Woven roving for reduced skid floor?

[TBarCYa]

My 21' Regal has a panel that runs down the center of the floor and covers the fuel tank and a small storage compartment. The previous owner made a cover from plywood and painted it (no glass or resin) and it has held up for the year that I have had the boat but it's getting to be time to rebuild the panel. There is a hinged hatch over the storage area and a small hinged hatch over where the fuel sending unit should be.

To cover the fuel sending unit I am thinking of using a 6" round plastic deckplate and for the storage I am considering sticking with a hinged cover although a lift out teak cover would look awesome. The current fiberglass floor is textured very similar to woven roving which has me thinking...

If I build the panel out of plywood and cover it in heavy woven roving and tinted resin (white to match the rest of the floor) will the texture of the roving 'show' thru enough to make the deck a little skid resistant? Would simply wetting the roving with resin and allowing it to cure be sufficient or would it need to have an additional layer of resin only on top? I would prefer simply wetting the roving so the extra resin doesn't reduce the texture of the material.

When I replaced the stringers in a previous boat I used woven roving in some areas and if I remember correctly I could feel the texture when it was cured but that was a couple years ago and I really don't remember. I also don't want to have too much texture but I suppose if a second coat isn't required but the texture is too rough I can use the second coat (resin no glass) to soften it a little.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Woven roving for reduced skid floor?

That plan will probably work. From time to time you might a bit of the roving in your foot however. There are many kinds of mix in non slip addatives for the resin.

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: Woven roving for reduced skid floor?

Why bother when you can buy self adhesive anti skid tape in various widths and white, black, or grey from Home Depot or probably Lowes. No worries about fiberglass in your feet there. You can cut it into various decorative shapes--herringbone, parquet etc. Gets worn, pull it off and apply new.

 

[watermellonI]

Re: Woven roving for reduced skid floor?

I ve done something like this on my deck, but didn t use tint, haven t tried it bare footed yet, i have carpet over it for the family outings then pull the carpet and go fishin.

 

[TBarCYa]

Re: Woven roving for reduced skid floor?

Chris, I'm looking into some of the additives or even just playground sand if plain woven roving isn't non-skid enough. I've used sand before and it's quite comfortable to walk on. I used a paint before that had rubber particles in it and it was great with shoes but since the deck is all white I don't like shoes on this boat.

Frank, I figured that since I have to glass the panel anyway that I might as well have the non-skid built in plus I'm trying to reproduce the texture of the rest of the floor.

Watermellonl, I had carpet in a previous boat and it was just too much work to keep it clean and dry.

Thanks.