Boarding your RIB from the water.

[rigpigpaul]

Hi All, I have bought a 3m RIB which I will use for exploring, fishing, snorkelling and swimming with the grand children. What do you use to get back on board your dinghy. Forget the back flip, I am too old (fat) for that. I have looked at the Armstrong dinghy ladder on you tube. Great piece of kit but pricey.
thanks RPP.

 

[duncan99210]

Board over the transom between the engine and tube, assuming there’s enough room. With the engine fully down, use the cavitation plate as a step. Should be fine on a small rib. Boarding over the tubes will be neigh on impossible unless you’re wearing fins; if you have fins in you can use the sideline/grab handles, bob down into the water and swim up hard and flop over the tube. Have fun.

 

[Yngmar]

Do like a seal! Bellyflop up the side as high as you can, then wriggle further up until gravity takes over and you tumble into the thing

A handhold (or if too far, a piece of rope) from the other side helps with pulling yourself in too.

 

[BobnLesley]

For Fat Gits I offer first hand advice, it'll probably work for kids too:
A length of rope attached at the opposite side to that which you're getting in from; ours has three lifting eyes, so I use the bow and starboard stern one and get in over the port tube. The rope should reach across the dink, over the port tube and hang perhaps 18-24" below that - adjust to suit what you find comfortable; step into/onto the rope's bight, grab the lengths atop the tube as handles and simply climb aboard.

 

[ctva]

As Duncan says, use the engine cavitation plate as a step. Simplest, easiest and quickest method. Ropes, ladders etc are difficult to use as they invariably swing under the boat. Keep it simple.

 

[TQA]

As Duncan says, use the engine cavitation plate as a step. Simplest, easiest and quickest method. Ropes, ladders etc are difficult to use as they invariably swing under the boat. Keep it simple.

The above is a really bad idea. When you slip off the little plate you will fall back in with your leg sliding down your propellor. Have a look at your prop. it will most likely have nicks and sharp bits. Ready to take a slice in your leg. We are talking multiple stitches here.

I am a big fat old guy with a weak shoulder [ damaged rotator cuff] I have a 4 step rope ladder 3 steps are 1 in sq wood and the bottom is just a rope loop. It is tied to the transom on the inside and deployed over the side tube. Now comes the important bit, you need a second thick rope with knots or loops attached to the other side of the transom. Put one foot in the bottom loop and grab the thick rope. Your legs will immediately swing under the dinghy. by pulling on the thick rope you can get your legs to the down position and work your way up the steps. I then perform an eskimo roll on the side tube and arrive in the bottom of the dinghy like a beached whale

TOP TIP If you are ever in a situation where you are in the water and can not get back in to the dinghy and there is no one around to help you this works. reach inside and unscrew the inflation valve cap and let about 90% pf the air out of one rear sponson. It is now MUCH easier to get back in. Use the dinghy painter round a row lock on the other side to pull on. If you have fixed oars again pull on the one from the other side.

 

[One A.]

Is this in budget? https://www.svb24.com/en/swimming-ladder-for-dinghies-3-steps-stainless-steel.html

 

[RupertW]

We have a folding ladder with big hooks to go over the back or the tubes

 

[OldBawley]

Nothing to do with a rib or inflatable but a warning :

Our sailing dinghy is a slightly modified Barrow 7´6” sailor.
We ware anchored in the North arm of Derric cove on Dokos island. ( Greece )
I had found a rotted small fishing boat on the bottom of the South part of the cove. Totally rotten but the propeller shaft and stern tube ware still there. These small boats often have bronze shafts and I needed a piece of bronze. Lying just 7 feet deep, a totally sheltered bay, no wind.
I rowed over, decided to get the shaft up. As a dinghy anchor I use a heavy piece of led. An old depth sounder led. Works better than a small anchor, the weight holds the dinghy away from the quay but does not foul as often as an anchor.
The lead bludgeon is permanently attached to the back lifting eye on the bottom of the dinghy with a ¼ inch rope, some 20 feet long. I dumped the bludgeon in the wreck and put my diving mask on.

