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Protecting the boarding steps

Ed_Wischmeyer

Well Known Member
My RV-9A came with painted steps, and no surprise, the paint eventually wore through.

Then I got them powder coated, but the powder coat also wore out and, believe it or not, it looks like rust is weeping through the other parts of the powder coat. Maybe it was a lousy job? dunno.

Recommendations? Thought about getting the steps chrome plated but apparently there's no place in Georgia to get that done...

Thanks!

Ed
 
Nickle-Zinc

I had my steps Nickle-Zinc plated by a local metal plating shop and they are now painted (base coat/clear coat), plane is still short of inspection and first flight.

And then placed a piece of adhesive wing walk on the up side part of the step.
 
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I put heat shrink tubing on the horizontal portion of my painted steps. It's been working well. I choose black to match my wing walk color. It's probably not as slippery as paint when wet, but no where near as grippy as wing walk anti-slip material.
 
Get some .020 stainless or titanium from McMaster and using the G/flex glue, glue it to the step.

Clean both up pretty well first, of course.

The Grade 2 titanium works a lot like a slightly stronger kind of aluminum. I like working with it.

Dave
 
Wing walk material

I just put a strip of wing walk material on the top of the steps. I was concerned about slipping when they were wet. Pretty easy fix.
 
This is a constant wear area. Pritymuch expect to have to paint or protect it often. I am using adhesive wingwalk material. Just replace and or prime as required.


RD
 
My -7A is going on 7 years with painted steps and the paint doesn't show any noticeable wear. There are some scuffs on the vertical portion. I always wear soft sole shoes. The horizontal portion has a gritty black piece stuck on top for a non slip surface that's a little grittier than the Vans wing walk material. The plane was painted with SW Acry-Glo paint.
 
Then I got them powder coated, but the powder coat also wore out and, believe it or not, it looks like rust is weeping through the other parts of the powder coat. Maybe it was a lousy job? dunno.

Ed

Likely a poor job. With proper prep and application, powder coating does a pretty good job of preventing rust. However, during prep, every bit of rust needs to be removed or chemically neutralized. Otherwise, the rust can continue to grow under the powder coat. Same with paint. It's all about the prep. Many of this guys sand blast parts and it's easy to miss bits of rust here and there on parts with lots of joints.

Larry
 
Wing walk paint would work well. Just prep the surface and put a couple coats on. Takes a few days to cure.
 
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