Mounting ladder tread finish

[Canonshooternb]

i am looking to refinish the stern mounting ladder teak treads. They are not in terrible shape but have seen some water damage over time. How were they finished at the factory and what is the best way to redo them. The ladder is used frequently so gets submerged in salt water.

Thanks

 

[SG]

I assume those are the teak "steps" on a SS folding ladder?

If so, what's the condition of the teak? (e.g., just grey and "dry", or cracked, or ?)

 

[BigEasy]

I used cetol on the ladder when I had my Hunter 33.5. It held up fairly well.

 

[MetricMountie]

Depending on condition of the wood, I'd remove them from the ladder itself, sand and re-stain them and them epoxy them completely. Prior to remounting the steps on the ladder frame, clean out the mounting holes where the screws go in and enlarge them slightly, them refill with thickened epoxy and redrill to the proper size. By filling the holes with epoxy and then drilling them to the right size your mounting the stainless screws in epoxy not wood and you're reducing water penetration into the wood. When your doing your refinish and applying epoxy to the surface sprinkle on a small amount of sand blasting sand if you can get some, when dried into the wet epoxy it makes a great non skid on the steps that is almost invisible. If you can't find any sand let me know and I'll bring along some the next time I go back home.

 

[SG]

Depending on condition of the wood, I'd remove them from the ladder itself, sand and re-stain them and them epoxy them completely.

I wouldn't use epoxy unless you cover it with a UV protectorate layer that will bond with the epoxy. Also, if you stain the wood below, you'll need to have something that will bond with the epoxy.

One "short-cut" that some people use with varnish is to use a layer (or two) of epoxy that is put on lightly sanded, clean wood; and then sanded lightly itself before putting a couple layers of varnish on top of that. That works best inside the boat -- but if you use a exterior grade, marine varnish, with UV additives, it can work outside.

I'm not sure are bout "grit" for a variety of reasons as a non-skid.

 

[Canonshooternb]

They are in pretty good shape actually, looks like they had a cetol or varnish before