painting the gunwhales and adding sand

[Justin]

Ok another question for the knowledgeable, how do you apply sand to the gunwhales for a non-slip coating. Which sand do you use? and do you mix it with the topcoat and apply or what?

 

many thanks

 

Justin

[Gary Peacock]

Ok another question for the knowledgeable, how do you apply sand to the gunwhales for a non-slip coating. Which sand do you use? and do you mix it with the topcoat and apply or what?

 

many thanks

 

Justin

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It used to be done by mixing dryed sand with paint, now adays most builders use proper deck paint.

If your not careful mixing you own it can dry like sandpaper! You can't mop it because it shreads the mop and soon becomes full of muck.

 

 

Gary

[John Orentas]

Hi Justin.

 

I am not keen on sanded finishes myself, there are better ways of doing it.

 

However this is the best way, paint the gunnel as the rest of the boat and let it dry. Prepare some course builders sand by de-lumping and drying it out (put it in the oven). Mask of the area to be sanded and apply a generous coat of paint, sprinkle the sand onto the paint, don't worry about putting on too much, the sand will soak into the paint, you should see nothing but dry sand.

After no more than an hour remove the masking tape AND DO NOTHING ELSE for at least 2 days, when the paint is fully dry brush off all the sand which has not adhered to the paint. Apply another coat of paint to the whole area and the job is done.

[Richard Bustens]

Mt gunnel's are painted with the black cosmososos or whatever it's name is and that is not slippery, i think i will leave it in that for good as a brush when touching up the sides make it like new again.

[John Orentas]

I have always used deck paint, but I understand you can now buy special plastic granules which you mix with your preferred paint.

 

For the best non-slip surface, sanding is the most efficient though I only use it on my gang-plank.

[David Schweizer]

I have tried the method suggested by John but have found that adhesion of the sand can be a bit hit and miss especially in warmer conditions so here is an alternative "best method" :-

 

Get a small quantity of ordinary builder's sand and wash it several times in clean water, then dry it out thoroughly in the oven. Nick the wife's fine kitchen seive and seive the sand to get rid of all the big bits. Mix a generous amount of sand in to a half full pot of good quality Yacht enamel ( I have found that a 50% mix is about right) Prepare the gunwhale as you would for normal painting, ie primer and undercoat, then paint with one coat of glosss enamel. When this is dry, mask off the edges and apply the sand enriched paint stippling it as you proceed to ensure an even coverage, (I have found that an old brush which is well worn down is best for this purpose) After a couple of hours when the paint has started to dry remove the masking tape and allow to dry thorougly for a couple of days, then apply a final coat of normal gloss enamel over the entire surface and the job is done. Try not to walk on the surface for a week or two until the paint has started to harden.

 

As far as washing down is concerned, I have found that a traditional floor scrubbing brush used carefully removes the muck that gathers in the crevices created by the sanded surface.

[stuart]

Kiln dried sand is quite good too. Its used by builders when they put down a block paved driveway. Cheap to get hold off too.

[Bernie]

Why not use Protectakote a paint specially made for the job.

http://www.protectakote.co.uk/index.htm

[gosser]

Why not use Protectakote a paint specially made for the job.

http://www.protectakote.co.uk/index.htm

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I put black Protectacote on my counter and well decks 4 years ago, and only now is it beginning to show any wear where I step on and off the counter. It's a rubberised paint wikth a dull matt finish though, so I don't really want to put it on the gunwhales because that would detract from the appearance of the boat. Neither do I want to be continually scrubbing two 60ft strips of sanded paint, and if you don't do that regularly sanded paint quickly goes gungey. I therefore risk it with smooth Hammerite paint, and tread very carefully on the rare occcasions that I venture along the gunwhales. The roof is the same, put then I've no intention of leaping onto it anyway.

[John Orentas]

I have not applied any kind of non slip treatment to my side decks, I never walk along the decks and I don't let anyone else do it either. It is completely unnecessary.

