Slippery Swim Platform (Fiberglass)

[SmokeyMatt]

The fiberglass swim platform on our '09 Response is crazy slippery. Dangerous. Someone will get hurt. Any remedies?

[Nicvtx]

yeh our 08 vtx platform is slippery as too, we have sliped off it a couple times, but good for a laugh

[99response]

teak

[Ryan Gergler]

The fiberglass swim platform on our '09 Response is crazy slippery. Dangerous. Someone will get hurt. Any remedies?

I have an 07 and it leaves black marks all over. They fixed the chalking but created a new monster....

[SmokeyMatt]

no seriously!!!! we have a ton of small kids skiing with grandma also on board. We are also a footin family. Has anyone heard about using rubbing alcohol on it. Thanks in advance for any serious comments

[99response]

Alcohol will remove any oils or funky stuff that may be on the platform. It is possible that a detailer put some conditioner of some sort on the pad to make it look better. Don't pour it on or anything because it will also eat the glue that holds it down.

Another solution may be to remove the pad all together and have the platform LINE-X ed with sand or something simmilar.

-Chris

[SmoothWaterMan]

Smokey, do you have the solid platform (ie, with no door), so you have the "vinyl" looking mat with Malibu and a wave logo on it, or do you have the rubber embossed jelly bean looking mat?

Peter

[SmokeyMatt]

Smokey, do you have the solid platform (ie, with no door), so you have the "vinyl" looking mat with Malibu and a wave logo on it, or do you have the rubber embossed jelly bean looking mat?

Peter

We have the door for access to the wedge. The black rubber matting with the malibu boat logo. No wave logo. It does kind of look like embossed jelly looking mat. Seems like one piece. Man o man it is dangerous. I was at Scarpas this spring on his response and two of us wiped out. Our Gekko that we traded for the response never had this problem the kids would jump from the dock onto it then into the water. We picked up our new response just two days ago. ugh! We had such good experience with the fiberglass/rubber matting before.

[Wayne]

Ours was a little slippery too. I washed it with dish soap which helped quite a bit. I think there is a release agent from when the mat was manufactured that makes them slipery, once you get that off it's not as bad. If the dealer put something on it when prepping the boat for delivery, an aggressive dish soap should cut that as well with out causing any damage.

I'm curious to see how the fiberglass platform does with age. Our 2002 Sunsetter teak platform needed refreshing about every 3 years. Thats with indoor storage when not in use and over the winter.

[davemac]

Ours was a little slippery too. I washed it with dish soap which helped quite a bit. I think there is a release agent from when the mat was manufactured that makes them slipery, once you get that off it's not as bad. If the dealer put something on it when prepping the boat for delivery, an aggressive dish soap should cut that as well with out causing any damage.

I'm curious to see how the fiberglass platform does with age. Our 2002 Sunsetter teak platform needed refreshing about every 3 years. Thats with indoor storage when not in use and over the winter.

Good Thought. Might want to try some Dawn dishwashing liquid. Perhaps someone got overzealous when prepping your boat and waxed the vinyl mat. The Dawn will strip any wax off. From there you can experiment with protectants. I put 303 on mine...which does make it slightly slick, but by no means dangerously so.

[SmoothWaterMan]

Smokey, do you have the solid platform (ie, with no door), so you have the "vinyl" looking mat with Malibu and a wave logo on it, or do you have the rubber embossed jelly bean looking mat?

Peter

We have the door for access to the wedge. The black rubber matting with the malibu boat logo. No wave logo. It does kind of look like embossed jelly looking mat. Seems like one piece. Man o man it is dangerous. I was at Scarpas this spring on his response and two of us wiped out. Our Gekko that we traded for the response never had this problem the kids would jump from the dock onto it then into the water. We picked up our new response just two days ago. ugh! We had such good experience with the fiberglass/rubber matting before.

As others mentioned, take a scrub brush to it with soap and water, and give it a good scrubbing. (Use a good grease/oil cutting soap) This will help alot.

Peter