Fitting Treadmaster Continued...

If you are fitting several pads at once, it helps to number them and indicate their orientation with pencil marks on the underside. You can still read them through the glue.Use a roller from the centre outwards to drive out any remaining air bubbles. Be aware that the pad may move on its film of glue, (which can help with final positioning) so take care as you push the roller towards the edges.As the excess glue starts to go slightly tacky, it can be trimmed away with a sharp chisel, in both the vertical and horizontal planes.Cleaning Up With all the excess glue scraped up, the remainder can be cleaned away with methylated spirit. This can also be used to clean spilt glue from the pattern. Don’t use white spirit, as it leaves an oily residue. Although meths won’t damage the colour of the Treadmaster, use it carefully and sparingly. If left on the GRP it can mark.Finally, tape the pad down with duct tape. This will stop it moving out of position as the glue sets. If any parts of the pad look likely to lift, tape them down as well. Because the glue takes a while to set, several pads can be done at once and then cleaned up in turn. Some owners like to run sandpaper along the top edges of the pads, just to round them over. This removes the sharp points of some of the diamonds, but the sanding needs to be done evenly to make the rounding look intentional rather than worn!Fitting full size sheets: For covering large areas, a slightly different technique is used. The edges of the floor are lined with masking tape, and the sheets positioned over the top. Small strips of tape hold them firm. Where each sheet meets another, they are trimmed where necessary so the pattern merges seamlessly. Pencil lines are then drawn on the masking tape, to be later trimmed with a Stanley knife. The idea is that any squeezed-out glue will run onto the tape, and not the deck, making clean-up easier. The side decks are masked a similar way, and the pattern will also run across the boat.Cutting the Pattern Unlike with wallpaper, its rare to find two sheets of Treadmaster with the same pattern at the edges. For a seamless join between two sheets, use a transparent ruler and cut the diamonds through the centre.