When it comes to moving safely about on deck and staying onboard, regardless of the weather it is paramount that your decks have a good solid non-skid surface.  I am not speaking here of just older boats with worn out non-skid patterns as I have been aboard many a new boat where the non-skid surfaces were that in name only.

The non-skid properties of a deck are best tested when they and/or your bare feet are wet.  Yes, I know you are not supposed to run around on deck in bare feet but nearly everyone does.  So, when your bare feet and the decks are wet test your non-skid, if it is slippery then you need to refinish the non-skid portions of your deck to prevent accidents.

Also, look out for large areas of the deck, cockpit and cabin top that are not covered with non-skid.  Many boats have large areas around the cabin top edge and the edges of the cockpit sole where it meets the risers that are not covered with non-skid.  Stepping off the cabin top when 6” in from the cabin top radius isn’t covered with non-skid can result in a nasty fall.  I like to see non-skid carried to within an inch or two of the cabin top edge to prevent feet from slipping as one steps down onto the deck.

Applying or renewing non-skid is relatively simple, in fact, some of the marine paint companies have added non-skid particles to a limited number of their most popular colors, requiring nothing more from you than stirring up the can and applying the paint.

Other options include mixing the non-skid particles into your favorite deck color or sprinkling them on top of the first coat of paint, which is my preferred method.

The biggest hurdle, preparation, applying the paint is the easy part, surface preparation to get good adhesion of paint to substrate, in this case, a fiberglass surface, is another matter altogether.

Begin by choosing a weather window that will allow you at least 3 days of dry weather, preferably without dew.  Next, mask off the area you are going to non-skid so the surrounding smooth fiberglass/paint doesn’t get scratched.  Use a good multi-day tape such as 3M blue.  One word of caution, regardless of what tape you use, if there is any chance it will get wet, either from rain or dew, remove it each day and reapply.  Even the best tapes can become hard to remove if allowed to get wet.

Once the areas to be painted are masked off the area needs to be sanded to remove the gloss.  If sanding a deck with molded gel-coat non-skid use a 3M Maroon Scotchbrite Pad.  This pad is the equivalent of 220 grit sandpaper.  I place the pad under a random orbit sander and sand the deck, you can also sand it by hand.  Your goal to remove all the gloss.

If you are non-skidding a smooth previously painted surface such as you might have after repair work, you can use 220 grit paper or a Scotchbrite Pad.   If you are non-skidding a recently painted surface allow several days drying between the final topcoat and masking off to sand.  Applying tape too early can release dry to the touch but only partially dried paint.

Once you have sanded the area to be non-skidded, vacuum up the sanding dust, wipe down with mineral spirits, renew any damaged masking tape and you are ready to paint.

Regardless of the paint type you use, one part or two part, the following procedure is the same and you have 3 choices as to application methods.  One, you can use a paint already containing non-skid particles, limited here by what the paint manufacturers supply for colors.  Two, you can add non-skid particles to your paint color of choice.  With both of these methods, it is imperative that you constantly stir the pot containing your mixed paint so the particles don’t settle to the bottom.

Your, third choice and my preference is the apply a coat of paint to the area being non-skidded and then using a salt shaker apply the non-skid to the wet paint.  I prefer this method as I can get a more uniform application of non-skid particles than I can by apply a ready mixed material.

I make my own shaker from an old tin can by knocking a dozen holes in the bottom with a small nail.  You can use a salt shaker but it has to be fairly large so you don’t have to stop and refill it every couple of seconds as you will use a fairly large volume of particles.

Once you have your first coat of paint on and the non-skid particles applied by any of the three methods above, walk away and let the paint dry for 24 hours or so.

When the first coat of paint has finished drying, vacuum off any loose particles of non-skid and apply a second coat of paint without any non-skid particles in it.  Pull your masking tape and allow the edge of the paint to roll over and give you a soft rounded edge to the non-skid.  It is ok to leave the tape if necessary but you will get a hard edge that will with time wear down.

Non-skid applied in this fashion will give you many years of slip-free decks.  Sailing some 3-5000 miles a year we find it lasts 5 years before it needs renewing.  To renew I sand with a Scotch-Brite Pad and reapply as above.