Treadmaster - what to do

[kornelia strangeboat]

I have 10 year old treadmaster on the deck of my 33 ft sloop. Although I have never liked the color of it, I cherish the safe, nonslippery deck it gives us.

Problem is, it is getting brittle at the ends after a few years in the caribbean and also is fading a lot.

Thnking about removing it and replacing it. Does anyone out there know what sort of glue it is glued down with..? Most obliged. Also, underneath the deck there is some sort of diamond-shaped tiny non-slip surface embedded in the deck it self, and the glue is ofcourse sunk into this surface.

Will it be possible for me to rip/force the TM of, then sand down the surface, reapply glue and put on new TM?

Someone out there who has done this?

Cheers
Kornelia

[Gallivanters]

I've applied Treadmaster with regular ol' contact cement.

I would prefer to try different solvents (in a non-conspicuous area) in attempt to remove the old adhesive from moulded nonskid.

Good Luck,

Kirk

[Sonny]

I think that Tredmaster has a paint which can be used on the their non skid. I aslo have it on my deck and will paint it next year.
Sonny

[FrankZ]

I put down Treadmaster last year on my deck. I used West Systems epoxy. A couple months ago I added a deck organizer and was able to cut the shape out of the treadmaster then peel it back with a sharp putty knife fairly easily, I expected this to be a real pain so I was pleasently surprised.

The makers of Treadmaster do offer an adhesive to be used with it, but looking at the cost of coverage of that versus the cost of coverage for the West Systems it was much cheaper to go the epoxy route.

You might want to try a small spot somewhere that isn't all too noticable and see if you can peel it back with a sharp putty knife. Also most epoxies and adhesives are heat sensitive so you might have luck with a heat gun to loosen things up a bit.

If you plan on redoing the Treadmaster you will want to be very careful removing the current as you can use this as a template for cutting the new stuff. I used red rosin paper that I purchased at Home Depot to make templates. It took some time to get it laid out in a decent looking manner and tracing them while the sheet was on deck with some wind blowing was a source of much aggrevation. I kept the templates I made so I never have to do that again.

[George DuBose]

I know this is an old post, but I used the Treadmaster reconditioner on 10 year old Treadmaster and it looks brand new. The paint (reconditioner) also made the Treadmaster easier on the barefeet.

I highly recommend the reconditioner.