He recommended Penofin Blue Label

I had to sand off the remnants of the latex stain - not a bad job with an 80 grit paper on the belt sander for the large areas and on the palm sander for the edges and around the D-rings. The sanding also gave me opportunity to smooth out the knots and raised edges.
Aron and I got the 1st coat on in about 30 minutes. Still need to put another coat on. As soon as we started I really liked the look. The color I chose is "Sable".
I forgot to take a picture before sanding but here is what it looked like after sanding;

Just starting;

1st Coat;

Thanks for looking.
Peter