Non slip deck repair

[Voodoo 158546]

I tried a search but couldn't see anything on the forum so thought I'd just share ....

It's so simple....a lump of plasticene ( kids modelling clay ) pressed into a good bit of deck,
Carefully lifted off then roughly lined up and placed over the ding that's got a tiny amount of the correct coloured gelcoat, gentle press with something flat and leave for a couple of hours..
What looks like orange residue is merely plasticene that I haven't removed yet. I take the bulk off carefully with the sharp file and the remainder with an acetoned cloth once full cure is reached later.
If you really took your time it can come out an almost invisible blend. It's a judgement call with the amount of gelcoat you drop in the ding - way too much leaves a very distinct raised edge, too little leaves a blatant dip.
But at the end of the day it's just gelcoat, you can easily grind it off and go for it again until your happy.

 

[CaptainAhab]

There are a couple of similar methods for copying the nonskid for larger patches. The first step is to use some kind of wax as a mold release(car wax, and hairspray work very well). Let it dry, then repeat. . Brush out a decent amount of laminating polyester resin over the waxed area, enough to completely fill in the pattern. On a piece of melamine or plastic covered ply. Layup 1 layer of 10 oz fiberglass cloth and resin. Bond the single layer of glass to the resin on the deck. It will lock in with no sanding because of tacky laminating resin. Lay a piece of peel ply or simple plastic sheeting or a cut up garbage bag over the whole mess and smooth it put with a spreader. After it all cures. Peel off the plastic or peel ply. It should all be smooth and hard. BEFORE you remove the part, take a permanent marker and a framing square and draw some reference lines on top of your mold. This will help you to orient it to the center line of the deck when using as a mold. Now you can pull it off and you have a nice thin flexible mold of the deck pattern. The one layer of glass will keep it all together, yet it will still be flexible to smooth out over new gelcoat. Before using your deck mold make sure you wax it several times to prevent it from bonding with new gelcoat.

The other option is they do sell at some molding companies special polyurethane 2 part molding products. They are simply brushed in a thick layer 10mm(3/8") over the area. These work well , however they may be hard to source and you don't usually need much and they are a bit expensive. If you go that route once again draw accurate reference marks on the back side to help line up the pattern on the deck.

 

[Voodoo 158546]

Here's a moulding off a wayfarer side deck, made more or less as described above.
Selected an area of deck, thoroughly cleaned,
taped a square area using several layers to build a lip,
waxed - my best carnauba concours for my car ! - several times via fingertip application, really rubbed in,
applied gel coat,careful not to break the surface film of wax, dripped in then spread around until level(ish) with the tape lip,
Gingerly dropped on a patch of glass cloth, encouraged it to wet out with lolly stick,
Covered and left to cure...
Later I attached a foam rubber backing ( mouse mat ) using a touch of resin.

It's flexible enough to take curved decks, beefy enough to apply weight to.
So useful.
I did make a laser one but I've loaned it to someone and they seem to have forgotten to return it !