Anti-skid coating

[ebb]

Noticed an ad in Good Ole Boat for Durabak. It is a polyurethane rubber coating. Awhile back I got excited about another company - Sanitred - for anti-skid deck. But when my samples came (I had to pay for them - not cheap) I discovered that the product required activators to be mixed in and had time and temp constraints on ap. I think the anti-skid had to be hand cast onto wet surface too. Too much ap paranoia, so I forgot about it.

Web-site says Durabak is rolled on (can be sprayed with a 1/4" tip and thinned 10%) - with no ad-mixing - right out of the can. No primer is necessary, surface needs to be clean, dry, and rough. NO PRIMER. Anti-skid has granules in the product.
2 coat minimum. A coat is approx 1/16", but can be thinned a little with xylene. I would assume that thinning would get it to lay down a bit. So we are not talking about a waterborne coating here. I imagine I would put on two coats first of smooth overall. And one coat of textured in anti-skid pads defined with blue or green tape. Have to check with Durabak how complicated this process is. What exactly is the recoat schedule? That is exactly when can you tape it off? Will I be able to walk or kneel on it? Ap paranoia twinge.

Once opened the whole can needs to be used as it cures by ambient moisture. IE you can't put the lid back on to use it later.* I think it's probable to describe this coating as a cross-over product from the DIY truck bed industry. There is mention of US military use of the stuff. I could find no pictures of sailboat use. Tugs, steel fish boats, utility boats. The product has been around for awile - some of the testimonials are 7 years old. There's money in the pleasure marine market and there are professionals who could michaelangelo any yacht coating.

But there are only a few light colors: white, grey, sand. That may be one reason why we don't hear about this stuff more often. It's only available in gallons for about $130 a pop. At 60ft2 per gal. Plus shipping. They do need to provide quarts (for lightening or darkening), for a coordinated two tone anti-skid yacht deck. Something.

Anybody here think of this rubber stuff as a deck paint? Why not?

*So, once the can is opened, that's it. I'm only assuming that 60 foot square will do the Ariel deck. ??? Got the footage around here somewhere, can't find it. One assumes that a second coat goes on when the former one has set up, yes? That means at least one gallon per coat. Two smooth, one granuled minimum equals $390 plus shipping. Maybe that's why it isn't more common?

The biggest plus for using a rubber polyurethane on a balsa core is absolute waterproofing. Also, mentioned on the site by a user, is that the product produces a non-fatigueing rubberery-ness. Don't know how thick - but a violently heaving surface that has beaucoup traction and give to it is my ideal.
They say that a cosmetic coat can be applied without prep some years down the line. It's more complicated than that on the deck of a sailboat. But the main question is it's durability and UV degrading.

Any thoughts on this type of stuff???