Boarding Ladders

[c_roff]

Re: Boarding Ladders - warning heeded

Clearly I need to ensure that any home-made ladder has adequate and appropriately positioned spacers against the hull. However, I'm most interested in any advice on the ability of a domestic aluminium ladder to survive the agression of a salt water environment.

<hr width=100% size=1>whistler

 

[andy_wilson]

I satisfied a Code of Practice survey by incorporating a webbing loop below the bottom step.

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[Gunfleet]

Nice little boat you've got there!!>>
Thank you. I think it's a cracker. 6 ft headroom, beautifully put together down below. All round probably the same standard as a Vancouver or the smallest H-R but cost peanuts to buy (comparatively). Actually I've spent a lot on it since; re-rigging, new sails, professional paint job, sprayhood, Adverc, liferaft, EPIRB, DSC radio and Aries. So now I'm set for a hell of a season in a 26 ft boat as good as new and we're still under £16000 all in. There's a picture at http://www.woodrolfe.com/repairs underway.htm. Not much of a view of the boat but a hell of a paint job! Of course now I'm going to be paranoid about scratching it.
Yours
John


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[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

Re: Boarding Ladders - warning heeded

This is my second attempt as my computer crashed just as I was finishing writing lots of very useful information /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

My parents used to live on the seafront as did I for many years. My dad used to keep aluminium ladders on the drive exposed to all weathers; they are still going strong after 20 odd years.

The only problem with them is that they are bent from the time I used them to lift an engine out of my car by positioning the ladders across the drive supported by two walls. I mention this as I think you said you were going to dual role them as a gang plank/boarding ladder, they are designed for up down loading and I worry about their strength taking loads if used like a gang plank.

I have a stainless ladder aboard Top Cat about 7ft long for getting on and off when she is dried out, the steps are 1in stainless tubing which is bloody painful when barefoot, be warned in hotter climates to use wooden steps or wear shoes. My boarding ladder fixed to the transom has wooden steps and is great barefoot.

I would say that ally ladders would attract corrosion but no more than say your mast step, i.e. the white dusty stuff, so it would be only aesthetic. This is only my opinion though. I wonder if wooden ladders might suit the purpose better.

I have found the documents for the ladders I bought at Southampton and have scanned the image here to give an idea to those who said they could not find them for sale. They cost £90 which is not too unreasonable. Having them on the transom of a cat I think removes some of the problems mentioned about using them as MOB as we are a lot more stable than a mono for boarding purposes.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=blue> Julian </font color=blue>

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ukstaffords.com>http://www.ukstaffords.com</A>

 

[LadyInBed]

Re: Extending a Boarding Ladder

Buy a meter or so of stainless tube, two meters of webbing and a horse stirrup, stitch the webbing to the stirrup, thread the webbing through the tube, knot the webbing to stop it coming out.

When you want to use it, hitch the loose end of the webbing to the second or third step up and if nessary lash tube to bottom rung.

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