Non Skid Techniques? Order of Paint Application?

Discussion in 'Boatbuilding' started by snowbirder, Jan 1, 2015.

  1. snowbirder

    snowbirder Previous Member

    I have a fully faired deck. I need to do a non skid on it, as well as paint much of the rest of the boat.

    I am using a urethane high build primer above the waterline and epoxy barrier coat below.

    I need to maximize productivity and minimize cost for this paint job. We will prime within a week.

    So how do I do the deck?

    1) Add cabosil to the primer, roll it on, then wheel it with an abrasive tool, then apply topcoat?

    2) Just prime the whole boat and key it for top coat, adding cabosil to the topcoat layer on the deck for non skid?

    Concerns are the many different colors, avoiding overspray and minimizing taping/masking.

    How is it usually done?

    Also when is it done? Before hardware is installed? Seems easier that way.

    General tips and pointers?
     
  2. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    Your adding steps you don't need. Tape off all the ares you want textured, then apply straight or slightly thickened resin. Wait until it's just about to kick off and run a roller through it, which will raise it up quite a bit. Because it's about to gel up, it can't lay down in time to self level and you'll end up with texture. Over this paint normally, knowing the texture is part of the surface, not the paint, so you can repaint without having to match texture.
     
  3. snowbirder

    snowbirder Previous Member

    Damn... I always miss these simple things.

    I already have a smooth, faired dec with a skim coat of epoxy/microballoons.

    If I add another coat of epoxy, don't i have to

    apply the epoxy
    let it kick
    sand it
    Spreay primer
    let it kick
    sand it
    spray topcoat?

    Sanding the entire deck twice?

    If I create paint texture, i would
    Apply thickened primer
    let it kick
    sand it
    apply top coat

    sanding the deck only once

    What am i missing?
     
  4. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    The way I do it is to tape off the areas I don't want texture, rounding the corners and laying out the areas uniform and logically. With the textured areas exposed, I roll on epoxy, wait until it's ready then, using the roller go over it to make some texture. This will leave stipple and little bumps everywhere. These will remain standing, because the goo doesn't have time to "lay down".

    When this is well past the point of being tacky, I remove the tape and uncover everything. Next I'll usually apply yet another coat of straight epoxy, which serves to smooth out the harshest of the bumps and more importantly fills in the tape line seam, between textured areas and the waterways (untextured ares).

    Now the deck is ready for paint, which is applied how ever you'd like. I usually spray epoxy primer and see how it looks. If it's too aggressive I'd use a DA to knock off more of the peaks in the texture. Multiple coats of primer will also help this to a degree.

    If you apply texture with the paint, don't texture the primer, just the initial top coats. This is done the same way, with taped off areas, just using paint, not goo. Once the texture is on, remove the tape and over coat everything with a final sealing top coat, so the texture is locked down. Texture in the paint tends to come out with traffic and sliding butts. Texture in the goo doesn't come out and makes repainting a lot easy too.
     
  5. mastcolin
    Joined: Jun 2005
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    Location: The Netherlands

    mastcolin Senior Member

    Just paint the whole deck area with your spec'd system. Mark of your non-skid areas. Roll these. In Holland we roll De Ijssel which rolls great, better than Awlgrip, but I see you are in Florida. Get Perfection. I have heard this rolls good and comes in most colours you will want. Add your GripTex powder to suit. Mix Extra coarse with finer for more even texture. Coarse or Extra Coarse to too shiny between the particles.

    Use a wool roller for the texture. If you use a foam roller you will get stripes.

    It is cool to have gloss divider between non-skid and hardware. You don't need to set winches, tracks extra down before hand but you will need to know how wide they are to give you a 10-20mm gloss strip.

    If you gloss the whole deck it will then be good for colour. Just scuff up the gloss and apply 1 coat by roller.

    You can spray but this is lots of work.

    I just helped a owner do his jboat in KiwiGrip which is this water based 1 pack stuff which he said loads of racers use in NL (and presumably NZ). You get a rough texture with a very rough roller, like you apply that texture plaster on walls. You get fine texture with finer roller. It feels grippy but not rough if you get my drift. I wouldn't expect your bum to get shredded on the rail:).

    ps I am sure I have written post on this subject before

    I have no other comment to make on the product. Just mentioning.
     
  6. michael pierzga
    Joined: Dec 2008
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    michael pierzga Senior Member

    Ive had good luck using the two roller technique to spread non skid.

    Roll on the non skid loaded paint with a roller, then take a dry roller and roll over the non skid painted surface. This distributes the paint grit better. Keep the dry roller DRY by wiping or rolling out on a piece of scrap.
     
