Hey guys, about the yoga mats for traction; I tried one as a kneepaddling pad on one of my longboards and it worked well as a pad but horrible for traction; I actually had to wax it to keep from slipping and I have a feeling it was the type of foam that soaked water; maybe it was just THAT brand of yoga pad and others might work better; Iʻm definitely interested in a waxless traction that works and is accessible.
Howzit max,What about the stuff Herbie Fletcher uses,it's made just for what you all are talking about and I have seen full decks done with it. Aloha,Kokua
Most of the yoga pads I’ve seen are open cell foam, thus would absorb water and add a lot of weight to your board. I recently bought clear bathtub non-skid strips for my Mom’s bathroom and as I recall, the abrasive was relatively “gentle”. That might be worth investigating. I wonder how similar those strips are to Versa-traction? Might be the same stuff. Anyone have a close up photo of what Versa-traction looks like?
Don’t have a close up right at this minute but it’s a fine diamond pattern on the nodules as I recall.
They also do lots of non-slip applications for other purposes so it could well be versatraction you’ve used.
Have a look on their website…http://www.versatraction.com/products/Fun-Board
First page of this thread I posted close up photos of a board I made, with full coverage Versa traction
You mean this stuff, Astro Traction
Didn’t know about it. Thanks, I’ll check it out.
http://www.astrodeck.com/store/category/astrodeck-traction-pads/149.oa?page=2&sort=5
So to add to all of the options I came across this stuff today.
It is suppose to be for the deck of a boat, the store I was at had a sample, it seems like it would work really well. And depending on how aggressive you want the grip to be you can adjust it using a different roller.
The Kiwigrip looks good but a little heavy for surfboards? They've got distribution in yachting and fishing centers around the US and other countries. Maybe some sways players who do boating will run across it for a report.
On the subject of some EVA pads seeming to be too thick, even though it would require more work, what if you were to plane a section on the deck down maybe 1/8" or slightly less - taking into consideration that the EVA is kinda squishy - but leave the rails and everything the way they are, so there’s a square section of the deck (or oval or circle) lower than the rest. Then you can put the EVA foam in that lowered plane and have it flush with the rest of the deck. Or is the thickness of the EVA negligible enough to not have to do this?
Howzit Max, That's the stuff and it has been around for a long time. Aloha,Kokua
I haven’t tried it yet. Its pricey for a small can but the sample they had there seemed like it would provide lots of traction and not tear up your skin or wetsuit. I may splash out for it and try it sometime.
Save your money.. The sanded traction deck is sick. went out this weekend river surfing. Surfed for to sessions 3-4 hours each, never slipped once. I was surring in shorts only and no problems with nipple rub or rip cage rash. I still do a lot of belly paddling in the rivers, but not as much in the ocean. However i did not do sanded traction alone, I sprayed 2 thick layers of Loctite spray adhesive, high performance 200. after 8 hours of surfing the stuff the traction was the same as when i started.
Creating the sanded traction I used a wood sand paper 20grit, I really dint think it was deep enough gouges, so i then switched to a metal sandpaper of 24 grit and this really doug in some deep scratches. Prior to sanding I applied a layer of epoxy resin, I would recommend this.
My question to all of you now is how do we get this to look clean and profesional? I was thinking of using pigments or resint tints. Taping off the section where the sanded traction would go, then applying a layer of pigmented/tinted resin. then doing another color over this in the same section. I am hoping, by doing cross sanding, the lower color will popout and give the deck a nice checkered pattern. Would anyone know if Pigments would work better than tints or would tints work better? I have not really used either not sure what they look like.
