Hi,

I am rebuilding a board and I need some Acrylic Deck dust to put on a traction coat. Fibreglass supply in Victoria doesn't have any... Does anyone have a supply that can spare enough for a 72L board project?

Chris

Hi again - someone out there must have a suggestion beond the 'walnut shell powder' that I found at a marine supply place - Its a white board: somehow walnut shells don't seem the right stuff....

You can get acrylic foam dust from Fibreglass Supply in Bingen, WA (gorge).

A note about foam dust, as told to me by Fiberglass Supply. Apparently, there was one dood in the world who made acrylic foam dust for nearly all manufacturers worldwide, including Cobra. He ground up glass sheets to a fine grind that is good for decks. For some reason, he decided that it wasn't worth his while and stopped making the dust. So, now you can only get a coarser grind dust which apparently will eat your feet and booties. So, be wary on what you get sold. Make sure it is the fine grind of dust. Fiberglass Supply sells the more coarse grind now, along with a paint strainer. They advise using the strainer to seive out the coarse bits leaving a fine dust for the deck. Likely a good idea to use a mask or do this job upwind.

I've got a bit of the fine grind left, but in this time of world-wide shortage I've decided to hoard it for my future decks jobs sorry.

W-s-fish. Have a look at: http://www.epoxyproducts.com/nonslip.html

There are some options. BTW: I prefer macadamia dust. Tastier!

Hi all!! I found some acrylic deck dust, and have a can. Any comments on how best to put it on the deck? I have done the salt on acrylic spray paint, but I think I'll get lots of clumps? when I sprinkle a non dissolving powder?? I have used Re-Dek product before. Should I mix the deck dust in something and roll it on with a foam roller? Advice is most appreciated.....

Now that you have the best non-skid powder you need hi-quality clear two part linear polyurethane paint to sprinkle it on. Such as Endura, Allgrip or Imron....polyurethanes are expensive expect to pay about $200 rate + for a gallon kit.....you don't really need much... less than a pint.
....it is two parts and mixes like epoxy.......use good rubber gloves and a respirator .....this stuff is very toxic, full of isocyandides and other nasty stuff.

Hey WSF,

Where did you source the acrylic dust? I need to do the same job on my big wave board. I'm skating around my deck like a pissed off Tonya Harding

This is now third hand, lifted from a 'cached' web page, but still usefull. For small areas, a spray can of acrylic enamel + the dust will do the trick. This describes both the full redeck and spot fixes:



