Rust of stern ladder

[Henry2000boats]

I am trying to remove the rust stains from an apparent ferrous metal alloy used to connect the fiberglass rungs to the stainless frame. (see pics) I thought it would be a simple matter of adding new ss screws to the assembly, clean the rungs, and enjoy. However the attachments appear to be rivets. Anyone ever tackled this project? and if, any ideas?

Ladder pic 1.JPG (123.61 KiB) Viewed 2836 times

Ladder pic 1.JPG (123.61 KiB) Viewed 2836 times

[leigh weiss]

Bar Keepers Friend!!!!!!
Apply and let it sit 30 min.
Scrub off.
Works for me.

[TBOT422]

https://spotlessstainless.com/. Brush On Rinse Off! Incredible stuff I use it on everything, stanchions, rigging, anchor rollers, etc.

Just be glad your rungs are riveted on. Ours were simply glued and the admiral fell in the water at Cedar Key when one of them came unglued. They are now screwed on!

[KenKrawford]

If you decide to take the steps off it would be fairly easy to drill out the old rivets. Pop rivet tools are relatively inexpensive and would make it easy to replace the rivets.