Cost Estimate for Non-skid, etc.

StuartSailor · **Posted:** 10 Jan 2017 19:41

Happy New Year All. I would appreciate any info you can share about non-skid such as approximate cost to hire someone to do the entire boat, types you would recommend, etc. I'm seeing a lot of the cost in the labor but if you've done it yourself, how long did it take, how much in supplies, etc. If you're familiar with someone who does this type of work in the West Palm Beach to Ft. Pierce corridor please let me know. Thank you so much.

Jesse
s/v Sailsman
Tartan

KentB · **Posted:** 12 Jan 2017 08:31

Our boat is a work in progress and needs deck recoring. During our first season, prior to a week long cruise I coated the non skid with interlux single part non-skid paint.
There were many places where the original (1976) finish was worn through and glass fibers showing. I washed the decks repeatedly with a heavy bristle brush. Then wiped down with alcohol.
Taping off the non-skid areas is what is key to a nice looking job. Our decks are a tan color and Interlux had a close enough match.
Did two coats on the deck and one on the cabin top with two quarts.
I would have used a two-part paint if I wasn't anticipating some major deck work In the near future.
Did this in one afternoon.
Before and after pics attached.
If the smooth parts of the deck need redoing, you would want to do that first... and of course should remove all stanchion bases amd other miscellany...

StuartSailor · **Posted:** 14 Jan 2017 16:49

Thanks for the response Kent. Your boat looks great. However, as of yesterday a surveyor that I hired found more wet areas (mostly next to Genoa track), beyond the soft spots I was aware of. Non-skid just got back burnered and I will now be getting quotes from fiberglass repair services.

My challenge for the next year is I don't have time for the big labor, relatively easy skill chore. I will probably save the non-skid application for when I retire in a couple of years. I really hope my boat looks as good as yours when she's repaired.

Velera · **Joined:** 29 Dec 2006 09:38 **Posts:** 656

Stuart

I might get a second opinion from a different surveyor on your situation before you spend a lot of money at his suggestion in "recoring" the deck. It is possible, even likely, that you might have some wet near the genoa tracks and maybe somewhere else, but I have come to have a healthy disrespect for many SAMS and NAMS folks with those designations in their understanding of boat repair. They like to find "issues" with their notoriously unreliable "moisture meters" which actually measure conductivity rather than moisture and can be affected by the glass in the resin as much as by moisture.
I have owned my boat for 25 years and stripped the bottom layers of glass at the suggestion of a surveyor. After the boat had been in a California boatyard for 5 months and had three layers of glass replaced after that drying period, one of those meters showed 17% wet in the new glass. That was absurd, of course. A second meter showed similar results.
I have removed my genoa tracks which had developed seepage (they had a damp core around them). I did not find the deck in bad shape at all around those areas, however. I simply redrilled the holes larger and filled them with epoxy and hard thickener and redrilled and set the tracks. It was not a really hard job as the boat furniture is specifically removeable to make this possible.
I have come to feel that the SAMS and NAMS designations are more or less meaningless--surveyors mostly have those designations because they cannot get paid by insurance companies without them. But having one, does not designate competence. I would look for a surveyor who had actual boatyard experience with repair or boatbuilding. I think the boatyard guys would know who knows their stuff and who is just faking it.
I was disappointed to find wood in the genoa track holes I drilled (I would have thought that Tartan would have made solid glass there or at least "drilled and filled" to keep the inevitable water away from the deck wood), but I have worked on boats by many manufacturers and Tartan is generally better built--with some exception.
I think most old Tartans would need to have the genoa tracks and hatches "drilled and filled" at some point because these are stress points--and prone to leaks over time, but that would not indicate a major "recoring" of the deck as has happened on the boats from other manufacturers.
Beware of surveyor overkill recommendations.

Ray Durkee

KentB · **Posted:** 16 Jan 2017 14:35

I echo Ray's sentiments.
My question is: if you own the boat already, why get a survey? Well the answer is likely for insurance purposes. As long as your boat has all the necessary safety equipment and is reasonably sound, your goal should be to enjoy and use the boat as much as possible.
That said pretty much every boat out there has leaking hardware on the decks unless the owners have everything re-bedded every 7-10 years or anytime they notice something took o some big stress that could break the seal or Crack the glass. (That owner is 1 in 100)
Water in a core doesn't go away without drastic measures. But you can slow or stop water intrusion by pulling all hardware, drilling out and re-coring the fastener holes, then rebedding. This is the perfect time to paint decks as well.
I have a philosophy that a boat must get some seasonal use each year, even if there are glaring issues like the soft decks under our fresh paint. We re-cored the aft starboard section under the Genoa track and two of the stanchions. We have a lot more to do, but since nobody is falling through, and I have yet to hear of it happening to anyone else, we are using the boat and repairing what we feel we have to when it gets too ugly for us. Grant it we are not going off shore, or living aboard. We don't go more than 80 miles away, and it is rare to be more than 10-15 miles from a safe harbor.
We made great memories the last few seasons, and it's a good thing because we have found life can go by pretty fast - precious time with loved ones isn't usually spent while getting epoxy or caulk all over you.

Tartan37.com

Cost Estimate for Non-skid, etc.

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