Scrubbing the decks is one of the most monotonous maintenance jobs on a boat. And decks covered with nonskid—with all of its nooks and crannies—make removing dirt, grime, mud, or fish blood all that much harder. What if you could coat your boat’s nonskid decks with a protectant that would make cleanup a whole lot easier? The decks would only need to be rinsed clean.

Well, we found three products that claim to do just this. These nonskid “waxes” are supposed to do their job without making the nonskid slippery. One product, Aurora’s Sure Step, actually claims to increase the traction of the nonskid. We decided to investigate. …