Gary,
I used the cetol and so far it is awesome. I only did the top and sides. My platform was gray and nasty so I sanded it all down to get to the good wood. I applied 3-4 coats of it and between each coat I scuffed it up just a little bit with a brown scotch-brite pad.
Here is what it looked like in the beginning on the bottom. The top was the same I just didn't get a picture of it.
Here is a picture during sanding.
Here is the finished product.