Non-skid gelcoat repairs

[SaylorMade]

So when I bought my 1984 boat it came with originally installed teak on the cockpit seats.
It was not pretty anymore...
Had it torn off and I am amazed to discover that the original non-skid gelocat could be cleaned up really nice!

So far so, good, but a few places there were some holes that were filled and faired with a greenish expoxy putty, and I would like to do some cosmetic improvements in those spots.

I have found a Gelcoat Putty (2 comp of course) that is close to the color, but needs to be darkened a bit. Can I use any standard paint-coloring pigment for this?

Now the gelcoat in question is nonskid, and I would like to at least get close to it on these spots.
Idea is to use some clay to make an imprint of the nonskid, and then I would like to put the clay mould on top of the spot when I have applied the gelcoat putty and let it sit while the putty hardens.
But then it would stick to the clay when it hardens (this putty is hardening by itself without having to cover or add wax).
What could I do to make this work, so I don't just glue the clay together with the putty?

[SaylorMade]

And a picture of the offending areas

[deltaten]

What I *might* try....your options/opinions may vary.

Find some out of the way/hidden spot of non-skid.
Apply no-stickum...wax & parting comp, spray Pam, whatever
Lightly press a big (enuff) blob of pure silicone caulk onto the spot.
Let cure and clean well

Grind out the nasty, green glop down to no non-skid level
Tape off to stop over-sqeeze
Apply just enuff (?!) Thickened gel coat, Marine-Tex, whatever you choose
Lay on yer pattern plug and carefully align, by feel of locking in or pre arranged , marked lines
Flat plate to bring to level with surrounding surface
Weight down till cured

Might need to even up the grooves with a light triangle file or a stockk-makers checkering tool....or X-acto knife?


See?....easy-peasey!

[JBP]

The method to copy non- skid pattern that i have seen (but not tried) is to:

Find a patch of good non-skid, clean it well.

Mask off an appropriate area to copy. Coat it throughly with PVA mold release agent which you can get most places that sell fiberglass supplies.

Coat it with a thick layer of gel coat and add a layer of glass mat for support.

When it is cured, you can peel it off.

To use it, coat your gel coat. pattern with PVA and press it into a thick layer of gelcoat.

[JBP]

You can also buy non-skid mold patterns, but they are expensive.

[JBP]

This guy uses spray on truck bed liner to make his molds.

https://www.greatgrady.com/threads/h...non-skid.7681/

[psk125]

Sounds like you are finding out why the previous owner covered the spots with teak. We used epoxy filler on some nicks in our deck. UV turned them into horrible brown smears that were embarrassing. We ended up painting the entire deck.

[SaylorMade]

Originally Posted by psk125

Sounds like you are finding out why the previous owner covered the spots with teak. We used epoxy filler on some nicks in our deck. UV turned them into horrible brown smears that were embarrassing. We ended up painting the entire deck.

Thank you
No it was deliveried with teak in the entire cockpit many years ago.
The holes are from other stupid projects the PO did

[Pete7]

How about using something simple like plasticine? Take a print from a good area and apply to the gelcoat. Leave it on the gelcoat to go off and don't forget the wax or the gelcoat will have a sticky surface. Wax stops this, plasticine might but can't confirm it. If you cock it up, then dremel out the gelcoat and try again.

BTW gelcoat doesn't stick well to epoxy, so if that is the underlying layer perhaps drill it out and fill with GRP instead. Perhaps something like this which has worked well in the past repairing a dive rib.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/pa...ml-194746.html

[SaylorMade]

Originally Posted by Pete7

How about using something simple like plasticine? Take a print from a good area and apply to the gelcoat. Leave it on the gelcoat to go off and don't forget the wax or the gelcoat will have a sticky surface. Wax stops this, plasticine might but can't confirm it. If you cock it up, then dremel out the gelcoat and try again.

BTW gelcoat doesn't stick well to epoxy, so if that is the underlying layer perhaps drill it out and fill with GRP instead. Perhaps something like this which has worked well in the past repairing a dive rib.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/pa...ml-194746.html

Thank you - great input
I might try with pasticine on a piece of scrap glasfiber to test the methods out. It's a fun lille "project"