Cleaning Non Slip area

J

jacktm

New Member
Oct 16, 2006
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ny
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boatless
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Do you have some suggestions on cleaning the diamon non slip fiberglass?
 
soft 'n srub with bleach at the beginning of the year followed by Meguire Flagshilp wax put on with a wool wheel at 1500 rpms. The wax will prevent the dirt from sticking and you can wash the boat with a soft brush and get the non-skid clean using soap and water.
 
goblue said:
soft 'n srub with bleach at the beginning of the year followed by Meguire Flagshilp wax put on with a wool wheel at 1500 rpms. The wax will prevent the dirt from sticking and you can wash the boat with a soft brush and get the non-skid clean using soap and water.
Click to expand...

Wont the "non-skid" become MAJOR SKID by using wax???
as long as it doesnt leave skid marks i guess..... :smt021
 
I wax the non-skid on both my boats. The texture on my 26 does get a little more slick. The two types of non-skid on my 31 do not.

I have found that soft-scrub tends to dull the finish. A pressure washer can be very effective, but stay well away from all cleats, fittings, hatches, etc. as it will force water into the core and lead to serious problems.
 
General boat wash and brush combined with lots of elbow grease :smt021
 
boat soap diluted in proper amount of water and wash mitt. On my boat I practice washing regularly and prevention. No shoes or dirty feet onboard and wash often. Makes for diamond non-skid that is not any harder to clean than the smooth gel (nor any more dirty).
 
You can use any of the techniques or products people have recommended. And there are also special products made for cleaning and coating the diamond cut gel so they won't be slippery. Here is one of them.
http://www.properboatcare.com/nocl32oz.html

But the trick to preventing this part of the boat from getting dirty is to keep plenty of wax or polish on it. Others will say don't wax it but I have found that any of the wax or polymer products I use on mine don't cause the surface to be slippery enough to worry about it.
 
Wont the "non-skid" become MAJOR SKID by using wax??? as long as it doesnt leave skid marks i guess..... :smt021[/quote said:
Actually you might be surprised by how little this slickens the deck. You do have to wear deck shoes and I think Sperry has the best grip. I've only slipped once but that was because the dew on the deck froze overnight and I didn't realize it had gotten that cold. Luckly, I caught the bow rail and didn't go in the drink.
Click to expand...
 
I use a liguid wax on the non skid, I apply the wax in small area's and wipe it off before it dries. If you have any area's that the wax dries for any reason, simply add more wax (wax is it's own solvent).

It is not a fun job, and depending on what kind of non skid you have some are harder to work with than others. But I have done it that way for many years and it looks great.

I have never had any problems with slipping.

You need to protect the surface, after all it is gelcoat like the rest of the deck.
 
A friend that has a 330 and he waxed his swim platform - non-skid - we were rafted with folks and wet feet crossing boat to boat and the person fell - not a big fan of waxed non-skid - I prefer to just keep it really clean.
 
I have polished and waxed the forward deck, but not the swim platform. When we go out riding around, the swim platform always gets wet. The polish is a real pain to remove, and it shows up if you miss some, since it is a darker color. The was did not seem as hard to remove, but maybe it just cannot be seen as well since it dries a lite color.
 
Time to share a bit of a revelation here since I just cleaned my non-skid this week.

I have always been able to maintain my non-skid in pretty decent shape as I mentioned in my previous post. But it was starting to look a bit tatty on my 260DA so I set out to clean it sparkling white and then rewax it. Well, to make a long story short nothing I tried worked satisfactorily. I tried several different cleaning chemicals. I used a hard bristle brush and I even tried a pressure washer and still after all that I couldn't get some of the deeper dirt stains out. Then I tried Mr Clean Magic Eraser Sponges and viola.........the non skid cleaned right up and is sparkling white! :smt038
The sponges don't last very long on the rough surface of the non-skid so it may take several if you have a large area to do but these things really work and make the job easy to boot. Make sure though you just do the non skid because their abrasiveness will dull the shiny gel coat.

Also this time instead of waxing the non-skid, I put 303 Protectant on the non-skid when I was finished. I reasoned this may be a better choice than wax because the wax may have been what was holding in some of the dirt.
 
I've always had great results with Clorox Clean-Up jell with a stiff brush, and a generous rinse.
So white and bright, sunglasses are in order.
Don't use the spray liquid, as it is hard to control, and you'll ruin your clothes.
 
Sea Ray 300 said:
I've always had great results with Clorox Clean-Up jell with a stiff brush, and a generous rinse.
So white and bright, sunglasses are in order.
Don't use the spray liquid, as it is hard to control, and you'll ruin your clothes.
Click to expand...

Steve........try the sponges next time. No messy chemicals and very little rubbing. After all the other things I have tried and used over the years, I found this was the easiest way possible to get the non-skid clean in no time flat.
 
I am one mile downriver from a power plant at my marina. The industrial pollution makes keeping the non-skid clean a really, really difficult task. I used a pressure washer set to the very lowest setting (least aggressive) and it did a great job getting the black polluton out of the non-skid. Regardless of how frequently I wash the boat, the pollution finds the non-skid. so it goes.
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