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Companionway Step Repair

lonokai

Member III
I continue efforts to fix things on Lono Kai. I am alas, not a good handyman, but I am trying.

Today: the companionway steps. I have been sanding them down and removing the old paint from the PO. Today I took off the metal (steel?) plates on either side of the top of the steps.

This revealed some rotted wood and a crack on one side (see the photos). The crack extends about 24 inches down the steps. The top of the crack was filled with silicon and the wood does separate if pulled. The opposite side is fine. I assume the PO used the metal plats on both sides to reinforce the stairs.

I never really liked the steel plates, and I do not relish the thought of having to sand all the paint and rust from them, but I am concerned about the wood now. I'm thinking I will do the following;

Clean out the previous repair work (silicon and whatever else), sand everything down and then put CPES EPOXY just to the cracked areas in the hope of strengthening the wood there.
Sand down (or clean) the steel plates. Paint them silver. Place them back onto the steps with CPES EPOxY between the steel and the wood. When all have cured, CPES the whole thing, then varnish and hope they hold.

Any thoughts on the efficacy of this?
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lonokai

Member III
BTW, I realized I forgot to resize the photos and orient properly....sorry
 

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Afrakes

Sustaining Member
Mounting brackets

The metal mounting brackets should be plated bronze or brass. Sometimes the pitted and corroded plating makes them appear to be rusty. Injecting thickened epoxy into the tracks should be enough to restore integrity to the wood.
 

lonokai

Member III
Thanks Al. I am thinking I might drill some holes into the backside of the steps to get more epoxy in there....see diagram
The dotted lines are where I would drill holes.
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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Except for the tops, it looks like the ladder will clean up well and take varnish to look good.

The steel plate was overkill and poor choice of material. You can strengthen that side by other means, suggested above.

But, appearance-wise, I don't think the tops will look good in varnish, even with a lot of sanding and filling and bleaching.

If it were me, I would paint the tops (only), giving the ladder a rather dashing appearance, like Fred Astaire upsidedown (reference is to his white spats).

Even for painting, the tops will take filling and smoothing for a uniform surface.

When I redid my ladder recently, I used a heat gun to remove old varnish.

If there are stains still marring the surface, Oxalic acid wood bleach is effective.

Is prep complete and a surface ready for varnish? A swipe with an alcohol rag previews exactly how it will look.
 
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lonokai

Member III
Thanks Christian. Just to clarify...you mean the whole top above the step on all sides... (see arrows)
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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Yes, exactly.

If when you finish the reinforcement the wood looks OK, maybe you can still varnish it. But if it looks beat up, stained and ugly, in distinct contrast to the rest of the ladder, the alternative is paint as an "accent" there.

It would be easier just to varnish it all, if it turns out not too bad.

The white stuff on the rungs--looks like sealant? what glue cures white?-- needs to come off without a trace before varnish.
 

lonokai

Member III
Its looking good right now...not perfect...

So, I have the "Layup and Laminating Epoxy," Parts A and B, which I will use for the repair.

Afterwards, Thought I would "paint" the whole top with the CPES,
THEN Varnish it all.

It might not look absolutely perfect but should be better than government work.

BTW, the PO painted all the steps white. Some of it has seeped deeply into the wood. I might have to live with SOME faint white specks here and there and those lines along where the two pieces of wood join.

Now, Mr. Smith's site says that you should use the CPES as the first step, then move on to other products......I was going to use the Laminating Epoxy first.
 

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Martin King

Sustaining Member
Blogs Author
I would not use cpes to effect repairs. WEST epoxy would be my choice. Lay it in the crack with a syringe, and then clamp it up.The bond
created will be stronger than the wood.

Martin
 
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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
That's going to look fine with varnish. It will have character.

Your plan is sound, but since we're discussing this repair among us amateurs, here's what I would do.

Since the issue is just a crack in the wood, I'd drill ( from the back) for three #12 stainless wood screws to draw the pieces together and keep them there. Expoxy is optional.

I might use a 3/8ths forstner bit to insert the screws, then plug them with 3/8th plugs.

For the holes and gaps remaining, I would (keeping this to myself since it isn't nautical) get from a hardware store some plastic wood or other mahogany-colored fill and fill the holes and cracks.

Sand and apply at least four coats varnish, the first thinned 50 percent so it will absorb.

I wouldn't bother with CPES, myself. The screws provide mechanical strength and CPES is for wood that's gonna get wet or needs to be hardened up.

Many ways to do it, just thuoght I'd give my approach.
 
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Glyn Judson

Moderator
Moderator
Sanding those steps.

