I had my boat painted a year ago with awl grip.  They sanded the non-skid, primed it and then masked it off so that the non-skid could be painted a different color than the white deck. 

Originally my non-skid parts were light blue.  I changed the color to whisper grey.  Awl grip makes a product called griptex, which consists of tiny sand-like pellets, which you use to renew the non-skid.  It comes in two grits.  We used the large grit first but I thought it was too rough so we switched to the fine grit for the rest of the boat. 

The first coat of paint is applied to the non skid and the pellets are shaken over the wet paint with a large salt-shaker.  Then two more coats were sprayed on over the pellets.  I like the way it turned out.  I am still working on the boat, so I cannot tell you how durable it is yet.

Oops! That is hull # 42.

my soft spot was not very big. i drilled a hole 3/4 inch and then vacumed and put a piece of wire inside to loosen any small pieces of wood and then filled the hole with epoxy resin. the spot seems to be just fine now. i also read on the internet that you could scrub the nonskid with acetone and a scotchbrite pad instead of sanding. the gelcoat on my boat is really worn so i don`t want to remove anymore than necessary. my boat is a 1973 model. hull #106. thinking about a name for the old boat, any ideas? also the boat came with an outboard. wondering if this will work o.k.