Our sailing dinghy is a very good rower and sailor, ( I doubled the sail surface ) but it is not very stable so boarding from the water over the side is not possible. Have to use the stern.
I could have dived into the water but shallow so I decided to go over the stern the way “real” divers do. Backwards.
I tipped backwards into the water and then it happened. Caught the anchor rope with my foot.
There I was, hanging backwards over the stern with my right foot fixed into the boat. Hurt like hell.
Tried to bend back, no problem but I could not reach the knotted rope on my foot.
Anyway, that rope was hard from salt, I run out of air, could not reach the rope with my knife, I got into panic and kicked all I could.
The rope slid over and around my foot, I was free. Skin between my big to and the next one was completely gone.
Jep, I was lucky again.

 

[ctva]

The above is a really bad idea. When you slip off the little plate you will fall back in with your leg sliding down your propellor. Have a look at your prop. it will most likely have nicks and sharp bits. Ready to take a slice in your leg. We are talking multiple stitches here...

Not quite. the prop rotates so if you fell down past it, it would move with you, yes you may cut / bruise yourself but I doubt you would get 'sliced'.

Like all things boaty, there are many different ways to achieve an outcome, each with pros and cons. If you want a fool proof risk free boarding option for a 3m rib, you need a fixed boarding ladder and rope.

 

[TQA]

Not quite. the prop rotates so if you fell down past it, it would move with you, yes you may cut / bruise yourself but I doubt you would get 'sliced'.

Like all things boaty, there are many different ways to achieve an outcome, each with pros and cons. If you want a fool proof risk free boarding option for a 3m rib, you need a fixed boarding ladder and rope.

It only rotates if left in neutral. In gear it is essentially fixed. The german guy I saw on his way to hospital can vouch for this.

 

[jdc]

We often go diving or snorkelling from our smallish grp dinghy. We leave a loop of rope dangling from one side, just long enough to get a foot into while holding the gunwale (maybe 70cm below the water) and I use this to get myself high enough to slide in. It works best when someone else is holding the opposite side to stop the dinghy heeling too much, but I can do it alone if I have to. Once one person is in, anyone else can use the same technique with a bit of help from the one already in the dinghy.

An inflatable should be more stable, and so this technique even easier I think, but you'll have to find a strong point to attach the loop of rope to (we use the thwart, but they are not usually well fixed in place on an inflatable).

I don't go over the transom as it's always got sharp edges and eye bolts etc so I graze my tummy, and if the outboard is mounted it's too narrow to get over comfortably anyway. Besides, there's not much buoyancy in the quarter of a hard dinghy although a rib would be better in this regard.

 

[KellysEye]

We had two options a ladder on the stern and a teak block of wood with a hole drilled in each corner and 4 ropes knotted under the teak and tied to the stanchions amidships. We also had a block and tackle to lift the dinghy onto the foredeck ad tie it down.

 

[Bellacruiser]

Well I'm just glad it's not only me who can't get into the tender. This summer we chartered in Sardinia* and hubby flops in like an athletic fish when we were in chest height water. Then took a further ten minutes and hysterical laughter to get me in. He seemed to think I was the outlier but appears not. I was on the brink of just swimming the 1km or so back to the anchorage by the time he finally hauled me in

(*lurking in here as we're looking to buy a boat and be half-@r$ed liveaboards for a 9-12m sabbatical in the nearish future)

 

[edsailing]

These are pretty good
https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Rib-Step-I...3%26rvr_ts%3Da1e4c3021670ad4efea0eb7effd8deb8

And the price is reasonable.

 

[rogerthebodger]

These are pretty good

But are useless ad when you put your weight on the bottom rung the rung just swings away under the boat.

You need a rigid ladder to climb aboard any boat from the water

 

[jdc]

...You need a rigid ladder to climb aboard any boat from the water

Or some core stability.

 

[TQA]

But are useless ad when you put your weight on the bottom rung the rung just swings away under the boat.

You need a rigid ladder to climb aboard any boat from the water

Goto post 6 read para 2

My guests and I have been using that method to get back into our RIB with a rope ladder with small wooden steps for many years.

And I am a fat old 71 with a dodgy knee and poorly shoulder.