Fiberglass non skid panels on old trawler

I have what looks like typical non skid panels that were glued\epoxied on top of my trunk cabin top on my 83 Albin.
I need to make some repairs and can't locate either the panels to use as "patches" or as a mold to form the pattern.
Panels look to be about 1\8 inch thick with a small diamond pattern.
The areas are small and i was told I could fake them with a file or knife, but would rather put in a piece of the real stuff if i can find it.
Anyone know of a source or have other ideas?

I'm with you...no idea how I want to fix them and they really are my last outside project.

Someone here awhile back did post a company with quite a few mold patterns...hopefully they will pipe up. Not sure if it was one of the major gel coat companies...you might try searching a couple of them.

try posts 221 and 226.... http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s25/replacing-my-teak-deck-after-47-years-10928-12.html

I've debated grinding them down and just gluing on treadmaster panels to just rolling on epoxy to fill the cracks and painting with the thin pre-mixed interlux non-skid which I used on the decks.

Mine look like they have been painted or gel-coated post manufacture...so trying to rebuild is out of the question. If one panel was still pretty good...you could always make a female mold...but holy cow...that's a lot of work...I'm not sure how I would even go about restoring it even after I had a mold....but already raised/bad surface.

Thanks I requested a quote and I'll let you know what they come back with

Quick update: the company has not replied so apparently they are no longer around or interested in small repairs.

Is this what you have?
Molded and Pultruded fiberglass flat sheet or plate products designed to provide a flooring surface with no load bearing capability. When used for flooring, these plates are typically coated with a fine, medium or coarse grit.

or is this what you need:

Flex-Mold Non Skid Repair Patterns

Are you repairing a previously repaired deck, that has a fiberglas non skid panel adhered to the top surface? Or is this a factory finish you are into?

They make a roll on coating that stands up in sharp (relatively) edge that stays at it cures. I will try to find a pic to share.

Here is some info that looks like what you need: http://www.practical-sailor.com/marine/Applying-Nonskid-to-Worn-Decks-10480-1.html

Jeez you guys, get a hold of Stretch, Capt. Head. He has all the info. Or do a search.

Cappy that does not look like what I have.
I am repairing the oem non skid that looks like the same as most of the small diamond molded non skid I see on half the boats in marina.

The second one has about 75 patterns to pick through. The hard part would be to find your match. Are you trying to match a whole sheet, or just a couple square feet?

Xsbank said:

Jeez you guys, get a hold of Stretch, Capt. Head. He has all the info. Or do a search.

Click to expand...

Never heard of stretch capt head.
That is not something I would do a Google search on while looking for a fiberglass non skid panel.

cappy208 said:

The second one has about 75 patterns to pick through. The hard part would be to find your match. Are you trying to match a whole sheet, or just a couple square feet?

Click to expand...

Just a few square feet. I have 4 small areas on the rear cabin top that look like they have had something dropped on the deck and they are cracked and holding water. I have to grind them out and re glass them and at least get them close to matching. I'll look again at the website when I can get on a computer it's hard to see them good on a phone

Stretch Head is the owner of a GB woody. He's in the middle of an epic re-decking project. I don't know if he's showing progress on this forum but be is over on IAGBO. From what I've seen though he isn't using any fibreglass panels. I'm interested in nonskid panels for my fly bridge deck but haven't had much luck. It appears that Marine Innovators may be out of business.

Hi Boyd, Stretch has detailed his search, acquisition, experimentation and use of non-skid panels for his redecking project.

Jay,
maybe try phoning them. Not all companies, even good ones reply to e-mails with any reliability. I've run into a few. Usually a tel call will at least get a good contact who will give you their e-mail address and then you can deal reliably with them. Once you have that contact all changes for the better, usually.

If the area is small enough try doing what I did. I did just have one small break about 3" across. Filled it with matte and cloth for build up and then for the gel coat i made a pattern/mold.

Used some liquid latex rubber to copy the pattern itself.

I cleaned an area close by and then laid down some of the liquid mold release wax, enough to ensure my pattern wouldn't stick but thin enough to NOT fill the pattern too much. I then applied several layers of the latex so it completely covered the pattern I had cleaned to copy.

Then I used a piece of coarse cloth and pressed it on and more latex over the cloth to reinforce, forcing the latex through the cloth. Then on top of that I latexed a piece of plywood. If the deck is curved, likely, you will have to build up the latex and rags so the backing ply can adhere. Mine is curved but the area was small enough I could ignore it.

I then, once my mold was made, laid it over the area to be patched and wiggled and fiddled untill it felt like it was falling into the existing pattern. Then using tape I made registration marks to there would be minimal fiddling once the gel coat was laid down. The whole mold does need to be omewhat larger than the patch area, 1 to 2" all the way around.

Applied some more wax, lightly, to the mold face. Laid down the new gelcoat, pushed the mold into place and put a weight on top.

It turned out pretty good for a hack. I should have used a much heavier weight as the gel coat was more viscous than I thought so there is a slight height difference between the patch and the original deck. The gelcoat, I could not match the colour so there is a difference. Yet, it looks pretty good and unless pointed out now does not stand out and looks far better than the broken spot.

Thank you all for the links also.

Thanks guys for all the feedback. All great info and gives me more options.

Well the flex mold seems like what I need. However my boat is not in their list, so I have contacted Jamestown distributors to see if I send them measurements of the point to point if they can match a pattern.
Stay tuned.

UPDATE
Gibco Flexmold has gotten back to me and they are working to match my pattern.
Seems my e mail to them got filtered to a junk folder, hence their delayed response.
However I give them kudos for reviewing their junk mails and being able to pull mine (and a few others) back into the system and acting on them.
I have been working with a very nice lady, Amanda, who explained what happened and what they did to help fix the email issues.
So they have a small deck sample that I sent in, and they will try to remove the surface buildup of paint so they can make a closest match.
I'll post again when I have more info.

By the way Jamestown Dist was no help with matching other than suggesting a product they carry to make a small mold

VERY good jleonard. Please keep us posted as you progress.
I have some spider cracks on the side decks in the non skid I would like to address one day. Guess I need to read over the prior posts to see what you are working on??


1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's