Climbing stick water drain holes
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Teeton
10-Sep-22
Bottom of step where it meets the upright.
Bottom of step where it meets the upright.
Last year I bought a couple of sets of new climbing sticks, they were 20 ft'ers. At the bottom of the steps where it welded to the 5 ft upright, they had drain holes drilled to let the water out. Water, cold, freeze, ice, expand break.
Theres one are 25 ft with double step on each side. Each step is welded on top and sides. No weld on bottom where it meets the upright. Pretty sure its not really needed there. The powder coating seems to block where you would think the water would drain out. I tryed to blow and suck ( no comments from the peanut gallery :) on a few steps and it sealed up pretty good.
Thinking of drilling a small hole right about where the step meets the upright. Thoughts?? Ed
From: Teeton
10-Sep-22
Total 5 ft section
Total 5 ft section
From: greg simon
10-Sep-22
I do that on all mine. If water doesn’t drain bad things will happen.
From: DanaC
10-Sep-22
Fill the steps with spray foam - won't add much weight.
From: midwest
10-Sep-22
Absolutely drill the drain holes.
From: midwest
10-Sep-22
Another option...
From: midwest
10-Sep-22
From: Teeton
10-Sep-22
Well being I'm going to use them tomorrow, I'm going to go with the drill holes. Seemed to work to work on my others with holes.. My get some caps like midwest posted about. Those could be put in any time ever if up.. I got a summit ciimber that was left out in the cold, water got in it and the tube around the top part got expanded for the frozen water. A couple of 3/16 holes would of provented that.
From: Bowhunter09
10-Sep-22
I have a set of aluminum sticks 16 ft tall that are expanded due to water freezing inside. Wish I had drilled holes
From: milnrick
10-Sep-22
I'd take a path that combines Dana's and Midwest's suggestions.
I've used sprayfoam to quiet ladder stands before with good results in keeping water (and insects) out of the tubing. Adding caps only makes it more effective.
From: JL
10-Sep-22
Just for grins....are there drilled holes on the vertical square tubing inside the rungs? You'd have to get a flashlight and look inside of course. The other Capt Obvious thoughts....I would not drill thru any welds....maybe a 1/8 to 1/4 up from the welds and I'd use as small of a bit as I could to start off with. You can always come back and enlarge the holes if need be. The failures I have seen have usually had something to do with the welds. Any fresh metal would get some Rustoleum inside and out to kelp prevent corrosion from starting.
From: Teeton
11-Sep-22
Hi everyone, heres what i did. When I first got them i noticed that they had no drain holes like the one i got last year,. Last years was a different brand. So knowing they would be out in cold weather, wanted to winter proof them. I started drilingl small holes in bottom of the steps where the step meets the upright, no weld here. Then i saw one that had a small gap were the step meets the upright. I then took a claw hammer and a 2x4 wood and gave each step a mild tap. That broke the power coating where water could escape. I probably could lot took a 16 penny nail scratched the powder coating, opening where the step meets the upright to let water out. Live and learn. Thanks everyone for your posts. This was just the first time I came across this. Ed
From: fdp
18-Sep-22
