what to use for non-skid deck?

DON'T USE THE SANDPAPER STUFF!!! You will have no skin left on the bottom of your feet. 3M does make a grippy tape that is a textured rubber that works well but it's pretty hard to find (and pricy)

I've had great luck with the neoprene kit that Murray's sells - I put it on my 5.2 and my 6.0. When I installed it on my 5.2, I put it a little high and it wore where our butts dropped off the hull when going on the wire. I got smarter and offset it farther from the upper edge on the 6.0 - been on there for over a year and it's not showing any wear. You are supposed to apply the contact cement to the hull AND to the back of the neoprene before applying them and you are actually supposed to wait for the glue to dry. Then you put the two together and it sticks incredibly hard even though both sides are dry to the touch. Better put it on right the first time because it is NOT coming back off.

That must have been why it kept coming off when i used it. I would apply the glue to one side only and then quickly apply it to the rail. So you recommend put a strip slightly below the top edge of the hull? And how long did you wait for it to dry?

~Reid

I think mine is about one inch below the lip to the decking. I'm not sure how long to let it dry but I applied it on a hot day, first to the hull, then to the neoprene and it probably took 10 minutes or so before I got everything ready to put together. I believe the directions (on the weak and faded label) specify waiting something like 10 minutes before putting them together. I would take a picture but my boat is dressed in full hull covers at the moment but I'll see what I have already on my computer tonight.

The best stuff is 3M Medium Resilient Safety walk. It comes in black or grey but not white. It should be available through a local 3M supply company. I got mine from a place that sold all kinds of safety stuff related to fire equipment. It has a sticky back side which works great. Just peal and stick it on.

Mike Hill
H20 #907

On a related topic...what's the best way to remove an over aggressive non-skid paint on the entire deck of my Tornado? Previous owner did it. This stuff shreds skin off my hands and eats through my drysuit like a hot knife through butter. All my previous boats had basically a matte or other non-glossy finish to the decks, with just a little non-skid along the outer gunwales for foot traction while trapped. I've tried to remove the grit with a random orbit sander and 60 grit paper...kinda works but it's very slow to smooth down and I need to replace the paper every few minutes. Is there a better way?

Mike.

he's probably put sand in the paint and your random orbit sander probably ends up rolling around on the aggregate that it digs up. Try a belt sander - it will tend to throw the aggregate out instead of swirling around on it.

The LP paint on Marstroms is slippery. You will need something. A friend has a great story about how he didn't need no ugly nonskid and ended up hanging onto the bridle wire when he stuffed it.

Interlux nonskid (looks like ground glass) is either what Marstrom uses or real close. You can mark the area out in masking tape then either roll on a thin layer of paint and coat the wet paint with nonskid or mix paint and non skid and roll it on.

There use to be a product called Re-deck...It is/was used for sailboards...it is clear acrilic base product...easy to apply and be touched up/re-applied anytime it starts to loose it's "bite"...it is grippy without being too abrasive....I would think you would be able to find it in any sailboard shop...

Bob

There was a thread about this a while back too - someone suggested doing an old windsurfing trick called "sweet deck" or something like that. If I remember correctly, they added sugar to the paint to give it texture...the sugar would disolve eventually but leave a nicely textured finish. Keep it away from ant hills for a while though.