  7. tuantom
    Joined: Jan 2005
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    tuantom Senior Member

    For my boat, I mixed some anti-skid in an epoxy primer and rolled it onto the areas I had taped off - then sprayed the entire topside with a two-part urethane. It's been 7 years and the paint has held up nicely; on the high wear areas of the anti-skid, though, a bit of gray primer is showing through on the peaks.
    This will need to get taped off and new paint rolled on when it starts to annoy me. This is easy enough to do and I'm happy with the results.
     
  8. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    Anytime you put particulates in the paint, the higher traffic areas will wear down and show primer or substrate pretty quickly. If the texture is applied in the substrate sealing coatings, this is much less likely to happen and the paint is much easy to renew as well.
     
  9. Gilray4
    Joined: Jan 2015
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    Location: Las Vegas

    Gilray4 New Member

    A trick used in the surf board industry:
    Rock salt or grainular sugar.
    I have never tried it on a boat, however...
    Most people here on this thread have talked about using a roller to 'stiple' gelling resin.
    You could also sprinkle on grainular salt in the resin. Once the resin has fully cured (after 'stipling' with a roller) you simply give the area a light, warm water scrub and all the salt goes away. Then finnish paint/coat. It makes for a really nice non skid. I know a sugar works fairly well, however... the substance (as opposed to salt) tends to attract ants etc. So salt is a preffered choice. Thoughts, flame me... or perhaps somebody has tried it on a boat deck already ?
     
  10. michael pierzga
    Joined: Dec 2008
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    michael pierzga Senior Member

    Sure...you can use sugar or salt...then dissolve the grain and only leave the paint crater.

    The crater is a dirt trap, so your white deck done with salt, sugar will be more work to clean .

    Your technique is good for boat who regularly repaints their deck. Much easier to sand paint...non skid grit is hard to sand.

    Many ways to get a non skid deck..its your choice.

    Small surface area decks are easy...large area decks need skill to produce an even texture.
     
  11. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    I've used salt and sugar, but only on clear finishes where they wanted some texture, yet still a bright finish. Of course it doesn't hold up long, because there's no support under the peaks and bubbles in the paint, so it crushes down under foot traffic, but it works. This is the problem with texture in paint applications. The paint just isn't that strong, so over particulates, it's gives and you'll soon see substrate, grit falls out, paint gets torn, etc. On the other hand if the much harder resin has the texture, incorporated into it, most of these issues disappear.
     
  12. FAST FRED
    Joined: Oct 2002
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    Location: Conn in summers , Ortona FL in winter , with big d

    FAST FRED Senior Member

    I prefer to pencil the areas of no skid

    get some coarse cotton mosquito netting and spray starch and iron it FLAT.

    Lay it on you desired no skid area and trace the deck area on the cotton , then cut it to fit.

    Lay down a thin coat of 2 part epoxy lay the netting to your marks and roll a thin coat of epoxy paint in the cotton.

    The result will look like the surface in a production boat cockpit .

    Best part is if damaged , you are only sanding a bit of cotton and paint off , sanding sand is seldom productive.

    IF for cost or time reasons you decide on sand , epoxy the deck and while its still tacky pour on at least 1 inch of clean sand.

    This assures even coverage all over the deck for a uniform look.

    In a couple of days when the epoxy is fully cured simply hose the excess sand off.
     
  13. michael pierzga
    Joined: Dec 2008
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    michael pierzga Senior Member

    Paint the whole boat...finish coat. Then add non skid to the required areas.

    If you choose different colour for the no skid areas you will need to apply a backround coat before the non skid coat.
     
  14. lenm
    Joined: Dec 2014
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    Location: australia

    lenm Junior Member

    International Paints make a product called 'intergrip' which is a form of plastic dust.
    It is a proven formula in Windsurfers deck grip for over 20 years and the top companies still use it today. You simply wont find a better non skid. I've personally tried everything from sugar to the netting. It is not a dirt collector either.
    See here for application. You don't need the sand blaster gun either. Just stand at a distance and throw the inter grip at the epoxy surface.
    See here for application:

    http://www.boardlady.com/nonskid.htm
     

  15. fluffflinger
    Joined: Jul 2007
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    fluffflinger Junior Member

    My preferred additive is Softsand, it's a rubber based granule that absorbs paint so it doesn't discolour as it wears and apart from outstanding grip you can kneel on it without removing flesh.

    If you want the best results and the most professional look try this. Roll on a coat of paint, having first masked up your areas creatively with nice radiused corners (the devil is always in the detail), then cover the painted area with a uniform layer say 3mm. Leave till the paint sets up and then vac off excess. You can reuse the granules you have vacuumed off for the next section, assuming a clean vac and filter. Then with flattened paint(nothing looks worse than shiny non skid IMHO) put on two more coats of paint. Remove tape as soon as you have applied last coat of paint. Looks great, lasts for years and looks totally professional. On flat surfaces it gives the effect of slight.y raised panels. I have done many boats this way and the owners have always been delighted. Labor intensive yes but the results are worth it.
     
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