I am looking around for some non-skid for my Nacra. Over the years I have used rail-rug on Hobies and neoprene on Nacra's and H20's.
Does anyone use anything different that they would recommend? I would like to use gray or white non-skid instead of black. I like the performace of the neoprene, but it degrades and looks terrible after a few seasons.
I have some experience with the 200 and 300 series of Safetywalk. My Mystere 6.0 has a strip of white 200 folded over the deck-gunwhale corner; must be about a 3" piece. It works very well with the wetsuit booties I wear. It has been there for years and has no glue failures. (click on "attachment")
I use the 300 gray on the SoloRights I build and have had no complaints about it.
But I would say this: If you are going to fold it around a corner as it is on my boat, stay with the thinner 200 series; it should be more compliant to the contour than would the 300. I also expect that the 200 will stand up to wear and tear longer than the 300, due to its density.
Kind of cool that it is available in clear!
I think that if I was doing more barefoot sailing than with booties on, I might' rather have the thicker 300 instead of the thin 200. But I am not sure since I have not tried it.
By all means, stay away from the mineral (sand) safetywalk. It will eat through your flesh, trap harness, shorts, sheets and other control lines! I have been bloodied up for 6 weeks due to a fall over the trap-rack on an Ultimate 30 that had it on its wings. I'm still cleaning blood stains from bed sheets, shirts, furniture, car interior, sails, running rigging, etc.
The 300 series or "Medium Resilient" is the best stuff. The 200 is like the stuff that comes stock on the H20 and is too slick. The 400 is like sandpaper and terrible. I've been using the 300 for years and I love the stuff. The 2 inch strips are not quite as wide as you might like but is just enough. I wrap mine about a 1/2" over the rail and it has some serious stick so that it doesn't come up. Round the corners when you cut it so that it will stay down better.
The only problem is that it only comes in 50ft lengths so you end up needing to split it with a freind.
It looks quite the same as the Safety walk mentioned by flounder. I bought it from a local (yacht) paint ditributor. Be advised that you will need some strenght to attacht it to your boat, It is very sticky and I used a rubber Hammer !! to get it around the edges.
