Painting factory diamond pattern non-skid.

[rothfm]

3 years ago, I used Pettit Topside after masking off the border areas on all my topside Diamond pattern non skid. It came out very well and lasted great. But now some if it is coming up, cracked. Im guessing its because the paint on the peaks of each diamond wore thru.

The cockpit takes some abuse and I wanted to repaint it. Cleaned it, washed, acetone wipe down, and went over it with a scrungy to remove any loose stuff.

Then used recommended Pettit Primer/sealer for adhesion promotion....areas that were 100% intact primed fine. Areas that had some wear thru: the primer didnt take, sort of buckled and lifted. Looks bad.

Anyone do this?? Prep, process, products?

Was surprised as 3-4 yers ago it came out great over the fiberglass.. hope I dont have to somehow remove all of it.

Thanks for any input

Hers a hatch that primed aok, prior paint was not compromised:

 

[airshot]

I painted some diamond plate years back, but the paint lifted in some areas. Then tried sand blasting the plate. Looked great and paint held good for the few months I owned it, but then sold it, so no idea on longevity.

 

[rothfm]

Thanks....gonna see what others put here. Then may take 1 small hatch as a test and use a wheel of some sort (that wont gouge the glass/gelcoat) and see if it will remove that old layer without a ton of work.

 

[MikeSchinlaub]

I haven't used this specific product, but the prep principals should be the same.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the areas where the original gel is showing don't look very well scuffed. Automotive paint can be prepped with a scotch brite pad because it is much softer, but gel needs to be thoroughly sanded to provide a proper bond. Without that sanding, your paint doesn't have a good mechanical connection, and over time can lift off as it has here. I would not recommend trying to spot this in. It was all prepped the same, so expect this to start showing up more. That also means that anything applied over top of this will only have as good of a connection as the stuff that is lifting.

My recommendation would be to have all of this sand blasted off. The sand blasting will be able to scuff all of the low areas between the raised diamonds.

It could also be as caused by the issue described in the product faq below, as well as other reasons. The fix is the same though, remove it all and redo.

From their product FAQ.

WHY DID THE SECOND COAT OF PRODUCT I APPLIED CRINKLE?
Crinkling will occur when the first coat is applied too heavy and wasn’t given enough time to
completely dry. To correct the issue, remove the cracked and crinkled coat completely. You
may need to sand back to the first coating. If the coating is too soft, allow it to dry
completely before trying to sand. Remove the sanding residue with a tack rag and solvent.
Replace the second coating.

https://www.pettitpaint.com/media/4776/pettit-paint_topside-finishes-process_technical-bulletin.pdf