How to install treads.

Apropos treads are designed to install easily, with minimum tools so that you can use your transformed ladder as quickly as possible. Parts are cut with CNC controlled routers – accurate to .001”.

Parts included 1 tread 2 locking forks 8 SS bolts 10-24 1” 8 SS lock nuts 10-24

Tools needed Electric drill 3/16” drill bit to through-drill the locking fork Small countersink bit Piece of scrap wood to prevent drill damage Small diameter nail or small drill bit to mark holes Locking pliers or clamp with a 1 ½” opening Small pad 1” x 2”  (cardboard to protect tread when installing) Phillips Screwdriver (medium/small)

How to install

Preparing the ladder

If your boat is in the water, we recommend that you remove the ladder to reduce the chances of you or the pieces falling overboard. *

1. Remove old treads if applicable. Keep the removed tread for now.
2. Place the tread on the rung. It should fit snugly and not wobble. If there is more than about ¼” play, consult your supplier or Apropos Marine.

3. Slide one of the locking forks around the vertical rails below the rung with the tread.

4. Press horizontally until the fork fits snugly against the vertical rail.
5. Now push the tread and the fork together so the fork’s pins fit into the slots in the bottom of the tread. This fit may be quite tight. If it does not slide in easily, use the pad and locking pliers to squeeze the forks into the slots.*

6. Clamp the fork in place, making sure that one set of front and back bolt holes is visible and accessible.  Push the drill bit or a nail through the bolt holes to mark the locking fork.
In most cases, the pre-marked pilot hole on the fork will be in the correct location.


7. Remove the fork and tread from the rung. Reassemble the rung and fork for drilling, making sure that the holes in the tread line up with the drill-bit marks on the forks.
8. Over a piece of scrap, using the top hole in the tread as guide and making sure your drill is perpendicular to the tread,  drill the fork for the bolts.

9. Place a bolt through one of the drilled holes to lock the fork and drill all four holes for the fork.

10. Put the drilled fork and tread on the ladder rung. Drop a bolt in one of the holes.
11. Put the fork on the other end of the rung, and mark as before.

12. Remove the tread as before and repeat the drilling process.

Installing the tread
13. Put the tread and the forks in place on the rung. Make sure the forks are pressed all the way into the tread slots. Install the bolts and nuts with a screwdriver and locking pliers (or wrench) to hold the locking nut. If the rung diameter is oversized, and you have trouble locking the nuts, countersink the holes slightly.  Do not over-tighten!

Notes:
The installation can be done without removing the ladder but it is more difficult.

In use, if the tread is pushed from below, it can pull away from the rung and ride up the vertical rail. Just push it back down. If this annoys you:
wrap a couple of turns of electrical or rigging tape above the tread to hold it in down
clean the bottom of the tread and the rung and stick it down with a bead of silicone – Seaboard plastic will not glue very well, but the increased surface area will hold the tread in place

*If the forks still do not go into the slots, the problem may be oversized vertical rails, forcing the forks apart.  Alternatively, plastic on the pins may have expanded. The forks may need a bit of simple trimming using a hand held paint scraper, a chisel or a knife.
In our first-hand experience, this can be dangerous!
Use a vice or a clamp to hold the fork while trimming. Keep bandages close at hand.