Re painting non skid, 2501

[Axeboat]

Hey guys I have a Parker 2501. It’s a 1999 hull, I have decided to re paint the non skid deck at the very least from the helm back, here are my questions and I did attempt to find an answer before posting, around the entire deck about an inch before you head up the gunnels the non skid stops and it goes smooth. Does this smooth line help channel water or is it just something left over from its original production? If it has no effect I would prefer to bring the non skid all the way to where the horizontal deck meets up with the vertical gunnels. My other question is what is the inside of the boat that isn’t the non skid coated with? Is that white paint or is it white gel coat? I’m assuming it’s paint because it is very matt and has a chalky “feel” to it, I ask because if it is paint then repainting it will be a nice project as well, I don’t really want to paint over gel coat I will just buff and wax in that case. I know it’s hard to see but my pictures are showing my old non skid meeting to that smooth gap then the gunnels.

 

[afitzray]

The smooth line is just the boundary that was taped off the last time someone did the nonskid. It doesn't have any real function for the water on the deck, but it's going to make the job much much easier to tape off those edges again with a little distance from the vertical surface so you can just use a roller to apply without bumping edges you don't want nonskid applied to. Going right to the edge would involve some detail work and probably a brush which wouldn't apply the nonskid uniformly like you get with just a roller. Taping the edges will also let you work faster so you aren't fighting to keep up with a line of drying paint/gelcoat.

On a 99 hull it's tough to guess whether that's original gelcoat or if it's been painted over. The chalkiness you describe makes me think oxidized gelcoat, but hopefully someone with a better eye for that can chime in. I know paint will stick to gelcoat, but you won't have much luck getting gelcoat to stick to paint.

Post #106 of this thread has someone's DIY gelcoat nonskid that came out well:
Parker 2830 Extended cabin updates:

Post #29 of this one has a good description of the two part paint nonskid process:
Non Skid Painting???

 

[Axeboat]

Thank you for the quick response and that’s exactly what I was hoping to hear, I’m lucky enough to say this boat will never have a single child, woman or shoeless person on board, it’s going to be used as a fishing boat exclusively, I’m going to go ahead and non skid every flat deck surface, and leave a small tape line for ease of rolling, I am going to try the single part total boat non skid paint. Thanks again

 

[afitzray]

If it's gelcoat you're going to want to primer first. If it's already paint, it's safer to do a quick coat of primer.

And some kind of de-waxing surface prep cleaner will be important regardless.