Texture on Deck

The simplest thing is to mask off the areas of interest, roll on some paint, and spread sand onto the wet paint.

You should dry the sand thoroughly by putting it into the oven. That way it sifts well and spreads well.

You can adjust the aggressiveness of the texture by choosing the coarseness of the sand appropriately

You can use a sieve of some sort to shake the sand onto the wet paint, or toss it/cast it on

As far as the stock moulded texture, that's way more trouble than it will be worth AFAIC...

After I filled the soft spots on the deck of my 1980 H16, the texture was filled in with the epoxy in places.
I used a product from Interlux called Interdeck. It has the grit pre-mixed into the paint, so the texture is uniform. I masked off the areas that aren't to get the texture and I brushed it on. It has been on for 2 years now and it still looks great.

So the stock texture was some kind of square pattern. I should just do one of the grit patterns instead?

The best non-skid in my opinion is RE-Dek, a windsurfer product. It's about $24 for the kit--enough to do your P-18. Get it from Murrays. But do not use the roller that comes in the kit. It will fall apart half way thru. Buy a better quality roller from Home Depot. Pete

David

the deck 'pattern' was formed in the mould when the original gelcoat was shot in.

Short of building some sort of mould and/or stamping the pattern in...

It's just way, way, easier to paint something on. There's lots of commercial product out there: the ones mentioned above, KiwiGrip is said to be good, AwlGrip has something... Google is your friend.

You can replicate the actual pattern. You will have to do some searching, (yea, Google is your friend)I can't remember where I saw it, I believe it was a rebuild somewhere on this site.
The company sold sheets of material that you pressed into the deck recovering to duplicate the original pattern. They had over a dozen different designs if I remember correctly, & you could get an exact match.

Thanks guys. We are going to do gritty texture. After talking down a six pack we decided that the old texture just didn't do much. Why not do what will make the boat safer to be on and more fun to sail. To complete this we are going to spray the decks first and then follow up with the roll on girt. Followed by a quick light sanding to kick up any lose sand stuff. Then spray to make it look pretty again. Shouldn't be to rough and shouldn't be to slick like the stock. Going to the paint store this weekend to see what we can get to complete this. Thanks guys y'all rock.

Here is the product I was thinking of.

http://www.masepoxies.com/How_To/Flex_Mold_Repair_Directions.html

ok, bottom line is you don't ever stand on the forward decks, mayby you sit on them, but never use the non slip part of it. unless you are restoring the boat to make a dozen dollars, your old prindle will only fetch so much ... paint the mf and sail it...if you are into resto...for artistic sake... then spend the money.otherwise, sail it! an old cajun contractror once told me ptmf...(paint the mother...)

Lots of laughs and I agree.