Slippery Sidedecks

rev. 7-22-2024

I've enjoyed too many small slides on the side deck, and during our last trip I very nearly broke a collar bone on a stanchion tip. It's not a place you would consciously place a foot; every slip has been when I was distracted, carrying something or working on something... but a slip is a slip. Builders love to mold cool curves but sailors hate them. My last boat (Stiletto 27) had similar slope and every owner wiped out a few times; many built a cover or step to hide it. I plastered mine with 3M tape and liked the result.

Yes, I could move more slowly. No, actually, I can't.

I'm big on 3M non-skid tape. We've added wide strips on the steps and lower seats edged in the cockpit where it has eliminated a lot of wet bare foot dances. It's aggressive as hell but still reasonably skin friendly. Its hot in the sun and not particularly cheap, but I keep running into roll-ends from projects at work, so my cost is agreeable. And in this case it was easy enough to hide in the black gel coat area.

Now there's enough friction to stand on the slope. Cool.

(Three 4 x ~18-inch strips each side)

(Eventually I added non-skid to all of the steps and seat edges on the PDQ. The more the better. In many cases, the tape also makes it easier to see the edges.)

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This spring I added a bunch of 3M grit non-skid to my F-24:

• Steps down into the cabin. A near disasters fall motivated that. Lucky I got off with a pulled muscle.
• Strips along the cabin chime forward. For stylistic reasons they left a 6-inch wide strip of plain gelcoat, which I have slid along too many times.