Help removing non slip coating.

doggypaddle · 17 September 2007, 20:24

Anyone any idea how to remove non slip deck coating as used by MOD? My SR5 has about 5 coats of it on the deck,In places its just falling off leaving shiny gelcoat, in other places its stuck like the proverbial on a blanket. I have tried a hot air paint gun and the gelcoat gets damaged, sanding is no good as it just takes all the carborundum off the paper in seconds, a knotted wire brush on a grinder just makes lots of sparks, most sucess so far is with a hammer and 1/2 wood chisel chipping away at it. i havent tried any chemicals because of the chance of damaging the tubes.
i did want to paint the deck or flow coat it but its looking increacingly likely i am going to have to cover it up with more of the same cack!!
TIA.

Pete7 · 17 September 2007, 21:24

International make a paint stripper for GRP. Mainly used to remove antifouling but worth a try. Has the consistancy of wall paper paste so should be easy enough to keep it off the tubes. Don't use Nitromors as it can attack GRP.

Pete

Downhilldai · 17 September 2007, 23:03

Have you tried an angle grinder? You can use a flapper disk if you're in a gentle mood?

doggypaddle · 18 September 2007, 09:31

Hi,
I will try some international paint stripper see if it works, trouble is there are so many layers, trouble with a flapper disk on a grinder is they are carborundum, so is the deck! tried a bit, and it was like grinding with a piece of chocolate! also the deck is a textures flow coat finish and i wanted to try and keep the texture, if i grind it off i will need to flat it all back smooth and re flow coat it.

thanks for the suggestions.

matt h · 18 September 2007, 12:17

used a paint stripper hot air gun and finished it off with a wire thingy on a angle grinder,

doggypaddle · 18 September 2007, 12:31

I have resigned myself to the fact that its not going to come off cleanly, ie without damaging the gel coat so i may have another go with the hot air gun, trouble is the gelcoat seems to melt before the paint. i think i will rip it off best i can and re coat the whole area with either some non slip again or flow coat it and apply non slip to a few key areas.

jwalker · 18 September 2007, 12:59

I've cleared a whole deck of a nonslip finish though it could well be something different to yours. I used an angle grinder with a normal grinding disc. You need a new disc with good sharp corners. Angle the grinder so that the corner of the disc is doing the work and keep it moving fast so as not to melt the surface and have the disc clog up, although it's inevitable that this will happen to some extent. Try to make the disc pick up the edge of the finish. Work so that the area done is left infront of you so as not to contaminate it. It will need only a brushing or vacuuming before you apply a flow coat.

To refinish I've used the following method and it's stood up to wear without a problem. Use a pigmented flow coat to fill the irregularities of the grinding and use only a small amount of wax in it. Soon after it has gone off, mask the areas you don't want covered with antislip. Recoat the area with ordinary resin brushed or rolled thinly. While it is wet apply the antislip grit. Lift the masking tape while the resin is wet. Once it has gone off, recoat over the whole area with resin containing wax. The thicknes of this resin will determine the roughness of the finish. In my case, I wanted the colour of the grit to show and I left the over coat resin clear.

For grit, pet shops usually have a selection of types and you won't need much. I used grit which is a mixture of sharp particles and tiny round stones.

Although it's fine now after much use, it would have been a bit course on the soles of bare feet when new so if this is likely for you, I recommend you use a grit without the the sharp content or a double coat of top resin. As a shaker, a tin with holes punched into the base worked well. Test this before you start because if the holes are too small the larger particles tend to block them and it will take an age to apply it.

It'll look good when you're done.

doggypaddle · 18 September 2007, 21:07

At last i have made a dent in the non slip! used the hot air gun and a sharp chisel to scrape it off. i managed to clear an area of several square feet in a couple of hours. it really is evil stuff, after i scraped the majority off i went over it with a knotted brush on the grinder, even a few square feet with 99% of it removed still jiggers up the brush in no time! anyway i can see the light at the end of the tunnel now thanks to your suggestions. i will give the diy pet shop nonslip a go and if i fail cover it with pukka stuff!.