Painting deck with Durabak18 Non-Skid

[SkunkBoat]

Well, you guys and all of your wonderful projects have guilted me into DOing instead of Day Dreaming.
I went with Durabak after seeing several posts on here.

I pulled the boat, scrubbed, sanded, wiped, glassed, bondo'd, sanded, wiped.......

After much delay I got the first coats on today. Still need to go back around edges with another coat of the smooth Durabak.

Looks great wet! Sure hope it dries....


PS...anybody know what to do with the remaining 3 quarts of Xylene?

[CharlestonSC]

Looks great, let us know how it holds up and cleans.

[jasoncooperpcola]

Looks Great!!!

I durabak'd my 250 Sportsman floor. I have pictures of it somewhere on here...... For non slip its great! I dont ever wear shoes on any of my boats and on my V20 i slip all over the place. But on my Sportsman i can stay put.

My only gripe with it is, its hard to clean. But we put two coats of textured Durabak. Right now its pretty nasty because i haven't scrubbed it in a while. If i keep my Sportsman i will put a coat of smooth over it.

Also we got the dark grey, bad decision. I cannot stand on it in the sun. If i put another coat on it i will go white or a light grey like yours.

[dbetterred]

Keep the extra xylene! It is good stuff. If you ever get anything on you, that thinner or turpentine wont get off, the xylene will. It dissolves almost anything. I had about half gallon left over from my durabak floor and now my xylene is almost all gone from cleaning up from other projects.

[ssiredfish]

Looks like good stuff!!! I am guessing its hard to clean because of what appears like pitting in the material?????

I have been considering doing this for awhile and glad you guys brought it up. Nothing against the low-glare almond deck I have now but it might as well be a slip-and-slide on some occasions. So I am seeing that some deck paints are raised and some pit. I guess there are disadvantages to both as yall say the pitted stuff is hard to clean but I also know it sucks to kneel or walk for some on the stuff that is raised.

Is that pretty much the consensus? What makes the Durabak stand apart from the rest????

[joe7670]

Looks good! I love the stuff.

[Stinky_Hooker]

Did it on a buddys floor and its very hard to clean. But it looks great when it is clean.

[Shawsee]

I did my V with Durabak a few years ago and it's holding up pretty well. I will need to redo it next year because its starting to peel in a few places. As for cleaning the deck after Durabak is applied, I found a good stiff deck brush with a long handle works great for scrubbing the floor. I also use bleach and Dawn dish soap to clean the deck and it comes out great and looks like it was just painted again. Striper blood, squid guts,sea worm schmoo just seem to lift right off with the brush and soap. I love Durabak and will be redoing again.

[jasoncooperpcola]

What makes the Durabak better than the rest is just how durable it is. In my opinion you need to figure out the number of coats of textured and smooth to get it to your liking. We did two coats textured on my Sportsman. I think we need one coat of smooth and it will be perfect. Has anybody done all smooth, no textured? I wonder how "grippy" the smooth is?

The "pitting" you are seeing is the rubber granules that give it texture. Even with a good thick coat of fish slime i don't slip.

I figured out why mine looks so horrible. I put "putty tape" used on metal building roofs on my gas tank hatch and last time i pulled it, the putty tape got all over the place.

[ssiredfish]

Originally Posted by Shawsee

......Striper blood, squid guts,sea worm schmoo just seem to lift right off with the brush and soap.

Yea but the big question is, how do you get Striper blood out of your trunk and bedroom carpet. As soon as you find out please let me know, man have I been worried lately..........