flow coating deck

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lilianroyle

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I'm having my decks soda blasted. They're painted fibreglass and I have been thinking that rarther than repaint, if they are flowcoated this will provide a more or less maintainance free surface. Can I put something in the flowcoat to give a non slip surface, or sprinkle with fine sand. Are there any reasons not to flow coat the decks?
thanks in advance
Pete
 
Local fishing boat builders, and the likes of me use flo coat sprinkled with fine sand either from a beach or builders merchants, let it dry in the sun first. Only problem, it wears out the bottoms of the fishboxes if you drag them round on it. It's as unkind as a road to fall on.
 
lilianroyle said:
I'm having my decks soda blasted. They're painted fibreglass and I have been thinking that rarther than repaint, if they are flowcoated this will provide a more or less maintainance free surface. Can I put something in the flowcoat to give a non slip surface, or sprinkle with fine sand. Are there any reasons not to flow coat the decks?
thanks in advance
Pete
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At Preveza last year a Swedish couple re-gelcoated the topsides of their 42 ft yacht. He told me that the gelcoating was easier than painting the cockpit. He used rollers to apply the gelcoat, many coats, then wet-and-dried it when completed, although the finish before sanding was pretty fair. It was a super job when finished, took a long time but well worth it.

You need to be careful with adding abrasives for non-slip. I bought a tin of International powder for non-slip on my cockpit seats but it proved to be far too coarse, so I didn't use it. I believe it is possible to buy very fine sand which would be better.
 
I seem to remember a very fine talc we tried once, with flocoat, gives a good matt finish, but watch out when you open the packet near wet grp, it goes everywhere.
 
I've thickened gelcoat with microballoons and brushed it one. I then lifted the surface with a dry cloth. It provided a superb non-slip surface, but it was worse than 60 grit sandpaper and difficult to keep clean.
 
I vaguely recall someone telling me that they sprinkled wet deck paint with sugar to impress a non-slip pattern. Once the paint is dry the sugar can be washed off or just left to the rain!

I hasten to add that I have never put this to the test!

Rob.
 
rob2 said:
I vaguely recall someone telling me that they sprinkled wet deck paint with sugar to impress a non-slip pattern. Once the paint is dry the sugar can be washed off or just left to the rain!

I hasten to add that I have never put this to the test!

Rob.
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So you could use waffles for a good effect; what else?
 
Deck Flowcoat

With a well prepared deck flowcoating can giv you a great finish. Proprietry nonslip is available to mix in and does the job. It will also provide a permenant finish and remove the need to repaint in a few years.

Yoda
 
lilianroyle said:
I'm having my decks soda blasted. They're painted fibreglass and I have been thinking that rarther than repaint, if they are flowcoated this will provide a more or less maintainance free surface. Can I put something in the flowcoat to give a non slip surface, or sprinkle with fine sand. Are there any reasons not to flow coat the decks?
thanks in advance
Pete
Click to expand...

The most common error when mixing flow-coat is adding too much catalyst, because it contains up to 50% solids that need no catalyst, subtract the solids content and then add just over 1%.

Your next problem will be hiding any joints where you start on a partly or fully cured edge, best to have at least 2 people rolling and work from bow to stern at the same rapid pace.

Flow-coat will all but self level on a horizontal surface hut will run on steep or vertical surfaces if applied too thick, consider applying successive thin coats in these areas.

Non slip adhesive strips have come a long way and now last many years, consider using them rather than adding to the mix because it will make cleaning a very major task.

Use an 80mm roller, it will allow better control if thickness and give better access around objects and compound curves. Buy the 240 mm large, 12 in pack cheap medium nap rollers (Pink I think) and cut them down to 3 x 80 mm roller widths.

Use paint trays with liners or line them with alloy foil wrap, do not add new mixes over remnants of an old mix, it will leave lumps or cause the new mix to go off faster and leave ripples in your finish.

Hope this helps.

.
 
TradewindSailor said:
What do you mean by 'flowcoat'?

My concern would be added weight ...... if it's at all like screeding.

I've seen a deck coated with CeramKote ...... They did a good job, but I understand that you can't get the stuff off with slurry blasting! It's also quite thick compared to paint.

http://www.ceram-kote.com/products/ceram_kote_product_line.htm
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Flow-coat is simply a mixture of resin and colour pigment, you can make your own using almost all resin types. Flow coat resin contains wax that floats to the surface and excludes the air causing the resin to cure.

Gel-coat is the same stuff but has no wax added and is isolated from the air by covering with plastic or fibreglass mat and waxed resin as when applied to a mould.

.
 
Adding non slip to the mix

.
Adding an abrasive or soluble material to a coating has one major problem.

It will be all but impossible to ever get it as clean as it was when first applied, a pattern still has a smooth surface so while difficult to clean it's not impossible; trying to clean up dirt stuck to sharp edges is not possible.

You can compromise by reducing the amount of grit, but this also reduces the non slip capacity.

I prefer adding strips or patches of the many available out there. We have a problem with decks getting too hot to walk on and use a type of carpet material that is cool underfoot and non slip even when wet.

Hope this helps.
 
Flowcoat

Flowcoat is really intended as a finish for the inside of a fibreglass layup. ie it fills the voids and covers the loose glass ends to give a finish that is acceptable for the underside or inside. It is maybe OK as a paint but will always look a dull and powdery.

If the deck is reasonably smooth after blasting then I would suggest a 2 pack polurethane type paint and use the International git for non slip. If that is too rough put another coat over it.
Just do patches of non slip not all over. Do this by painting first allow that to harden then mask off the edges ie no non skid then painting the non skid areas and sprinkle the git over.

Any of the gloss hull paints would also be good. I used white which proved to be very glary in the sun but is easy to match and patch. A beige is a better colour for decks. I found the paint especially cockpit floor gets very worn so in my case needs touching up every winter.

No sugar is horrible. I bought a little skiff for my son where sugar had been used. Even years later the ants still loved to congregate on the sugar. That was where the sugar was meant to dissolve and wash away.
good luck olewill
 
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