BYYB Forums

G'day;

As it gets closer to time to start painting, i'm wondering what people have done regarding anti slip solutions. in the weekender video, walnut shells were used, then painted over, anyone else done anything differently?

I'm assuming most do the deck, seats and floor of the cockpit? I've also heard of clean sand being used, and also saw a non slip additive for epoxy at one store. I will be glassing all those surfaces first, and am wondering how much will something like sand, walnut shells hide any imperfections in surface prep?

thanks!

Sand is the worst thing you can use. It looks good and works well as an anti skid, but it's hell to remove when you have to.

Most real paint stores sell a ground up polyurethane pellet product, specifically intended to be mixed with paint, for this very purpose. It comes in various "grits", which are typically coarse through fine. All work well and this is the stuff you should use.

There are two basic techniques, one is to mix with the paint, the other is to sprinkle over wet paint. I use the sprinkle over wet paint technique, as I can get a much more uniform texture this way. If you mix it with paint, you need another person to constantly stir the paint, to keep the particulates in suspension. If you don't do this, the texture job comes out blotchy and inconsistent.

There's no need to do this to epoxy, though some have. You're better off doing the texture job to the paint, unless you're going after a clear, textured finish. If it is a clear, textured finish, use sugar or salt as the texture and apply with the sprinkle method. When the clear coating dries, hose off the surface and the sugar or salt will melt and run out of the finish, leaving you with a textured, but clear coating.

Salt or sugar also works in paint as well and you don't have to wash it out, but you do need to use a top coat to seal it down or you'll have ants after you sugar coated decks. If you use sugar, get the unrefined stuff, which has bigger chunks or use rock salt for the same reason.

    Home Depot carry an anit- skid you just add to the paint, it works great I have used it for the past two years.  Keith W

I prefer the sprinkle method too. The last boat I built I mixed the texture into the paint and the stuff was horrible to spread evenly! I used white silica sand on top of the paint this time around because a 20 lb bag is super cheap and I liked the sparkly "pop" it left behind, I'll put clear over the top as soon as the weather co-operates a little bit.

Great job on your 5 1/2 month build John. Sand does work well, but it's a real pain in the butt to remove. I do a lot of repairs, so removing this type of texture has me sore against it. Eventually, it always has to come up, but you've got plenty of time to enjoy it now.

Again, if it's mixed in the paint it (texture particulates) doesn't come out nearly as uniform as sprinkling it over wet paint. I usually sprinkle enough to completely cover all the wet paint, maybe as much as an 1/8" thick. When the paint dries the next day, I shop vac it off the surface to pick up the loose, non-stuck stuff with a soft brush attachment on the hose. Lastly  I top coat the texture to lock it down.



This is course AwlGrip texture (polyurethane beads) on a customers floor board. It's yet to be top coated, but the rough texture is quite visible. Note the curved corners and different color "waterways".

The other image (below) is a seat box, again with two tone texture/waterway treatment and curved corners, but with fine texture partials (also AwlGrip). It too is awaiting it's topcoat and you can see the texture is much finer, very similar to sand, but easier on your bare butt, if it rubs against it. It's got a little dust on the surface so it looks slightly more "textured" then it actual was, especially in the left side of the photo.

Thanks guys, so if i do 2 primer coats then 1 finish coat, apply texture then i more finish coat? Or do i do the texture then topcoat with something different?

Yes, that's the general idea Bob. I have to admit, I use a lot of primer, mostly to smooth things out. You see if you apply two coats of primer, lightly sanding between coats, then the film thickness is that of only a single coat, so I usually have 3 or 4 coats of primer.

The same with top coats. The way I look at a textured area is; I do the paint job as if it wasn't a textured job. It looks good and has the film thickness it needs, then I apply the texture and lock down top coat.

Texture is rough on a paint job. The little particulates try to eat and chew up the paint beneath it as it gets walked on, so I figure the primer and base coats need to be full thickness.

thanks paul, that makes sense to me , in our climate where we can have summer temps at 35C and winters at -45C (rare, but happens) and with a boat that will be stored outside, i figure an extra coat or two will be a good investment

I used interlux anti-skid paint.  It went on smoothly and evenly.  You could add a second coat for more grit but the first coat covered so well and the grit was just the level I wanted so I did one coat.