Are All Sail Boat Boarding Ladders Created Equal

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thesaintlyone

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I'm looking for a boarding ladder to mount to the back of the Westerly Longbow 31 and noticed on a few you tube videos that some seem to lift up vertically and can be strapped upright to the pushpit when not in use do all do this or am I looking at a certain design if so any recommendations
 
The ones you describe are almost certainly custom made for the boat. The most common after market ones are part fixed, part folding where the fixed part is bolted through the transom and typically a 3 rung extra section folds down into the water so you can reach the bottom rung while in the water.

Google Yacht Boarding Ladders to get some ideas of what is available.
 
It is very desirable to have a bottom step about .6m below water level or even more. It is also very desirable to have hand holds well above deck as you use hands as much as feet to haul yourself up. (like swimming pool ladders) You might also want a gap in the stern rail to get through. However we want to be able to fold the ladder up to reduce water drag. It is therefore vital that you be able to release the ladder down for use from a swimming in the water position. So a good ladder is rather a big structure and expensive. So yes it is difficult on a tiny boat. 6 or 7 metre.
I use one of these https://www.whitworths.com.au/transom-step-handle mounted as just above the water line. Under each side I mounted stainless steel plates bent to form hinges to take a 6mm SS rod which bends down and back up to the other side to make a step. There is another similar step hinged from it sown another 30cms. The 5mm rod bends against the bottom of the transom with the force forward with a foot in it. But this is manageable. The whole lot is small and light weight and cheap however nothing to be proud of. The stern rail has a gap in it with the top of the rail strong enough to pull myself up. The rod step folds up to a swing clip near the top of the transom. I do use it fairly often as it is easier to swim to the boat on swing mooring than get out the dinghy. But old age and over weight make it a bit of a challenge sometimes. Needs better high level hand holds. good luck olewill
 
If you have a bilge keel boat it can be really handy if it reaches nearly to the ground when the boat has dried out.

I wondered in the first season of our ownership why there was a much longer ladder section stowed in the cockpit locker. This all became too clear when we dried out in Ilfracombe. We could climb down what ladder there was and jump onto the beach. Coming back the full horror of our situation became evident. Getting a foot on the first rung of the ladder was going to require a physical strength and flexibility I have never had.

The ensuing cabaret entertained the spectators for some time.

I got the Commander in Chief onto my shoulders and lifted her up so she could climb onto the ladder. And get on board.

She dropped a mooring line over the stern. Then with much grunting and flailing about I managed to haul myself up and onto the boat.
The longer ladder was installed and remains in place to this day.

This confirmed my suspicion that I was unlikely to survive a MOB incident unaided.
 
We had a Sadler 29 in the '80s/'90s which we bought from new. At the time we were cutting costs and declined the standard ladder, ordering our own from a firm on the South Coast. From memory, our ladder cost about 80 quid, against the standard 120 fitted.

The point of this is that our ladder had four fixing points with a hinged section at the bottom, whereas most ladders had two fixing points hinged at the top and bottom. Our ladder was therefore much steadier to board with, and I would suggest that you give this aspect a thought.
 
I wonder...do those telescopic ladders work when wet? OK so they may not last forever but one might be excellent when beached or in shallow water.

Also, would they work with bottom unsupported, ie in deeper water?

Seems to me that for beaching etc having a ladder fixed at the stern is not always ideal, something that you can tie on anywhere on the boat might be a good alternative.
 
That looks tidy and effective. I was thinking about the cheapie (ish) domestic telescopic ladders that seem popular now. Aluminium most likely...any experience?
 
When I had a Centaur I had a friend who made me one to my design. This was in two sections, hinged in the middle. The top part was permanently hinged to the top of the transom. Stowing was just a matter of lifting the ladder up and folding it inwards over the pushpit. This ensured that I could not drop the entire ladder or even removable pins and lose them overboard, Note that the hinge in the middle (standard fitting) was fitted 'back to front' thus making the ladder rigid when one was climbing out of the water while allowing the ladder to fold over the top rail of the pushpit and stay there. From memory I had two and a half rungs below the water surface.
 
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