no slip texture

Hello all, I just built a fiberglass Drift boat with polyester resin. currently the floor is unsanded mat. What is the best additive to get a non skid floor? I have used playground sand in the past. Is there a better option?

 

Rustoleum makes a nice nonskid deck paint. You can get it at the local paint or construction supply store.

 

playground sand seems a bit coarse. There is a fine white sand that I have seen used in ash trays for cigarettes, and as a sand blast medium, that I found works well. Not sure what it is called.

I have also seen chopped/ground walnut shells used in a two part rubbery deck pay (hypalon perhaps). makes a nice texture but not sure how durable it would be in paint. I was not impressed with the deck product, but liked the surface finish using the ground walnut shells.

 

Sand works, but depending on the exact size can be very aggressive, plus it's a nighmare to do any repairs where sand has been used.

There are other types of grit used for nonskid that can be sanded down easier if needed in the future.

 

Rather than sand, fine pumice is pretty good. Jewellry wholesalers sell it as a fine polishing paste, the exact grade of grit can vary so ask what is available. Even 4-500 grade is fairly non slip, it depends on your requirement. As hinted above it may be better to paint on afterwards to help and ease any future repair.

 

Thanks for the info all. My plan is to mix some ? grit into a polyester cabasyl mix then trowel it on filling the lows then gelcoating. I think I will need something pretty corse to give ridges through the gelcoat. What do you think?

 

I have become more and more enamored with foam decking like hydro-turf. It seems to last for ever, has great traction, and can always be lifted up and replaced if you need to.

 

Instead of mixing in a particulate, just use a roller in the resin, just before it kicks off. If you're bent on a particulate, all the major paint suppliers sell a texture additive, most are polyurethane chunks. These are inert, much softer than sand or other things, like nut shells, etc. and it's easy to repair if the need comes. Most sell more than one size of grit too.

Attached is a texture job I did, using a roller in wet resin. The nice thing about this method is the texture becomes part of the boat and can't get kicked out of the paint with traffic. It also stands proud, creating waterways to shed moisture. You can chemically strip the paint and still have the texture remain for a repaint. Just tape off the areas you want textured, roll on some resin and when it's starting to "go" roll through it again. Because the resin is about to gel up, it can't "lay down" in time to self level, so you get texture.

 

You can use a stipple/textured roller to roll on flowcoat thickened with cabosil/q-cell. Best to do a test area first to find the correct ratio of flowcoat to fillers and if you're happy with the finish.

This can be sanded down to remove any sharp dags and a 2-pack paint can be rolled over the top.

 

http://www.softsandrubber.com/

Maybe this could be mixed with the gelcoat?If not in paint would work and is nice enough to stand on with bare feet.

 

You don't normally trowel anything on, the surface would need to be in very bad shape to need that. Adding cabosil to the gel coat and using a roller works well, you can work the surface until you get the texture you like. It's best to just use gel coat for the entire nonskid proccess, if you use a product with a different color as a first layer it will show through when the high spots on the nonskid get worn down.

A nonskid surface will hide a great deal of ugly.

 

I usually add more resin to soften up the stipple effect, from the roller process and yes, do make a few practice runs first, so you get an idea of what you can do, maybe play with different rollers, etc. I usually don't use a textured roller, just a short nap and work the resin in a consistent way, sometimes actually counting strokes in each direction to get a uniform texture on larger areas. Yep, texture can hide a lot of sins, which is often handy in repairs.

 

If you go down the paint route I really like kiwi grip. So does everyone that's seem my first effort. Given a choice though resin is much more durable to any paint.