H33C Polyglow and Kiwigrip
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Kiwigrip Nonskid

The time has arrived to freshen the deck's nonskid.  We waited until the handrails and eyebrows were stripped/repaired/varnished.  Now the Kiwigrip is going down a bit at a time.  If you look at the coach deck, there are three textures; smooth gel coat (around the hatches and bump-ups for added accessories), semi-rough (under the handrails and down to the eyebrows), and the real non-skid everywhere else.  We decided to leave most of the smooth gel-coat alone and only freshen the areas where the old nonskid was. 

For the Semi-smooth area:

  1. Around the handrails, I used a small edging tool (1.5" x 2" pad) and tamped up/down to raise the texture. 
  2. For the radius from top to coach sides and down to the eyebrow, I used a semi-smooth medium density mini roller.

For the rougher areas on the deck:

I will use the texture roller supplied with the Kiwigrip.  I will first cut around the smooth areas with the mini-roller.  It was quite easy to cut this part without masking tape and the radiuses looked smoother than what would have been made with pieces of masking tape.  The correct method is to find something with the same radius as the curve, tape, trace the object on the tape, and cut with an exacto knife.  This takes time and is complicated when there isn't room for the object with the correct radius.

I worked on sections at a time as time allowed between getting off work and dusk.  Be careful that you do not apply too late in the day when dew begins to form.  I made this mistake on my Tanzer and had quite a mess to clean up.  Also, do not allow the Kiwigrip to cure before taking the masking tape off.  If you don't you could either pull the freshly laid down Kiwigrip off with the tape or permanently attach the edges of the masking tape to the area taped.  The first section was around the handrails and down to the eyebrow on the port side.  Next will be the starboard side, then the rest of the upper deck.  The picture below were taken with my cell phone in low light (hence grainy).  I will get more taken when its all done.

 

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