what to do about chalkly non-skid?

alk

alk

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The kind of non-skid that was pressed into the gelcoat, with the little diamond shapes? It's as worn as the rest of the boat, which I'm working on a repaint.

In general, when 45 year old gelcoat goes chalky I believe you have two options - (1) sand, buff, and polish to try and bring it back - or (2) recoat it ( with paint or gelcoat).

Not sure how I would do either in this case? Sand off the no-skid extrusions? That seems like a brutal exercise. Build it up to level with new glass? Lot of unneeded weight on the deck - and a lot of money in fiberglass. Can I just paint over it - seems like it would be impossible to properly prepare for paint? Or just live with a dull, chalky deck?
 
Thanks. Didn’t know there was such a thing, and will give it a try - but I’m afraid my gelcoat nonskid is beyond this. Approaching the ”poliglow” phase, in other words needs a paint job. Hull is already headed for second painting; probably not painting above the rub rail until next year - but once I have fresh paint on the cabin, and deck areas that are not non-skid , the non skid sections are really going to stand out if I can’t figure out how to redo.
 
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I would not recommend poli glow. I would clean it with a good deck brush and apply the spray wax. Do it again mid season and see how it looks.
 
Oh no, i was not serious about putting poliglow on my deck - just trying to describe how far gone the gel coat is.

i have seen some YouTube’s of the boatworks today guy using some kind of buffer wheel to hit it with a rubbing compound, which I may try - but with the hull painting and a few others projects still not wrapped up, the deck is looking like a ‘next year’ - and will try the wax in a bottle this year.
 
Use non skid polish. Non skid doesn’t have to be shiny. You just want it good enough so it doesn’t bleed white chalk all over the boat
 
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Exactly. Not looking for a shine, but would like to not have a white bathing suit everytime I sit down.
 
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