Another question from Gremlin

“Teaching in the country is generally wonderful, but like everything else there is a down side.

A few years ago we built a climbing wall in our gym. Our own people built it with studding and ¾ inch plywood. Since then the person who built it has gone back to university in the evening and has become a shops teacher. He is an athlete and telemark skier, but the man who replaced him is of the class and generation that belives that watching television is the only sport.

The new boss is a woman and she decided that the gym needs painting. During the summer, the maintenance man and the painters removed all the holds and spray painted the climbing wall with the rest of the gym (thank Gawd they didn't paint the floor, too).

Well, we finally found the holds and I've started putting them back up. The problem is that the six point nuts that were hammered into the back side of the plywood have a tendency to fall out behind the wall.

I am going to cover sections with more plywood as it is impossible to access all of the inside of the wall because of the studding and tight spots.

Now, these panels are painted with a textured paint and the maintenance man and the painters have no idea what that paint is or where to buy it. MEC (Canada) doesn't sell it. Passe-Montagne, which manufactures climbing walls has had no sales people available to answer the 'phone for a week now and Entreprises doesn't seem to know what I'm talking about.

Can anyone help me? I'm pretty sure it's not just stucco paint that I need here.”

“How about this stuff?”

“Gremlin,

When I had a wooden sailboat, I amde non slip deck areas by painting and sprinkling sand on the wet paint.
Wait a day for the paint to dry, thoughly brush all loose sand off, and apply a thin coat of paint over the sand.
Left a non skid surface but not as rough as sandpaper.

Best to attach the plywood with lag screws so it can be removed easily.”

“dem boys didn't think that one through real well now did they.



good luck gremlin”

“Thanks, all. I got through to Passe Montagne through the net and scored some Gym Tech textured paint.”