Boarding boat on floating mooring

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Pete735

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I'm looking for ideas to make getting onto the boat easier and safer. Boat is on a swinging mooring on River Cleddau and a combination of wind/current/boat/inexperienced owner can make access a trial. Boat is 32ft with a counter stern and has a conventional hinged s/s boarding ladder fixed at top only.Tender is an 8ft Dell Quay fibreglas one with a Suzuki outboard with no neutral. Currently we clamber over bow of tender (bow of which is very wide, much like that of a mirror dinghy) grabbing ladder and then pushpit rails and backstay.

I'm considering modifying the ladder so that the bottom of top section is also fixed to the stern and also putting narrow wooden slats on top 2 rungs for better grip. I think this would help.

How do others approach this problem and in what order should I consider making changes?

For example, a newer outboard with neutral might help, currently I arrive along most convenient side and grab side of boat, turn off outboard and manouvre round to stern. Would an inflatable be more stable and easier to get in and out of? Is boarding over the side a better long term option?

As usual, any thoughts and practical experiences would be appreciated.
 
could consider inflable tender, my wife finds this easier as you can put weight on the tubes when you get on/off

Also has the advantage of all round fendering.
 
Much easier to use an fender ladder alongside. Tender stays put and doesn't disappear under the stern overhang.

Indeed, I'm going to remove my stern boarding ladder this winter and modify it so it can hang off the toerail amidships.
 
I have a 5 rung Lazilas folding ladder .... alloy side tubes, plastic steps ... it's light and strong. It can be hooked over any toe-rail, pulpit, pushpit rail and used to board. Ladder goes home with you when leaving boat .. goes back to boat when boarding ... used for bathing, other uses while on board.

I also second those who advise boarding at side of boat ...
 
For years we used to board our Sadler 29 at a mooring. In calm weather we used the boarding-ladder, which was fixed at 4 points, not 2 as on the standard extra, but when it was choppy we always boarded at the quarter. If your mooring is well protected you might manage with a fender-step but ultimately for safety, especially if the topsides are high, a solid ladder securely fixed is best. This could be the type that hooks over the toerail and rests on pads against the hull.

Clambering over the bow of a dinghy sounds inelegant if nothing else. Coming alongside with an outboard shouldn't be too difficult with practice. The trick is to synchronise helm & crew movements effectively. We used to board from a very lightweight 7' pram, but it is important for everyone to move very very slowly. Guests and non-sailors should be told to sit absolutely still until instructed what to do.
 
On KATE we have an Avon dinghy and the deck is about 3'0" above sea level plus there are 24" high safety lines.


KateAntigua2009B.jpg


We always board at the shrouds.
 
With a sugar scoop stern we bring the tender around and tie it broadside across the stern - tied up securely fore and aft it produces a very stable platform to get off.
Not entirely possible with a counterstern though - so either get a fixed lader that you can brace against or, as the others have suggested, board from alongside.
If you're not that stable then get yourself tied off fore/aft before attempting to get off - you can always put a step in the tender to get yourself higher - just ensure that you balance it well!!
 
just to add to fireball's sugestion, we use this arangment, and stand on the dinghy thrawt to get in reach of the backstay. To hold the dinghy off the lader, we have two large ball fenders, could help with a counter stern aswell.
 
As already said board at the side, besides the shrouds as this gives hand holds. The extra we use is to rig a 'man rope' - a short lenth of rope secured on board, possibly with knots to improve the grip, so the person boarding has a handhold to pull up on (or in reverse ease themselves down with). Have also used the man rope when alongside a pontoon.
 
Side Boarding

Thanks for the comments so far, the top sides are quite high and as has been mentioned, getting guests on board can be quite a problem when it's choppy.

If I work on side boarding as best option, do I modify guard rail stanchions/mountings to take extra weight? Given boat is a ketch there are shrouds near stern, but I can just see guests in particular grabbing stanchions and putting all their weight on them. After a period of time I suspect those close to boarding point will get pulled out.

Do others have a cut out in guard rail to ease access? Ideally, I suppose if I modify one side I should consider doing the other as well.
 
Add a manrope as suggested above - when you've got guests aboard then direct them as to the correct way to board.
Guests and other yachtsmen will quite often grab your stantions as they seem fixed, but don't understand the pressures you're putting on them.

One of the major improvements we're doing this winter is adding a gate in (both sides) as this should vastly improve the access from pontoons for us.
 
We board Treble C over the stern as previous post - The previous owner had a "gate" made in the pushpit rail and if you're reasonably slim you can squeeze through the split backstay.

We always board from an inflatable dinghy that we make fast to one of the pushpit rails. Then its step carefully onto the bottom lip of the sugar scoop and clamber up the steps moulded behind the ladder. The ladder itself is more of a hindrance than anything else when boarding this way.

The keys to getting in this way are:

1 Gate in pushpit
2 Split Backstay
3 Sugar Scoop stern.

I don't know how I'd manage to get in over the side - very difficult.

JuSw
 
fireball said:
With a sugar scoop stern we bring the tender around and tie it broadside across the stern...
Click to expand...

I would be really, really wary of doing this if there was much tide running for fear of flipping the tender (rigid or flubber). I believe that someone drowned in Conwy harbour a few years ago after this happened (IIRC their leg got caught on the boat, and they hung upside down until .... :( )

We used to climb over the bow of the GRP tender onto a stern boarding ladder when we were on a swinging mooring. I used to leave a fender on the stern to drive the tender into until tied off (no neutral). Using an inflatable was much easier - we used to come alongside the quarter and stem the tide until the painter was tied off to a stanchion. We could stand on the side tube of the inflatable and step up onto the quarter. Much easier to pass bags, etc. up to the cockpit from this position.

Do you have a handy pontoon or jetty where you could load supplies or pick 'guests' up? May be better than trying to ship everything in the tender.

0.02p

Andy
 
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