I almost asked this on the American Hunting board, but thought technical help from any gunsmiths would be a lot more helpful. And btw it has to do with hunting but is not really a gun question, so I hope y'all don't mind indulging me briefly with this.

It's a deerstand question.

I've got a number of these store bought stands. They have steel, not aluminum, legs and unfortunately the steel appears to be the thinest I have ever seen. They are also VERY prone to rust. That's even if you don't set them out in the woods. Ones that have been out for just one season have gotten water in them which froze and expanded and split the sides. A real mess in other words.

I've taken them apart and poured large amounts of water out. But the insides appear to have a great deal of rust.

What I want to do is salvage them and continue using to the extent possible and I could use some ideas on how to do it.

I've thought of having the splits welded shut and then putting caulk in places water could be getting in. But the biggest question I have is, what to do with the insides of the legs that are no doubt badly rusted. You can't get in there, so is there something that should be poured in that would stop the rust from getting worse? Or would seal it, or something of that sort?

All helpful suggestions will be appreciated.

In my experience, water is pretty tough to keep out of things so most of the time it is easier to drill some small weep holes to let the water out if there aren't any already.

Other than that I wouldn't worry too much about the inside. If you wanted to you could pour some paint inside and slosh it around, but allowing for drainage and then putting some paint on the outside would be how I would handle the issue.

What if you used expanding spray foam like you use around windows? If the cavity is fairly clear it might just fill it up. I isn;t a rust protector per se but if it seals water out, I would think it would at least help. DUnno...

A couple others suggested drilling holes. I've thought about it, but see down sides. One, any hole would still allow water up to the level of the hole which would still freeze and expand. And, two holes would be needed to equalize air pressure to allow water to easily run out. And holes would be more sources of rust and moisture and water getting in. And unless they're big the water might not run out much, and if they are big holes then there's the structural integrity of the legs to think about.

I thought too about the expanding foam, but this is twelve feet of ladder legs which have at best an inch in diameter on the inside. And the bottom ends are welded shut. So I don't know how efficiently foam would fill the whole thing. Or if it would really form a water tight seal on hardening.

What I'd really like to find is something that would "kill" the rust already inside. I wonder, is pouring kerosene or oil or Thompson's water seal in each leg any kind of idea? WD40 would take too many cans and is in spray form anyway and might not reach the ends.

This is kind of a tricky problem.

Anyway, the real trouble as I see it is, cheap lousy Chinese pot metal at work. Deerstands REALLY should be built of aluminum in the first place. Those unfortunately just aren't built much anymore, unless you can do it yourself.

There's a market for it, if someone here with a machine or welding shop wants to get into it. What's out there now is all imported and not quality.

My buddy built a bow stand out of full sticks of exhaust pipe,he's in the auto parts biz.

He sprayed them with rust proof paint and used a wheel hub cap to plug the end in the air.

It is set on a 1 in. cinder block and it has been out for about 17 years.

The caps do not cost much.

As for the rust in the pipes you have dry them well and fog them with a shot of wd-40 or some other water/penetrating fluid,but cap the ends.

If you use foam be sure to paint it because sunlight will degrade it over time.

You can flush the insides of the tube with rust converter, which changes the rust to a primer- adding this to what has already been suggested, like sealing with foam, would gain you more use of the equipment, I think.

Good suggestions all.

I appreciate the responses from everyone.