How do they do it?

[rgano]

How is the cross-checked non-skid deck surface added to boats under construction? Can the average Joe source this stuff and add it to a deck he is rebuilding?

 

[fractalphreak]

Those molded in non-skid patterns are originally put on the plug (original form of what the boat will be), from which the deck mold is made. Every boat off the mold has the identical non-skid "molded in", as in its as much a part of the original boat as the gelcoat color.

I've seen a repair solution, but never used it. They have some videos on their website of how to use their product to repair. (That's assuming they have the matching pattern for your boat...)

https://gibcoflexmold.com/

There are a lot of other methods to repair a deck and add non skid, if you want to match what the boat originally had your option is to find something like the flex mold product. And have the familiarity with fiberglass work/finishing and gelcoat, and color matching gelcoat if you are trying to blend it with existing deck.

Part of the answer lies in what are you trying to repair? Is it a soft deck project where you have to tear it all out and replace, or a damaged area from a dropped object that you are trying bring back to what the rest of the deck looks like. I looked at the flexmold product, and determined it would be cost and time prohibitive to use it on a deck replacement project I did on a 19 ft cuddy several years ago. That boat got gelcoat with a non-skid additive mixed in.

 

[rgano]

I personally have no need to repair or match any non-skid, but the new owner of my old 42 Grand Banks woodie did a massive deck job, and I while he used another approach for non-skid, I got to wondering if there was a material made which looked like "factory" cross hatched non-skid which could be laid down on top of wet resin as the fiberglass underlayment is added to a deck. Thanks for your answer.

 

[Baker]

My fiberglass guy here says not to even attempt to match a pattern if it is within the same "panel". It will not match regardless. Now if you are doing an entire area, then it will be similar to the rest of the boat but it won't be exact.

 

[Comodave]

It might be possible to make a mold to match the non skid repair, but it is probably way beyond most DIY. I had a lot of stress cracking in my diamond non skid pattern on my deck. I sanded off the diamond non skid and then painted with Kiwigrip. Worked great. Yes it is a different look but so what, it looks fine.

 

[jleonard]

The top of the trunk cabin and forward cabin on my Albin looks like it was "glued" to the smooth fiberglass with polyester resin. Looks like it was approx 1/8 0r 3/16 thick.
I have made some repairs using that Gibco mold material, but it takes some practice to get it looking really good. I need more practice.

 

[FF]

IF you give up on matching , and just need a good looking no skid , there are ways.

My favorite is to obtain coarse cotton bug screening , the Canadians have great material to stop their B52 sized flies.

The material is spray starched , then ironed to be able to lay flat.

The deck is marked for fills and other non no skid , and the material is cut to fit.

The deck is prepped , smooth clean and sanded, and TWO PART epoxy paint is rolled on . While still slightly tacky the cotton screening is placed and another coat of 2 part epoxy paint is rolled on.

The good news is its great no skid , will look "factory" if care was taken with trimmed areas and when an anchor gets dragged too often across the deck, its quick to replace , unlike sanding off sand.

 

[timb]

he uses the term if we are lucky.