Removing old chipped paint from deck

[advgaia]

Hello to all fellow sailors. Recently, I acquired a Pearson 323 in pretty good shape and a long, well documented history. It's on the hard on the Jersey Shore and I'm preparing to get the deck in order....it's a mess. My concern is "how do you remeove/strip old flaking paint from the molded textured deck? Sanding wouldn't be right since it would also remove the texture.

All of my inquiries have come back empty.

[psk125]

If you use a paint remover it is going to take forever (think stiff toothbrush) and be an environmental nightmare. Old gelcoat nonskid is not usually very nonskid any more, so trying to save it isn't necessarily helpful. If you are repainting the deck the layers of undercoating and topcoats will fill in the gelcoat nonskid and make it ineffective, so you will need to add nonskid grit anyway. Might as well bite the bullet and sand off the nonskid.

[MicHughV]

You could sand everything flush and glue down "deck tread". It will be labor intensive, but the finished product is much better at "non-slip" than grit mixed in with paint.

[coopec43]

Can you work out what sort of paint it is and get a paint stripper for it? (Hope it doesn't melt the gelcoat!)

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[Pete7]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

You could sand everything flush and glue down "deck tread". It will be labor intensive, but the finished product is much better at "non-slip" than grit mixed in with paint.

That tread master stuff is the work of the devil. Great when in bad weather and you have to go on deck. Awful to live with the rest of the time.

After a couple of decades operating dive boats, I have come to the conclusion that deck paint from the likes of International is pretty good stuff. I always used light grey, it stood up to dive cylinders and weight belts being constantly moved and dropped on the deck. It was also easy to walk on in bare feet. Finally at the end of the season, could be touched up and the colour matched perfectly once dry. Surface prep essential to get a really good bond with a thin first layer and then follow up with a second layer once dry.

I would grind and sand all the paint and existing none slip off to start with. Then mask up the deck to give a pleasing pattern rather than all one colour.

[advgaia]

Thank you all for some very good replies to stripping paint from FRP molded non-skid deck. I can see that there's not going to be a quick solution to removing the old, cracked paint, so I'm going to go with a supply of Scotch Bright, a brass wire brush, and old fashioned sanding. I can always re-apply gelcoat and non-skid.

While my boat has been well documented for repairs/customizations, there's no mention of deck paint applications, when/product. The bottom hull, yes. 4 coats of Trinidad Pro, but no mention of deck.

[David Mathis]

Two options both involve sanding off the old paint. Option one (much less cost) is applying slip resistant deck paint which is sold by several paint companies. Option two (More expensive but more comfortable on bare feet.) is to apply closed cell foam decking. I applied Sea-Dek in the helm area, dining area, and swim platform about 6-7 years ago. It has held up great with frequent heavy use and still looks new. We have the teak look (Yes, it really does look like teak.) but it is available in several patterns and colors. Some have commented that it's hard to clean but they are scrubbing it which is ineffective and very labor intensive. A cheap electric pressure washer gets it looking like it was applied last week. If I get another boat, Sea-Dek will be applied again.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by advgaia

Thank you all for some very good replies to stripping paint from FRP molded non-skid deck. I can see that there's not going to be a quick solution to removing the old, cracked paint, so I'm going to go with a supply of Scotch Bright, a brass wire brush, and old fashioned sanding. I can always re-apply gelcoat and non-skid.

While my boat has been well documented for repairs/customizations, there's no mention of deck paint applications, when/product. The bottom hull, yes. 4 coats of Trinidad Pro, but no mention of deck.

You could try three things before sanding it off:


1)
Scotch bright abrasion fleece on an orbital sander. Works well on rough surfaces.



2)
A welding finishing brush with plastic bristles on an angle grinder or drill.



3)
Wet soda blasting with a Kärcher style pressure washer.



All should be good enough to roughen the surface enough for another layer of paint. Roll the paint on, if you want to avoid filling the Antiskid up.



