After a number of years and about 10,000 trips up and down the companionway steps, they were starting to look a little shopworn around the edges. Plenty of sand, salt, and water will do that over time. Like most things around the boat, I was looking for a solution which would look good and last forever with no maintenance. A strong belief in the supernatural is also quite helpful to this end.

What I came up with is as follows:

The teak steps were removed from the SS stair assembly.

Using a very sharp jack plane, all of the surface varnish was removed ( a depth of approx. 0.005) from the flat surfaces, front and back. The varnish on the curved surfaces was removed with sandpaper and finished to 120 grit. The varnish from the grooves was removed with a narrow chisel or whatever is close at hand.

The steps were left in a warm location and allowed to dry for a month. This is important because when finished, the step will be hermetically sealed. Trapped water will lift the finish.

Once the steps were dry, the grooves were cleaned, smoothed insuring the top edges were straight and a sharp 90 deg. angle at the surface.

The grooves only were then filled with System Three Silver Tip epoxy which had been tinted to the required colour. Black was chosen in this case. The colour of holly would also look good in repeating the teak and holly theme of the floor.

Once the epoxy in the grooves had set, it was planed/sanded until the surface of the steps were flush.

The top surface, front and rear edges, and sides of the steps were then covered with a light glass cloth and saturated with System Three Silver Tip epoxy. Dont bother trying this with polyester resin as the glass cloth will show in the resin. The beauty of the System Three Silver Tip epoxy is that it has the same refractive index of the glass. The glass cloth completely disappears in the resin. The resin is also crystal clear which does an excellent job of displaying the underlying teak grain. Another one or two coats of epoxy were applied until the weave of the cloth had disappeared. Work on a sheet of polyethylene as the resin slides off the poly, once cured.

Once the resin had just cured, the boards were flipped over and the underside of the boards were coated with three heavy coats of resin. No cloth was required as this area does not receive any wear. Each coat was allowed to cure until sticky before applying the next coat.

Once all of the resin had fully cured, the top, visible surface of the boards were finished to a 220 grit. The underside of the steps were finished to roughly flat (only) as they will not be seen.

The steps were allowed to cure for a few weeks week and three coats of varnish were applied for UV protection. Prior to applying the last coat of varnish, it is good practice to apply some clear silica sand as an anti-skid using the varnish as an adhesive.

When it comes time to reinstall the steps, smear the pilot holes (where the screws will be going back in) with silicone to ensure the steps are hermetically sealed.

Obviously, the above instructions are very abbreviated and not intended as an exact how to . The job really only requires a modest knowledge of woodworking and glassing, The greatest help of all comes from the information found in the brochures presented on the web pages of any well known epoxy manufacturers such as System Three, West System, etc. Literature, very
well written and lots of it seems to be the strong point of these companies.

The steps shown in the photo have been in service for three years and show no signs of wear.