Tales from the KRYPT: October 2015

Krypt Surf Technology Master Class with Surf Mat Master Mark Thomson

Custom Krypt Grip, Hip Grip, and other Designs

Customizing the grip on your surf mat is simple and easy.

Although the proprietary Dolphin Skin non skid deck of the Krypt MT5 surf mats works well, like anything, it does wear out over time.
This short and simple lesson shows how to increase the grip around your hips whilst still allowing you to slide up onto the mat.
Contrary to what others have had to say about this process being expensive, messy and difficult, this lesson shows that you can customize the non skid on your mat quickly and cleanly and using your own personal design if you want to.

Stuff You Will Need
One Ice cream Bucket
Small plastic container
One roll of masking tape
Scissors
Cleaning fluid
Clean rag
Vulkem 116 or other Sticker Flex or Marine Urethane Sealants

Preparation
Wash your mat with fresh water and allow too dry.
Inflate your mat to maximum pressure.
Clean the deck surface with Isopropyl Alcohol, Methylated Spirits or if available I use Toluene.
Toluene is nasty so wear gloves and use in a ventilated area.
Allow to dry.

Grip Design
You can now apply masking tape to the mat in the design of your choice.
Keep it simple like this lesson or be creative and inventive
If you have an artistic streak you can use cardboard to make a stencil and apply double sided tape to the stencil.

Application Of The Grip
Cut the lid of the ice cream bucket to make a small squeegee.

Squeeze a small amount of Vulkem in to the small plastic container. You don’t need much it goes a long way.

Get small amount and work it into the fabric.
Repeat the process and add more Vulkem.

Do long even stokes applying medium pressure along the design to get an even thickness of material.

Use a sponge and dab it onto the job to create texture on the Vulkem

All that remains now is to peel the tape while the Vulkem is still wet. This is where your ice cream bucket becomes the waste bucket and comes in handy for cleaning up the sticky mess
Allow to dry for 24 hours before surfing.

I prefer to use 1 inch strips as this process, if done incorrectly, can add significant weight to your mat.
With the MT5 surf mat weighing only 500gms, the designs we have chosen to use are strategically placed and add as little weight as possible whilst still providing ample grip.
For this lesson a few friends brought along their mats and attended the Master Class also.
My Series 3 mat is over a year old now and pretty thrashed so I needed more grip through the middle.
The others non skid is still in good condition and they only needed the hip grip so we made a short strip design on the rails to provide more grip allowing greater confidence in larger surf and bottom turns.
We also did one using a basic circular stencil.

Well now you know how to do it, have a bit of fun and give it go.

My old mate Waka couldn,t wait to give it a go!!!!

Being a master in floor coatings he came up with this awesome epoxy urethane sealant.