Trakmark deck covering

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Guest
I'm thinking of applying trakmark (spelling??) to some of the old non-slip areas around the cockpit on my GRP boat. Question, apart from removing old deck paint will I have to grind smooth the old sand-rough GRP surface to get the adhesive to stick. Has anybody got any experience of gluing to a less than smooth surface?
 
It needs to be reasonably smooth, so as to allow the adhesive to dry without voids, which will allow water to seep in later, it's not a big job to do, a disc grinder with sanding discs, will tear it up. An orbital afterwards will make short work of it, 60 grit is as smooth as you need to go.
 
I have a 27' cat and although the hull is grp the superstructure is ply. At some stage some owner has sheathed this in fiberglass matting. Although GRP is wondefully smooth on the mold side the same certainly can't be said of the other side. As you are probably aware most cats have large foredecks. So as to give this some protection we covered a large part of this with Trakmark (or a competing product). We used that type of impact adhesive that allows a small adjustment if made before pressure is applied (the name escapes me....).

While I would agree that in principal voids are best avoided we think that the glue fills most irregularities. Our trakmark has been in place for about 4 years without trouble so I would say smooth the area a little but don't go mad about it. I am sure you will find it will go ok.
We got ours from a chandlers but I think they had to send for it. If it helps anyone we have a brown piece, with the traditional diamond pattern, about 1m sq that we have no plans for. Perhaps we could negotiate something or other....??
Roger
 
Freebee said:
I would like to get hold of some trackmark can you tell me where you've obtained yours?
Click to expand...
I never heard of the stuff till today. I found it in a reference to someone having re-covered a Hunter 19 cockpit floor. It looked identical to the diagonal Treadmaster pattern.

I initially thought it must be a recent copy, the name being similar to Treadmaster, presumably to gain association with that product's quality. But it seems Trakmark has been made by Dunlop since 1965, while Treadmaster claims to have been available 'more than sixty years', so they're both pretty well established. Although today it appears the Trakmark products are much more like 'Tek-Dek' than the old Treadmaster.

Has anybody used it?
.
 
I'm considering buying a roll of non-slip from TEMU .... guy I know used it and he reckoned it worked OK ... as to how long it will stay stuck down ??

I have half non-slip cockpit on the MoBo fwd section and other rear half is plain varnished ply ..... daft !!
 
I've just bought a piece of eva from temu as a sample. it looks pretty good I chose brown plank effect , it just comes as a narrow roll marked up with planks with false black caulking effect. its self adhesive on the back but I would be sticking to diamond profile non slip moulded patches which are in a bit of a state crackled and worn out.. I think its a big ask for the self adhesive to stick to this. so I am thinking I should try and bring these patches to a level flat surface or stick it down at the edges with sikaflex. Under normal circumstances I think the edges will lift with normal wear and tear thats what the reviews say.
 
Greenheart said:
I never heard of the stuff till today. I found it in a reference to someone having re-covered a Hunter 19 cockpit floor. It looked identical to the diagonal Treadmaster pattern.

I initially thought it must be a recent copy, the name being similar to Treadmaster, presumably to gain association with that product's quality. But it seems Trakmark has been made by Dunlop since 1965, while Treadmaster claims to have been available 'more than sixty years', so they're both pretty well established. Although today it appears the Trakmark products are much more like 'Tek-Dek' than the old Treadmaster.

Has anybody used it?
.
Click to expand...
I don't think that is the same stuff as in the 20+ year old original thread. I think he is referring to the original Trakmark which looked like the diamond pattern Treadmaster but was a different product made of pvc and nowhere near as effective. It was in my eventide when I bought it in 1980, but was wearing through and peeling off in places so I gradually removed it and painted the ply deck instead (after some patching) then eventually laid it in teak. Much improved!
 
Thanks for pointing out the difference. I didn't notice twenty-three years had elapsed between Freebee's posts above. 😄

There's such a relaxed but detailed air in his second post, it reads as if he'd asked the question in the first post only a few hours earlier.
 
I've got...er...something along those lines on my deck, but its curling up at the edges and had lichen/moss spreading underneath it. I was thinking I might try heat and weight (perhaps boiled water in a flat bottomed jug, or a hot brick, or maybe a trad flatiron if I can score one) to hopefully get it to flatten, and then maybe superglue under the edges.

Anyone tried anything similar, or have other remediations to suggest?
 
Guest said:
I'm thinking of applying trakmark (spelling??) to some of the old non-slip areas around the cockpit on my GRP boat. Question, apart from removing old deck paint will I have to grind smooth the old sand-rough GRP surface to get the adhesive to stick. Has anybody got any experience of gluing to a less than smooth surface?
Click to expand...
If you use CT1 and a coarse application comb you'll have no problems as long as the surface is clean and dust free.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top