Eric,

I have a Bosch corner sander with the triangular random orbit pattern that I'd be glad to lend you. As a matter of fact, I have two of them so probably would't miss the one. They work like a son if a gun and would make short shrift of the remaining white paint. Have you considered Gorilla glue for that long split in the wood? The rest could be filled/repaired with a slurry of thickened West System 105 and gobs of mahogany saw dust. Let me know if I can help, Glyn
 

tenders

Innocent Bystander
I agree with Martin that CPES is a waste of time for this. Actually I think it is a waste of time for most everything. I have a quart I bought years ago for some repair I can't even remember anymore and it has never been used. I have always found some other better approach, and in this case I think Martin's suggestion is that better approach. In fact it is like the Six Million Dollar Man: better, stronger, faster. (CPES takes a long time to cure.)
 

lonokai

Member III
OK, Thanks to all of you. As it turns out, I did NOT use CPES. I did however use the Rot Doctor's Laminating Epoxy, simply because I am 100 miles from the boat and nowhere near anywhere to get some West epoxy...etc,,,

In any case, I sanded everything down and filled the larger space with the epoxy. IT has dried extremely hard and is holding together. Since I went ot the boat over the weekend, I use ther steps and they are fine. I will do one last sanding befpre beginning the varnishing process.

The Epoxy was looser than I anticipated and my efforts to get it to stay were halfway successful....I have about 1/4 inch to fill next time.

I'll post photos later showing where I am now....


Glyn, I may just take you up on that
 

lonokai

Member III
So, the Epoxy was loose enough to spread over the wood as you can see in the photo. I will have to sand it all down. The steps are looking better and will soon be ready for varnish. It IS a hassle taking the steps back and forth to work on them...but its breeding some patience on my part, and will come in handy when I tackle the companionway hatch.

Thank you all again for your comments and support.

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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Believe me when I say we are all in a learning process with boat jobs. Even though knowledge builds up over time, every new job is the first time, which separates us from professionals.

Laminating epoxy is wrong in this case, since you're not laminating anything. It's runny and remains somewhat flexible. West System epoxy (there are other brands) is the general epoxy to use, and it can be thickened to a peanut-butter paste for filling using colloidal silica (very hard) or sawdust (sold for the purpose).

It's what we would use to "glue" elements together. It can fill gaps, unlike glue.
 

lonokai

Member III
Finally finishing THIS project (companionway steps)

Well, the steps were on my boat for two years, and after I had some health problems, I decided to bring the steps home and give it another try.

I first coated the entire step with CPES from Rot Doctor, then began three coats of Epifanes, because the $60 can was on sale for $39.

Here's the result:

ladder2.jpgladder1.jpgladder3.jpgladder4.jpg

Lessons learned:
- Do a better jobs of sanding away the imperfections, filling the screw holes, etc...
- find a more dust free environment
and the top thing I learned about varnishing.....patience.

Next stop: Bilge pump redesign.
 

Glyn Judson

Moderator
Moderator
Your steps look fantastic.

Eric, Should it interest you, I helped a friend with his E27by designing a simple hinge affair that got the steps out of the way when needing to access the engine room. All the hardware remained the same but for his buying a lath and eye. WE attached the receiving hardware normally attached to the wood below the bridge deck, to a length of similar piano hinged wood that we eventually then attached to the original wood via the hinge screw holes. Now the steps are as solid as ever but can be easily hinged up and out of the way, secured in that position by means of the hook attached well out of the way on the bottom side of the lower step, which locks into the eye on the forward side of the sliding hatch frame. Easy peasy and now he doesn't have a ladder taking uo cabin space when working in there. Cheers, Glyn
 

mfield

Member III
Eric, your steps came out very nicely. Are you considering an grip tape for wet conditions? I had good luck using 3M tread tape to replace the rubbery original on my steps
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Isn't it great when an old weathered item is brought back to life? I highly recommend putting down some "treadmaster" self-adhesive non-skid pads on those steps. They fit perfectly and provide secure footing even when things get a little damp. I "saw the light" right after I saw the little birdies...
I did that job last fall. I added barrel bolts at all four corners, since all original mounting hardware was long gone, and once or twice the ladder did go flying during "spirited" conditions. And one slip off a frictionless step was more than enough for me...

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/lewm...Mvo3hAXQ1v9W8oKRQUjPQ7CjCAUT2R-8aAsKxEALw_wcB

Edit... that was just the first link that I found. I think I got them in a two-pack for a substantially lower price. Shop around. Of course, then there's the problem of where to stick the fourth one...
 
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lonokai

Member III
Done and Done ;)

Actually this was the plan all along..partly for stability when climbing and partly for covering some of the imperfections. It's not a perfect varnishing job by any means, but I learned a lot as previously mentioned. And thanks for all your suggestions.
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