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Here are the results of some testing I did on the techniques to repair whaler non-skid. Not sure this would work for large sections although it will work for smaller areas. The section of non-skid that I used came from my 1971 13 foot project boat.
The first things you need: rubber molding compound, mold release and a section of non-skid in good shape to use as your pattern. Clean the non-skid of grease and dirt. Regular boat soap should do fine. Then spray mold release lightly across the entire area you plan to mold. The molding rubber that I used was 60 shore hardness or slightly harder than a pencil eraser.
I did a couple light coats of mold release, just to make sure it didn't stick. Block off the area, i used pliable weatherstripping to build the dam. and then mix your molding rubber according to the directions.
Pour the rubber into the area and let it set. It is important to not have the rubber too thick or it won't bend and roll when you want to roll out the non-skid pattern. Mine actually ended up very thick, mainly because my section of deck was curved.
To texture a deck section, i first mixed up and created a section of gelcoat. I used a plywood base and just smoothed the gelcoat out, allowed that to cure. Once cured, I sanded it down to remove the surface wax and wiped with acetone.
Once that was cured, sanded it was ready for non-skid texture. Mix up a batch of gelcoat and then tape one side of the mold down to the deck/plywood base. Apply mold release to your rubber mold and any sections of the deck you don't want the new gelcoat to stick too.
pour the gelcoat under the rubber so you can roll / squeegee the mold pushing the gelcoat out and filling all the mold sections.
or in my case, a nice section of molded non-skid on a plywood base.
The real key is to make the mold thin enough to roll. It should be 1/8 of an inch at best as you want to pliable so that you can roll the gelcoat out ahead of it creating the nice crisp pattern.
thats not a bad price for the gun, considering i was thinknig about HFT an there guns are about 25-30 bucks. however not tested shooting gel coat. so ill go with the one you have used because you have already tested it.
I sent you an email to the email in your account.
nice 18 footer. like the bench in the back, good seating for people espcially the type of fishing i do infort laduerdale. trolling off shore in the gulf stream for dolphine, tuna, or drift fishing the reefs fo king fish. i used to use my 17 outrage II for that, an we had a lenaing post with a huge live well (bait well ) in it maybe 30 gallong maybe 40. dunno it was from whaler, we had no seating so we just sat on top of the leaning post. not comfortable but worked.
Kamie, your method sounds like a workable solution for repairing damaged nonskid pattern. However one thing I don't understand, how do you line up the pattern on a non skid deck so that the finished section is in line with the existing pattern.
Actually HPT (Harbor Freight Tools) sells a good gun for gelcoating. Ir a gun primarily made for spraying primer and has a 2.0 tip. Thats the key, any gun with a 2.0 tip or larger will spray gelcoat. The gun sells for $20 and with a coupon I bought one for $15. I has worked well, and in fact after lunch I will be spraying gelcoat on a center console. I have been thinning the gelcoat with styrene at 6%-8% styrene to a qt. of gelcoat.
Rich,
The section of deck that i used has been sanded, if you have an unsanded section so the pattern is more pronounced, the mold will lock into the deck pattern.
The gun i used for spraying is a 2.5mm tip, the larger the tip the less you need to thin the better. Depending on the gelcoat your spraying, up to 10% styrene or the minimum amount needed to have the glecloat properly spray through the tip your using.
Thicker gelcoat means more orange peel and more sanding. Thinner gelcoat means less orange peel, but spraying on more coats but less sanding. The trick is finding the happy medium.
