"Slippery" cabin steps

[Tony Walker]

This happened to me twice and my admiral once.

My cabin steps are wood, teak?  I was advised to put some antiskid something on them to prevent slipping accidents.  I tried everything I could think of to see how the steps would become slippery and could not simulate such an event.

But--- twice when I headed into the cabin and put my foot on the first step going down, it went out from under me and I spun around smashing the front of one of my legs into something.  The only thing that kept me from becoming a heap on the cabin floor each time was the fact that I had my elbows on the cabin supporting me.

As I mentioned it happened to my admiral once.

I finally figured out how it happens.  It is the stainless steel pole that the steps are mounted to.  If your heel hits this instead of the step it is over.  You are going to launch yourself.  It is that slippery.

I put three strips of velcro on the front surface of the pole, and as ugly as it looks, I think I eliminated a real hazard.

Tony
Salt Shaker 342

[alswagg]

Their were several version's of Teak steps.  The worst was the Urithane finished, with a holly insert.  Extremely slippery.  The best version is natural oil with a rubber insert.  If you have the Urithane version, the urithan can be removed and the wood can then be oiled.  Teak is a natural non skid wood, but not when covered with a urithane coating.  Al

[Tony Walker]

Hi Al,

I may have the uritahane coating, not sure about that.  I don't consider the steps themselves particularly slippery and I feel very confortable standing on them.

However, one day we were using an aerosol spray type of vinyl cleaner for all the cushions on deck and the dinette cushions.  There was enough over spray in the air that the cleaner found its way onto the steps.  Man, did this make them slippery, just like ice.  We cleaned that stuff off the steps immediately and retired the spray can of cleaner to the recycle bin.

My admiral some time ago put some little rubber treads on each step between the first and second "insert" spaces, because it made her feel better about the the issue.

But the real launhing mechanism on our boat has been the support pole.  I was able to reproduce the dynamics of a fall in slow motion by making first contact going toward the top step with my heel hitting the pole and not the step.  This is what explains all the things that happened and the way we slipped in our three actual incidents.

Tony
Salt Shaker 342

[alswagg]

The urithane coated steps are shinny and the naturall oil coated are dull, and usually darker.  The SST post is the same on all steps whether carpet, or teak.  Al