Revival of Ericson Nonskid Decks [Master Thread]

[Prairie Schooner]

Sharanov:

1. How did you prep the surface? Did you grind off original non-skid or applied over? If over, did you just clean it with soap/solvent or lightly sanded as well? I Just cleaned it with soap and water.

1. Did you color-match it? Manufacturer advises against "paint shop" type tints but folks apparently had success with some sort of "industrial" tint. I left it white. The rest of the cockpit is slightly off white.

1. How well does it hold up to wear? It's only been on a few months, but I sail a lot. Wear= 8.5/10
2. Did their proprietary anti-skid additive stay uniform or end up in the nonskid valleys just like sand would? Uniform.
3. Does it clean up well? Some (all?) nonskid paints trap dirt and are impossible to clean up. Yes, compared to sand. It seems there are no jagged edges to the surface and it cleans easily and well.
4. Could you post a few closeup pictures? No pics but it looks just like the one in Chris's pic.\

I rolled it on with a 3" small foam roller. about the same difficulty or ease as paint. 2 coats. Very even distribution and finish of gritty material. Very good grip dry or wet.

Hi Bill,
At six years out, what are your thoughts on the product? How has it held up? How does it look?
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[frick]

I watch a power boater do a kiwi grip on this boat.. it really looked nice when he was
down. He use white, with the least agressive roller

 

[AdventurousAnton]

BY the way, on the new boat I did a lot of work in the lazarette, and every time I stood in it my feet slipped down the curve of the hull. That got tiresome, so I painted a couple of square feet down there with a non-skid product from West Marine. It's gray, and seems to have rubber bits in it.

It was a big success and doesn't slip under foot. But it's thicker than paint, and would not hold to the slope, and ran down to form pools I had to keep mopping up as it cured. I can't remember the product name, but in that confined space I do remember a mess that took me hours to clean up.

Oh man...this made me laugh because just this past weekend (prior to sailing) I installed the same grippy ladder tape (looks like sandpaper) on specific parts of my lazarette because it was so challenging getting in and out without losing a foothold. Works like a champ! And...no crying over spilled paint.

 

[Loren Beach]

I installed the same grippy ladder tape

I also installed some strips of an "anti slip" tape on the inside of the sloped hull in the lazaret. It helped a LOT.

 

[bigd14]

Good deck shoes can help immensely. These one seem to play nice with the Ericson non skid:

 

[Prairie Schooner]

@bigd14
- Absolutely, Doug! I've currently got shoes with very good grip. Donna has new Sperrys. Our non-skid is shot, in the cockpit at least.

My initial reply was turning into a sailing shoe rant so I started a new thread to vent. (Not at you, bigD, at shoe manufacturers.)

Sailing Shoe Reviews

For twenty years I've raced on friends' boats at least two nights a week. As many note, the soles get hard and slick much more quickly than I'd like. Thus, I plan on replacing my shoes every two years. These are my last five years supply. Merrell Trail Glove 5. Really great shoes...

ericsonyachts.org

(I'm home with a cold and have too much time to type. Maybe I should go write some Amazon reviews.)

 

[bigd14]

Sorry for the thread drift! To get back on track, I’ll note that I used this stuff last summer and this season for the first time. It did a great job of stopping the nonskid from further decaying- no more clouds of white gelcoat running off the boat during washes and the water beads up nicely. It also significantly reduces dirt accumulation and almost completely eliminated the green algae growth we get here over the winter. Unfortunately it does NOT improve grip. The quest for the magic formula continues. In the meantime the new shoes have made the existing non-skid tolerable. We still have to warn guests about the pitching and rolling ice rink they are about to step onto though.

 

[bigd14]

A shot of the cockpit nonskid waxed with StarBrite about 6 weeks ago (mostly sunny days since then).

Side decks were waxed in April. The water is not beading up as much but it’s still way better than before using this product. I no longer get dried gelcoat powder on my clothes after sitting down on the nonskid.

 

[Prairie Schooner]

Non-Skid Refresh Update
In September of 2025 I did the first experiment with non-skid refresh using Total Boat TotalTread. One of my prime goals is to keep the basic molded-in texture look that the boat came with. This goal is purely an aesthetic choice. Based on this experiment, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep it.


To clean/sand the original non-skid I used water and pumice powder, scrubbing with a brush. This is inert material* and rinses off with water. It enabled me to 'sand' down in the valleys of the texture without grinding the high spots off. I rinsed residual powder off with fresh water and let it dry overnight. I figure any left over powder would just mix with the paint and add grit.

The next day I applied two coats of TT with a 4" mohair roller with 3/16" nap. The instructions say to wait 8-16 hours for overcoat but we were in a time-crunch so I put the second coat on while the first was still tacky.


I'm not crazy about the color. I like what the original looked like. I see that TB has introduced a "light gray" color that may be more to my liking if I were to continue with their product.

After about a month of use I'd say it is a marginally noticeable improvement over the state of the old texture. But it isn't nearly as grippy as I've experienced on other boats and I definitely want more.

Out of fairness to TotalBoat, I didn't exactly follow directions. I didn't wait the recommended times for overcoat. And I only did two coats. Also, the only real contact between shoe and TT is on the high points of the nubs. I put a coat of this TT on the plywood seat I made for our old dinghy. This was just a flat surface. My subjective impression is that it had more grip there.

So, the project continues. Before I sand off the molded in texture, I'm going to try another product, referring to my research outlined earlier in this thread.


*Pumice - Using sandpaper seems to always leave a greasy residue. I speculate the residue is the adhesive which binds the grit to the paper breaking down. Pumice is just grit. I first used it in my training as a silversmith. Mixing with a little bit of water, I use hand, fingers, brushes to work it over a surface. It's great for irregular surfaces. When it is rinsed off with water, there's nothing else to clean.

 

[alcodiesel]

I tried TotalBoat. Not enough grip for me to feel safe if I have to move around the deck in heavy weather.
Kiwi-whatever. BAM! fairly easy to use. Good grip. I feel safe on wet heeling bounding decks.
I didn't mask- just careful and I squeezed it out on the deck and rolled from there. Pay attention to the instructions about temperature and humidity. The white has turned a bit sand color so now it looks even better contrasted with my white decks.

 

[Prairie Schooner]

I tried TotalBoat. Not enough grip for me to feel safe if I have to move around the deck in heavy weather.
Kiwi-whatever. BAM! fairly easy to use. Good grip. I feel safe on wet heeling bounding decks.
I didn't mask- just careful and I squeezed it out on the deck and rolled from there. Pay attention to the instructions about temperature and humidity. The white has turned a bit sand color so now it looks even better contrasted with my white decks.

Thanks Bill. There are a lot of fans of Kiwi Grip here in the forum. I tried the footing on a sample board at a boat show and was impressed. I discuss it more on post #39. However, I really don't like the way it looks. It's silly of me, but for that reason I want to try other options first. Still, it could be where I eventually end up.