with.

Swimsteps live in a wet environment laced with plenty of UV light.  Putting
anything on one will result in that anything coming off and looking horrible
in the process.  Leave it bare like a deck.

And NEVER put CPES on anything unless you intend to put something over it
(varnish, Bristol, paint, etc.) or the wood it's on lives permanently in the
dark.  Like most epoxies, CPES is very susceptible to rapid UV light breakdown
if it doesn't have a UV protectant over it (like varnish, paint, etc.)

But with regards to your swimstep--- varnish will come off, Cetol will come
off, uncovered CPES will deteriorate in short order, teak oil will need
continuous replenishing and attract and hold dirt and turn black, and paint
will come off pretty quickly given the environment it's in.

If your boat lives in a boathouse and you never get the swimstep wet and are
primarily concerned with the looks rather than the function, varnish, Cetol,
Bristol, etc will all work just great.  But if you use your boat in the real
world, leave the teak bare and learn to live with the color silver-gray.

By the way, using teak cleaners periodically will result in the same thing
that happens when you use it on your teak deck--- wood cells go away.
Chemical cleaners do exactly the same thing as sandpaper only they to it
chemically.  There is no way to turn gray wood cells brown (except with stain
or paint).  The only way to get gray teak brown again is to remove the top
layers of wood cells which have weathered gray.  So you remove the gray cells
with the "miracle" teak cleaners and guess what happens?  As soon as the nice
brown cells that were underneath the gray ones get a taste of the weather they
start turning gray.  So then a month or two later you hit the deck with the
cleaner again.  Nice brown deck again, but damned if it doesn't turn gray on
you again.  So out comes the cleaner and more wood cells disappear.  So if you
just have to have a "new" looking teak deck or swimstep, be prepared to
replace it sooner rather than later since every time you "clean" it you're
actually removing wood.

A number of years ago I was associated with a 120' corporate yacht that had
been built in Germany in 1966 and had lovely teak decks.  It was a requirement
of the way the boat was used that the decks always look new.  So the crew used
teak cleaners frequently.  The decks were gorgeous and they had to be replaced
every eight to ten years because the wood became "cleaned" too thin to be
functional anymore.  Of course, this cost was factored into the operating
expenses of the boat, so it wasn't an issue.  But it is an issue for most
recreational boat owners.  The last time we priced the cost of replacing the
main deck teak of a GB36 was in the early 2000s and the cost estimates varied
between $20,000 and $30,000 depending on who gave us the bid.  Since that time
good quality teak has gotten staggeringly more expensive and labor costs have
gone up.  So think twice before wiping on that nice teak cleaner.  The wood
that you'll be wiping off can't be put back on.

The only thing that should ever be done to teak that's in good condition is
washing it with salt water and something like Lemon Joy.  Use a string mop or
very soft brush, and always go across the grain if you're using a brush.  And
NEVER powerwash teak.  Even at low pressure the spray hydraulics up the runs
of soft wood cells that lie between the runs of hard cells and you'll start
getting crevicing which, once it gets going, the weather will simply continue
until you end up with those deep crevices you've probably seen on some boats.

C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 (grp) "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington

Very good council Marin, but the bigger problem is how to get folks to accept
this.

Since they don't see this tiny amount of wood being removed, while they are
cleaning the teak, they do not comprehend the damage. This has to be taken on
faith, and most don't have the faith.

Heck, even when they see it, as occurs when they are sanding the teak, they
don't comprehend the damage. Then when they get estimates for replacement, you
should hear the whinning. Even then, what do they do? They go back to cleaning
and sanding!

Some folks just have to have a "particular look", no matter the damage done to
get it. But keep on preaching, maybe someone will benefit from your council.
Maybe even some can be "saved".

Rudy
Briney Bug, Panama City, Fl

Jill says to "do as I say, not as Rudy has me do"!

Hee, hee.