Practical Sailor recently tested a nonskid mat from Soft Deck Inc. as a followup to our January 2012 report on do-it-yourself options for replacing worn nonskid. Soft Deck Inc., owned by brothers and lifelong sailors Ross and George Champion, is a family-run business with manufacturing based in Southern California. The January report reviewed six nonskid paints, three nonskid additives, and two nonskid mats. For this evaluation, we used the same test protocol to compare the Soft Deck to our Best Choice mat, Tiflex’s Treadmaster (www.tiflex.co.uk.com).
The adhesive-backed Soft Deck mats, made of quarter-inch-thick, EVA foam, are available in a number of pre-cut sizes and a few colors; they are sold in kits to retrofit the whole boat, seats, or decks. Soft Deck has a long diamond pattern that’s similar in depth to the nitrile-rubber Treadmaster pattern, but the lightweight material is more akin to the foam SeaDek mats we tested. While Treadmaster is adhered with a two-part epoxy, the Soft Deck, like the SeaDek, is backed with 3M adhesive for peel-and-stick installation.
Testers applied a 24- by 16-inch Soft Deck mat to a fiberglass test panel. The supplied instructions were clear and easy to follow. The five install steps (clean, dry fit, heat if necessary, lay on, and apply pressure to set) were fast and so easy that any boat owner could do it themselves.
The 3M adhesive also makes it easy to remove or replace the nonskid pads. All that’s needed is a plastic scraper, possibly a hair dryer or heat gun, and acetone. Removing epoxy-adhered mat like Treadmaster would be a much more labor-intensive project.
To test grip, we mounted the test panels on a jig that allowed the panels to be inclined in 5-degree increments until the tester standing atop the panel slipped. We repeated the test while wearing boat shoes and with bare feet, and with the panels wet and dry. Interestingly, the Soft Deck’s grip actually improved when the surface was wet. It was an average performer when wet, compared to the nonskid paints and additives we tested, but it had noticeably less traction than the other nonskid mats.
To gauge how easy the Soft Deck was to clean, testers walked through wet soil in boat shoes and then tromped across the test panel to get it good and dirty. The surface dirt rinsed away easily with a hose, but the light-grey test mat still appeared dirty in some ground-in areas. These came clean with a soft-bristle boat brush, so we rated it Good for ease of cleaning. According to its maker, Soft Deck can tolerate bleach and other chemicals, but the company does not recommend it.
Soft Deck was super easy on testers’ bare feet, elbows, and knees. It would be a good choice for padding boat areas where crew spend a lot of time kneeling, sitting, or standing. Soft Deck even offers an optional layer of shock-mitigating padding that can be added to the nonskid mat. This, however, adds to the mat’s thickness, making it about 5/8-inch thick, so it’s likely not a look you’d want across the whole deck.
A kit including two 6- by 20-inch pieces with adhesive backing retails for just $25, and a 40- by 62-inch sheet retails for $110. Soft Deck rates its nonskid mats for five years, including color fastness, but the company offers only a one-year warranty.
Bottom line: Soft Deck offers dead-simple installation, and the cushy EVA foam is easier on skin and clothes than most other nonskid products we tested. But when it comes to traction and durability, it failed to surpass PS’s two-time favorite nonskid mat, Treadmaster.
We’d recommend Soft Deck for areas like swim platforms or cockpit seats and soles, where crew spends a lot of time sitting or standing, but if top grip is your top priority, stick with the Treadmaster.