 

Build your boat in such a way that you can walk through it without obstacles.

[David Schweizer]

I have not applied any kind of non slip treatment to my side decks, I never walk along the decks and I don't let anyone else do it either.  It is completely unnecessary.

 

Build your boat in such a way that you can walk through it without obstacles.

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Fine if you always have a crew, but as someone who does quite a lot of single handed working, I find that it is sometimes neccessary to use the gunwhales to gain access to equipment without leaving the boat, or do you keep all your ropes, poles and fenders inside the boat?

[DHutch]

I never walk along the decks and I don't let anyone else do it either.

Really? We walk on ours all the time,

- To get to the pole when aground (2/3 time a day)

- To get to the funnel (at every bridge)

- To get to ladders in locks

- etc etc

 

Our gunnels (or side decks) are really wide though, about four and a half inchs maybe. And the rubbing strake sticks up about 4-5mm to form an edge to stop you sliping off.

 

 

Daniel

[John Orentas]

I don't have any equipment which can't be accessed from the front or rear decks or inside the boat. I don't do any single handed boating anymore but when I did I always found I could manage perfectly well without too much use of the side decks.

 

I don't claim any particular virtue in my way of doing things, but when I watch some of the antics of children and adults constantly scurrying up and down the side decks in that macho sort of way, kicking hell out of the cabin paintwork, I always think, there must be a better way.

[David Schweizer]

But John you said" I never walk along the decks and I don't let anyone else do it either. It is completely unnecessary." which sounds pretty virtuous to me. Furthermore it is surely totally inapropriate to compare the actions of an experienced boater undertaking a well practiced technical excercise, with the "antics" of an unsupervised child or inexperienced adult.

 

Since your last posting I now have an enduring image of you climbing down into the boat and runnning through it, then struggling to reach a pole by reaching up from the front well, and then running all the way back inside the boat carrying the pole, and then climbing back up onto the stern deck to fend off. Surely it is quicker an easier to run along the gunwhale where you can maintain an eye on what is happening outside the boat. Even if you keep a pole at the back end of the boat it surely isn't so close that you can grab it effectively from the steering position, without using the first few feet of gunwhale, or do you never run aground?

 

Another question comes to mind. Do you have a centre line? and if so how do you tie it off without standing on the gunwhale, or like Mr Tickle (of Mr Men fame) do you have extending arms?

Edited May 30, 2005 by David Schweizer

[John Orentas]

A graphic and colourful description David, me sprinting up and down, in and out of the boat like some demented Sergei Bubka pole in hand. I never thought of narrow boating as such an athletic pastime in fact I haven't even broken into a trot since I had an altercation with an Armco barrier at Oulton Park 27 years ago.

 

When I run aground I find it much easier to reverse off rather than physically mauling the boat around.

 

To be honest, other than when I am messing about winding the boat in the marina I can't remember the last time I used a pole in anger and I do a bit of single handed stuff, though not through locks these days and I do use a breast line most of the time, not too familiar with 'Mister Men', a bit after my time, I was one of 'Muffin the Mule's' generation.

[David Schweizer]

I guess that running aground frequently comes with owning an elderly deep draughted boat, compounded by the fact that the bow is significantly higher than the stern, so we ride up onto mud banks rather than just hit them and stop. When one of these modern shallow draughted affairs come haring round bends pushing us up onto a mudbank, reversing off is not an option. It is either poles or stay there. Fortunately another benefit of an old boat is wide gunwhales - five inches at the back end. Much easier to run along than the three inch jobs some modern boats have.

[Richard Bustens]

I watched Dan's granddad carmly saunter down the side of his boat , engine in gear going forward at a fair speed drop the chimney then saunter back again to negotiate a bridge and go into the lock at Audlem. he made everything look soooooo easy.

