowing that areas of delamination will to continue to happen, I wanted to get other opinions in the non-skid market.
Yesterday, while in West
Marine, I met Dave, the inventor of
Marine Grip that is made by surfcohawaii.com. His product was originally a substitute for wax on surfboards but has since expanded his product line into the marine industry for non-skid applications. The Marine Grip comes in a clear and semitransparent gray. The clear Marine Grip is 90% transparent and shows the color you just applied it over. The gray Marine Grip is about 25% transparent lets a little color come through.
Because future delamination
repairs are inevitable, I want to use a non-skid application that is most practical and time saving. Reapplying a paint based non-skid and blending it into the existing non-skid is not appealing to me at all. So, I’m looking at
adhesive options.
I believe I have two basic options:
Option #1: Continue with paint/sand/paint non-skid and deal with blending issues and color matching, etc. with every repaired area of delamination. Right now there are so many areas on the deck that have been repaired, it only makes sense to redo the entire topside from bow to stern. See pictures.
Option #2: Apply an
adhesive based product like Marine Grip or one like it. To apply an adhesive, I would have to either sand the existing non-skid down to a smooth surface OR apply a very thin layer of fairing over the non-skid and then sand to a smooth surface, apply a primer coat, apply a top coat color, then finally apply the adhesive non-skid.
Sanding the non-skid down with an aggressive sander would chew through a lot of sand paper. LP paints are very hard…but it’s an option.
The advantage I see with the adhesive non-skid is that it’s easier to replace once it’s on the deck. There aren’t any color or texture blending issues. A new delamination just has to be cut out, filled, sanded, primed, painted and adhesive non-skid replaced.
I don’t like the gray or other dark colored adhesive non-skid due to the darkness. It would absorb more heat and may lead to other areas of accelerated delamination. Gray does hide dirt better though.
The clear adhesive non-skid would need a light color (powder blue) under it and would reflect more heat and keep the boat cooler. But would also show dirt over time.
Plan: Get feedback from users on this thread and subscribe to Practical Sailor to see if they have some
reviews on adhesive non-skid.
Thanks everyone for your feedback ahead of time.
Matt