I'm working on purchasing supplies for some winter work. The deck has me a little bit unsure of which way to go. I read the threads on here where people did a lot of work and it certainly helped.

A couple weeks ago I was ailing on an Alerion Express in St. Michaels Maryland and it had a fresh coat of Kiwigrip on it. Not something I would have expected on the boat but my friend along with a few of his friends in NYYC love it. I've used it before but it was on a small center console we have up state NY. Was very easy to apply and looked fantastic.

I'm curious if anyone here has used it for the deck of the ensign? Mine is older and the current coating certainly needs some work and it seems like a relatively easy was to get things safe and clean up the look of the boat at the same time.

I have not used Kiwi Grip but have seen this question posed by several folks on the forum and the reports seem pretty favorable for a simple to apply one part, water based paint to freshening up the deck. It does say to apply the paint over a sealed surface so depending on the condition of your deck you may want to sand, fare and primer with a good one or two part barrier paint.

you may also want to experiment with different textures with Kiwi Grip - the pictures show some of the aggressive textures looking like they could be knee burners for you and your crew. I went with Fine Awlgrip non skid material and the crew has left a little bit of skin on the deck at times so finer texture over more aggressive is probably right but you can test it on smaller areas....PS the crew is fine, no band aids needed, and as long as they don't bleed on the sails its all good.

A question I would have is if you don't like the Kiwi grip how hard is it to get off and replace with something else. Without knowing, the concern would be that it is some kind of rubberized surface that is not easy to sand off and go with something else. Probably something that can be easily tested on a separate piece of material and see how sandable it is.

Robin

I've thought about what happens if I don't like it. I went ahead and ordered some and am going to fool around on an old piece of fiberglass I have from another boat to get a feel for application and as you pointed out removal. I would like something that would cover the old imprinted design if possible. I may take a square of that during the winter and try something else too.