[dor]

I thought I was a farily experienced boater these days, but we tend to walk up & down the gunwales quite bit. Things like picking up the centre line, polishing the mushrooms, walking back after pushing off the bow. Even polishing the sides of the boat whilst crusing. Rarely use a pole though.

Better to walk up the gunwales than risk the wrath of the partner for dragging yet more mud and grass clippings through the boat.

 

I guess we all do things in the manner which we find most effective - doesn't make it right or wrong.

 

Oh, and going back to the original question: our gunwales are sanded, done when the boat was repainted in 1998 (I think). Despite a couple of thousand hours of cruising since then, the sand shows no sign of breaking through, and is reasonably easy to keep clean with a mop. Any more resistant marks are easily removed with a brush. I think the trick is to have plenty of paint both below and above the sand, so that the sand does not get pushed through to the steel, and is not too sharply rough on the surface.

Edited May 31, 2005 by dor

[Richard Bustens]

There was a boat at the w/end i saw, it was new or a new paint job at least the stuff they had used was very large and looked to be the size of match heads, it looked good on the gunnels but a mess on the roof

[John Orentas]

Don't know why people think they need to walk down the gunnels to pick up the breast line, better to lay it along the roof in such a way that you can step off the back, taking the line with you. The length of the breast or centre line should be of a length that it will not quite foul the propeller it it falls in the water.

[DHutch]

I watched Dan's granddad carmly saunter down the side of his boat , engine in gear going forward at a fair speed drop the chimney then saunter back again to negotiate a bridge and go into the lock at Audlem. he made everything look soooooo easy.

 

Yeah, we/he are always do that, not so much if there loads of people on board, but as one of them can do it, but when theres just the two of us and the other busy (ie, seeing the engine/boiler/whatever) then its usally the helms job to do the funnel!

- Incidently, there are no gears, the engine is coupled directly to the prop. (but anyway)

 

 

Daniel

[lymmranger]

We used bird grit on the decks and "international additive" for the roof.

Bird grit from pet shops! not ....

apply as previously described you should get a finish similar to the (expensive) 3m non slip pads

[Big COL]

Don't know why people think they need to walk down the gunnels to pick up the breast line, better to lay it along the roof in such a way that you can step off the back, taking the line with you. The length of the breast or centre line should be of a length that it will not quite foul the propeller it it falls in the water.

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John

 

Not many, well none actually, of these gunnel runners would pass The Helmsman Certificate. One of the first subjects is safety on the boat and passage from either end of the boat, is through the boat. Gunnel walking is a NO, NO.

[David Schweizer]

John

 

Not many, well none actually, of these gunnel runners would pass The Helmsman Certificate. One of the first subjects is safety on the boat and passage from either end of the boat, is through the boat. Gunnel walking is a NO, NO.

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I have a Board of Trade Boat Masters Licence for all catagory three UK Waterways which, as far as I am aware, is the only Qualification which authorises a person to take command of a passenger carrying vessel on the British Canal system (excluding Ship Canals). When undertaking the initial training, far from being told not to walk along the gunwhales we were taught how to use the gunwhales safely, I can understand why the RYA might discourage gunwhale walking on a fast moving sailing vessel but on the canals???

[David Schweizer]

Don't know why people think they need to walk down the gunnels to pick up the breast line, better to lay it along the roof in such a way that you can step off the back, taking the line with you. The length of the breast or centre line should be of a length that it will not quite foul the propeller it it falls in the water.

21252[/snapback]

I agree with you in principal John, and have done exactly that on numerous occassions. The problem is that the line needs to be kept on the towpath side of the boat to be of any effective use. When the towpath keeps on changing sides without warning you have to repeatedly throw the line over all the other equipment on the roof to ensure that it is on the correct side. Catching it on a chimney or pole could create more of a hazzard than collecting it from the centre by walking along the gunwhale. I suppose one answer would be to have two centre lines, and I have seen a couple of boats with this arrangement

Edited June 4, 2005 by David Schweizer