Had to make a deviation from my current project to make a swim step for a friends boat. Teal is nice to work with but wow is it expensive. He paid $26.00/bd ft. It’s a fairly simple piece to construct but a lot of pieces to cut. 

Paul

Ouch! $26 a bd. ft!  What glue are you using on that, BTW?

TB III, I'll wager.

Lookin good So far. I've got some teak. I just at it as its not my favorite wood for projects. 

 

Did he consider Ipe, or was weight and color a problem?

That's really nice! 

Yes I’m using TB III. No teak was what he wanted. Fortunately he can afford it but still that was a big ticket. It’s a fairly large swim step. I didn’t buy a lot extra and it was $1500. The glue thing with teak or any other wood that oily is tricky. I wipe the surfaces down with acetone immediately before the glue but I think that is mostly a gesture. This is a trailered boat so it won’t be in the water that much on an overall basis. If it was on a boat in a slip and in the water all the time I would do the all thread with plugs through the whole thing. 
Paul

The final glue up is done. This thing is turning out to be heavier than I expected. It’s still about a 1/4” over on thickness but still pretty heavy. I still have to attach 6 support gussets which are 3” wide and 19 3/4” long for the support brackets and ladder. I guess it’s either heavier than I expected or I’m older than I think. Hmmm

Paul

Mmmm I have that problem about the stuff in my shop getting heavier and I thing the shop gremlins are adding weights at night.

 

Looks like a formidable mounting job for this.

Not sure what he has in mind on the mounting. Fortunately my job ends at the delivery of the swim step 😈