Sand and Varnish for non skid?

[BAD ORCA]

I took another nasty spill today coming down the companion way. i slid right off the top step and free-fell and landed on the botttom step right on my shoulder blade. Didnt even get a chance to grab anything on the way to the floor. This is about the sixth or seventh time i have gone down the companionway steps. Luckily im still in good shape so my body is absorbing the impacts, but one of these day im not going to be so lucky.

I have really nice solid teak steps that i want to avoid turning into an eyesore though by sticking on something ugly just to make them nonskid, but its gotten to the point that i need to do something. I was trying to come up with some ideas today and realize have a can of varnish that i need to use up, so was thinking of painting several layers on the steps with fine silica in-between on each layer. maybe build up a nice thickness of varnish and silica sand. I already have the silica from redoing a portion of the deck. This would help preserve the nice look of the steps i think, because the sand would wet out and be mostly transparent, i think. Before i do though and potentially create a really messy headache, i figured i would ask if anyone has tried sand with varnish before? If so has it held up reasonably well over time or does it wear out extremely fast? I also have a can of polyurethane that is fresh that i have no real use for, so could use that or varnish. I have Le Tonkenois varnish which seems like its maybe a bit more durable than the polyurethane, so not sure which might be better. The steps currently have varnish on them, so not sure if the poly can be appied over varnish? I guess i could google that. Anyways, any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[JoeWhite]

Try on an other plank of wood and see it's suitablity first

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

This shows a single strip of sand on my epoxy and cloth covered stairs. I was keeping it minimal to avoid covering the dark strips but a number of years later decided to do the leading edge in sand as well. Been there for 20+ years and still looks reasonably good.

Whether you do the entire surface or artsy strips like I did, they both seem to curtail the slip-sliding down the stairs with the out of control crowd.

The way I did it was to apply masking tape on the last epoxy coat and then carefully apply varnish the areas in between the masking tape. I then lightly sprinkled crushed silica from about a meter above the work to get an even light coating. The wet varnish acted as the glue. Two more coats to the entire step (minus the masking tape) once the glue coat was dry and that was another job written off.

 

[BAD ORCA]

View attachment 239952

This shows a single strip of sand on my epoxy and cloth covered stairs. I was keeping it minimal to avoid covering the dark strips but a number of years later decided to do the leading edge in sand as well. Been there for 20+ years and still looks reasonably good.

Whether you do the entire surface or artsy strips like I did, they both seem to curtail the slip-sliding down the stairs with the out of control crowd.

The way I did it was to apply masking tape on the last epoxy coat and then carefully apply varnish the areas in between the masking tape. I then lightly sprinkled crushed silica from about a meter above the work to get an even light coating. The wet varnish acted as the glue. Two more coats to the entire step (minus the masking tape) once the glue coat was dry and that was another job written off.

Oh nice! thanks for the pics. that looks pretty good. I can live with that. The silica i have is pretty fine grain but has a nice sandpaper like traction. It might wet out pretty nicely then. I didnt think of epoxy, but come to think of it i do have some laminating epoxy leftover.

Yeah its the leading edge of the step that gets me every time. The way my boat is setup, thats where your heel naturally lands when stepping through the companionway if your not paying attention. I sail with guests on occasion, some older, it could be a very serious injury if any of them mis judged that first step.

May i go off topic for a second and ask what finish you used on the cabin sole?

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

I didnt think of epoxy, but come to think of it i do have some laminating epoxy leftover.

Be careful with epoxy as it can be a godsend but also a disaster. Check how here :

Fastening Down Teak Slats on Wing Seats

On my Hunter 340 I have 2 Wing Seats that have 1 1/2 inch wide x 3/8 inch thick Teak Wood Slats. They are screw down through the White Starboard and up into the slats to hold them in place. A few of the screw holes in the teak slats have widen over the years and do not hold the screws in tight...

forums.sailboatowners.com

I wouldn't get into it unless you're prepared to spend mega hours in prep work. Mind you, with winter almost upon us what else is there to do. Certainly not difficult work, only requires a grade four reform school education but many hours involved. If you're only looking for safety, stick with using varnish as glue to start the process.

May i go off topic for a second and ask what finish you used on the cabin sole?

That is a lesson in what NOT to do. I did that the first winter after I got the boat in '98 right form the factory. I saw that every board on the boat didn't have a sealer coat on the back. Just clean plywood. So that was job "one". Then I started looking at the surface of the floor boards and they didn't look resistant to anything rougher than mosquitoes skating on them. Coated with "I don't know what" but very light. I coated them with eight coats of Varathane and then borrowed space in friend's hot box which he uses for making piano sounding boards. Controlled to about 105 deg. F. for two months. It's all I knew back then.

Given it to do all over today with a bare sole from the factory, I would seal all floor boards with System Three ClearCoat and a coat of fine glass cloth. The glass cloth disappears in the ClearCoat as they have the same refractive index. The usual five coats of epoxy and two of varnish and it would have looked like wet varnish for 20 years. Not as simple as that but maintenance free for decades. An epoxy backing on the underside is mandatory with something like that.

As it is now with the soft varnish, I have to pull out all the boards every few years and buff them with a light cut polish using a buffer.

Maintenance free has become my mantra.

 

[MFD]

Understood on not wanting an eyesore but I would suggest simply putting adhesive industrial safety grit tape for stairwells on the steps.

I did this many years ago, my girlfriend did a great job of cutting them so they looked as good as possible.

All subsequent guests that had been on the boat before and after complimented us on fixing that safety problem.

I think even non-sailor/naive guests are not offended by the look of the safety grit and appreciate its purpose.

EDIT: I do not have links right now, but recall from OSHA or other organizations that have studied stairwells, that the way feet work, it might seem you slipped on the edge of the stair, but if the stair itself was grippy - you never would have made it that far to report that experience.