Allright! Yer starin at yer board it’s dry, and you’re in a place that you can do this without your wife goin ballistic. You’ve got all the stuff there too and yer itchin to get started.
Try not to get too freaked. "You can do this Homey. Just take it slow and easy."
Begin at the beginning…
Remove the footstraps. Unless you’ve got additional footstrap screws you should be careful not to strip the screw heads when backing the screws out. Put the screws where you can find em later
Tape off all the parts of your board that you don’t want to get goop on or sand down. That includes taping:
a) the rails Note: follow the line that exists for the deck grip. Let the tape be double wide on the rails because you want drippings to fall on the ground, not wrap around to the bottom of the board.
b) the foot pads if you want to be extra careful you can completely cover them but it’s probably not necessary
c) any and all vent plugs. After you’ve got yer stick lookin all protected you can break out the sandpaper.
Some people don’t sand off the remaining deck grip but I like to start with a clean slate. It’s sorta tricky cause you don’t want to start grindin off the top of the board cause it might be particularly ugly with blotchy "no paint" spots, so just take off enough to get the old grip "kinda" smoothed off.
a) use 100 grit sandpaper or higher. You don’t want to grind gouges in your deck.
b) don’t sand off the tape
c) wipe all the dust off the deck with a clean cloth sprinkled with acetone You want all the dust on your deck to be history. Be sure to have a window or two open when dealing with this stuff. In fact, take a moment to think about what’s coming up next by getting some fresh air….
Welcome back to the jobsite! As you know, the "gooping" part is next. This stuff goes off quick. So, when you’ve got it all mixed up you want to have had all the other stuff like your gritting medium all dialed and ready to go.
a) get the "grit" ready first
b) put on your dust mask
c) get the grit medium in the shaker. I say "medium" cause some people use:
acrylic deck dust or refined sugar or salt.
As I said earlier, the only thing I recommend is the acrylic deck dust cause it doesn’t dissolve in the water and therefore makes a "grittier" surface.
When you’re confident that the grit is ready at a moments notice you can move on to...
Mixing the goop…
a) follow the directions that come with the product to the letter. Unless specified otherwise, it should be equal parts
of A and B. Make about 4-6 ounces or epoxy resign
b) Thin the mixture with about 20% acetone
Getting the goop on the board…
a) Spread the mixture out quickly. You don’t want it to go off while yer working. You can get the goo on quick by pouring directly on the deck and brushing it all over quickly. Do it a section at as time. Say, the aft, then the middle then the tip section. It’s really important to check that you have the goo everywhere. Remember, missing spots will mean there will be no grip there.
b) don’t spread the goo on real thick. In fact, you may wanna kinda press it out thin with your brush strokes. Let the gunk fall to the floor freely. The idea is to have the smallest amount of goo that will hold the grit on your board. Less weight, yeah?
"Shake Rattle and Roll"
a) Immediately after getting the goo on you want to get the grit on. One of the most common problems is not getting the grit on before the goo goes off. Don’t let that dweeby thing be your problem. You can check the deck goo on a small spot with your gloved finger. Make sure it’s still at least gummy. If it’s already hard yer gonna have problems. (*see The Fix below)
b) Shake the grit on in an even, spread out pattern. If you’ve got the goo the exact thin, yet tacky, workable form then this part could be done by a monkey. Just be sure to get some grit everywhere. (I’m assuming yer a good boy (girl)and have your dust mask on)
c) to sorta spread out the grit on the board you can blow the dust around with a cardboard piece by fanning it or shake the board by grabbing it by the rail or maybe come up with another clever way. Again, you’ll have got the grit on, made sure it’s everywhere before the goo on the deck goes off.
Clean up and bail
a) Don’t be messing around with touching it here and there cause it makes ugly spots on your board. You know the term, "gettin air?" Yeah, well do that!
b) After about a half hour you can come back and carefully pull off the tape. It still may be wet but it should be not totally hard. You may want to use gloves again as you don’t want any junk on your hands. Chuck that stuff in the rubbish and bail again.
c) Now, don’t come back till tomorrow.
That’s it!
a) The deck is totally dry and you’ve got excess grit on the board. Put your mask back on and flip the board upside down. Most of the excess dust will fall to the floor. If you wanna be slick you can run a hose on your deck to really get an idea of what it’s gonna be like.
b) You can now go out and sand your feet off in the water. That is, unless you somehow screwed up……
If it ain’t right….
a) *There’s places where there ain’t no grit.
b) Don’t freak, it can be easily fixed. Get a can of NAPA or other quality, clear acrylic enamel. Spray that stuff on where it’s bare and quickly shake on some deck grit. Frankly, some people use this technique to do the whole board. You’ll find that there’s a certain amount of "enough spray but not too much" on the bare spots that works. Be sure to wear all your protective stuff.
I certainly hope this works for you. I tried it myself just the way I’m describing it. I made all the mistakes too. Let me know how it works out will ya?
Aloha
Tim Orden

Ed’ Note The article was lifted from a website: http://www.maui.net/~mauiwind/MWR/rd/redeck/reeck3/ When asked for permission to reprint his article, the author responded with the following short blurb and his permission to reprint his work
“Tim Orden is marooned on Maui with only himself to blame. He will drink with
anyone, for any reason. If you find yourself on Maui, at the beach, staring at an aging,
long haired, kinda Filipino windsurfer,.... ask him if he'd like to go out for a beer. If he
says, "let's go", you just met the author.”

Get a can of NAPA or other quality, clear acrylic enamel. Spray that stuff on where it’s bare and quickly shake on some deck grit. Frankly, some people use this technique to do the whole board

I like THAT method or covering the space in question with deck pad matting in bulk (from the PADZ factory via Windance) cut to exact size with an ....Exacto knife cuz probably the next step is having to refoam soft spots cuz of the wear/usage,

OR....maybe it's tiime fer a new stick, life's too short

winddoctor wrote:Hey WSF,

Where did you source the acrylic dust? I need to do the same job on my big wave board. I'm skating around my deck like a pissed off Tonya Harding

Winddoc. I hereby crown you the "King of Simile". That was just too funny!!!

Thanks for all the great advice. I really like the new board idea, but I will try the tricks and try to destroy this one first .
I found the grit via Bosuns, and I have yet to evaluate it for particle size and whether it will work. It is a polyolefin grit compound for paint etc on boats. It may be the wrong stuff, but in chem speak, it is likely the stuff. I will post results to this thread as I get them...

Cool. Thx WSF!

I've used sandblaster's silica sand sprinkled on a wet coat of paint with maybe a little more paint just to help stick it down. I used acryic enamel but lacquer would work fine (you'd have to be quick about it). It's available in several grits. I have fine grit on the deck with a nice patch of coarse grit on the ol' step-jibe spot. Seems to work good; it's held up for several years.

Thanks Jim - you have shown true grit I am almost ready to put the stuff on!!