110 Cookson Lane | Whitefield, ME 04353 | 207-232-7600 | tim@lackeysailing.com
After final preparations, I applied the first of two coats of Kiwigrip nonskid, tinted to a custom color of the owner's wishes.
While the manufacturer claims one-coat coverage, my past experience with the product on two different jobs indicated that this was wishful thinking, at least if applying the new material over a substrate of a different color. Normally, I'd just apply two coats, but the problem with Kiwigrip is that the material is very thick, and allowing it to dry over a masked tape line can cause the new paint to tear when the tape is removed later. This poses a significant problem for multiple coats.
After my earlier experiences, I performed a series of tests with leftover product. The root of the issue was that the highly textured final coat of the product required a consistent color base beneath to avoid the possibility of small pockets of the original color showing through the texture, so eventually I determined that I could apply a first coat of the paint with a regular smooth roller, achieving the consistent base required without covering the masking tape with heavy amounts of paint (allowing me to leave it in place), and then apply the final, textured coat the next day, removing the tape at that time.
So, implementing the test plan on full scale, I applied a thin coat of the paint with a short nap mohair roller, covering all areas evenly. This used very little paint, leaving the bulk of the product for the thick texture coat later.
Total Time on This Job Today: 1 hour