Alternatively sand it off and use the other suggested solutions:


Threadmaster
Kiwigrip
Polyurethane paint over sand

[MicHughV]

Deck tread can be a bit rough on bare feet, no question there, but offshore in a blow, or just in the rain, as has been have noted, when one needs to go forward, it surely does provide secure footing. However, going barefoot for a while, hardens the soles of one's feet and after a while, this is no longer a concern.

The deck on my steel boat was originally paint with grit added. It was ok non-slip, but not great. Additionally, whenever I dropped something heavy on the paint, it would chip, etc. After a year or two, I opted to install the deck tread. It was labor intensive work, as I tried to keep the pattern consistent thru'out the deck. but I grew to love the stuff, especially around the bow where I was working with anchor and chain, and around the stern, where I was equally always doing " stuff". It also seemed to provide an additional layer of insulation keeping the interior of the boat relatively cool.

Adding grit to paint is also a hit and miss thing and hard to get consistent coverage as some areas seem to get more than their share of grit, while others not so much.

An existing fiberglass deck will already have some or other "non-slip" pattern on the deck and this may provide a better surface for grit than a flat deck, but I have no experience in this, so will refrain from comment. However, I would not attempt to sand the " non-slip" pattern off, if it was me, rather just sand it clean and apply the paint and grit

[rslifkin]

When the day comes to re-do the non-skid on my boat, I expect to go with Kiwigrip. It doesn't seem to wear or chip as easily as some of the gritty paints do. And in my case, the texture produced by the Kiwigrip roller is almost a perfect match to the texture of the original non-skid in my gelcoat.

[Franziska]

Reg.adding sand to paint.



We do it differently. Tape off area for Antiskid. Paint with 2 component PU paint. While it's wet, cover new painted area with a layer of sand, all over, 5mm thick. Let cure. Blow off any excess sand with an inverted vaccum cleaner. Brush off carefully. Than paint over the sand areas 2-3 times with the PU paint.
You get an even and consistent finish this way.



We use sand from the beach, but any clean, light colored fine sand will do. Desert sand is to fine though.

[MicHughV]

I read somewhere that beach sand was not considered to be good paint grit due to the moisture inherent in beach sand.
Additionally, beach sand, due to rolling back and forth in the surf, tends to get rounded and smooth edges. From an engineering perspective, beach sand is considered " ball bearing" sand.

Curious to hear your experience with beach sand.

[advgaia]

Originally Posted by Franziska

You could try three things before sanding it off:


1)
Scotch bright abrasion fleece on an orbital sander. Works well on rough surfaces.



2)
A welding finishing brush with plastic bristles on an angle grinder or drill.



3)
Wet soda blasting with a Kärcher style pressure washer.



All should be good enough to roughen the surface enough for another layer of paint. Roll the paint on, if you want to avoid filling the Antiskid up.



Alternatively sand it off and use the other suggested solutions:


Threadmaster
Kiwigrip
Polyurethane paint over sand

I like your idea of ScotchBrite on a sander......never thought of that, even as I have numerous SB pads. The plastic bristle bruch on the angle grinder is good, too.

[psk125]

Will second Franziska's suggestion to use 2-part paint. Prep for the 1-part paints (Interdeck, etc.) is essentially the same as for 2-part paints. We found that 1-part paints lasted about two, maybe three seasons before starting to look shabby and needing a re-coat. That meant doing the prep all over again before painting a second time. Not wanting to repeat the operation that often, we used Perfection instead The 2-part paint held up for about 12 years before simply getting worn off in spots that got substantial chafe from jib sheets and the like. We went with Awlgrip after that because it was easier to source.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by advgaia

I like your idea of ScotchBrite on a sander......never thought of that, even as I have numerous SB pads. The plastic bristle bruch on the angle grinder is good, too.

Btw you can buy it on a roll. Much cheaper than the precut stuff. You need a more classic square sander with clamping mechanism for this though.


I found that doing it with a wet surface is best. Does not clog up, and, does not make dust. Just be very careful with regards to electricity when doing this.

Maybe a pneumatic tool would be better than an electric one.