Which boarding ladder?

[Quidi Vidi]

After ending up in the water at the weekend i found that i couldn't get back onboard, it was a big wake up call even though i was moored at the time. I swam to some nearby moored boats and tried to use their boarding ladders but they were too high to step on. I was in the water for about an hour and ended up swimming to some nearby pontoons and waiting for a passing boat to spot me and help lift me out. I now want to fit a boarding ladder to my Invader 22 and would welcome any advice. I have a transom hung rudder so space is tight and i want it to reach well below the water line when deployed to aid climbing out.

 

[Mandarin331]

To fit a boarding ladder to a 22'er may not be easy if you've not got much room on the transom, so I have two suggestions:

1) A multi section hinged ladder, attached to the top of the transom so this will be above the rail when folded right up - you just need to ensure you can reach it from the water and don't lash it in the stowed position.

2) A well designed rope ladder, permanently maintained in a stowed position on the rail, low enough to be reached from the water, tied with light line which will break when pulled.

If either is too high then just set up a short line hanging near the water line - large enough diameter to be pulled with numb fingers.

As you say this will need to be long enough to go well below water level.

 

[Quidi Vidi]

Thanks Shamal, thats useful advice. I was hoping to avoid the rope ladder route if possible as i'm a big chap and not sure i would manage to climb it, especially when fully clothed and wet. Your 1st suggestion sounds good, do you know of any makes or suppliers that i could research.

 

[sarabande]

just looked at B&Q for a small folding ladder, and came across this

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.j...refview=search&ts=1282231088826&isSearch=true


Looks as if it has potential for permanent attachment, and easily adapted to have a line to the lower rungs which can pull it down ?

Might need a weight on the lowest rung?

 

[Tranona]

There are all kinds of boarding ladders available off the shelf. See page 122 of the Force 4 catalogue for example www.force4.co.uk

 

[Mandarin331]

Not offhand.

But I also just recalled seeing some excellent stainless telescopic ladders in our local chandlers, they are designed for fitting on the bathing platform of motor cruisers and sliding into a slot, but I know someone who fitted one very effectively on a Matilda 20 stern.

Try looking at a few chandlery websites.

 

[seumask]

Second the telescopic option
http://www.force4.co.uk/3814/Plastimo--S-S-Telescopic-4-Step-Boarding-Ladder.html

 

[vyv_cox]

Thanks Shamal, thats useful advice. I was hoping to avoid the rope ladder route if possible as i'm a big chap and not sure i would manage to climb it, especially when fully clothed and wet. Your 1st suggestion sounds good, do you know of any makes or suppliers that i could research.

You are right to avoid a rope ladder. A few years ago an emergency boarding ladder hit the chandleries, it is a closed tube with a lid that can be fitted via a flange to a hole drilled through the transom. Inside the tube are four rungs with fairly light line holding them together. I bought one and fitted it and tried it out at anchor in Italy. It was incredibly difficult to get my feet into it and climbing it took a lot of strength and effort, on perfectly flat water. Jill couldn't manage it at all. I wrote a pretty scathing review of it for a web magazine and it seemed to disappear from the shelves shortly afterwards.

 

[VicS]

After ending up in the water at the weekend i found that i couldn't get back onboard, it was a big wake up call even though i was moored at the time.

And don't I know the feeling!

I did that last year, actually while getting into my dinghy, which capsized and even though I righted it it was full of water and did not provide enough buoyancy to use as a means of climbing back on board.

I managed to use the dinghy painter as a "step" to enable me to climb back on board. In the past when swimming from the boat I have always put a loop of a mooring warp over the side to use.

However to the point.

I decided I needed to fit a fixed folding ladder because anything else would have been stowed away probably.

The trouble with a small boat is finding a ladder that is small enough to fit the space, with an outboard and a transom hung rudder I did not have much available, and which lowers deep enough to climb onto from the water.

I looked at countless websites but eventually looked at what the local chandler ( Seateach) had to offer and chose the one I thought most suitable.

Still not deep enough to be able to climb on from the water so I have attached an additional step, made from a piece of stainless steel tube, using two lengths of polyester rope. It hangs from the bottom rung when the ladder is lowered and hangs between the two folded halves when the ladder is raised.

Not yet tried in anger I have to admit but I think it will be just deep enough.

I don't know why but I have not taken any photos of it !


After I had bought my ladder I came across what might have been ideal on an Australian website. A short top section with a much longer folding section. Made by Trem IIRC but I did not come across it while searching UK websites.

A custom made ladder might be the solution but will probably cost even more than one from a chandler. If you go down that route you need to look at the way the sections are hinged.

BTW if you think you might use it as a swimming ladder you need wood or plastic treads , not just round rungs!

 

[DogWatch]

After ending up in the water at the weekend i found that i couldn't get back onboard, it was a big wake up call even though i was moored at the time. I swam to some nearby moored boats and tried to use their boarding ladders but they were too high to step on. I was in the water for about an hour and ended up swimming to some nearby pontoons and waiting for a passing boat to spot me and help lift me out. I now want to fit a boarding ladder to my Invader 22 and would welcome any advice. I have a transom hung rudder so space is tight and i want it to reach well below the water line when deployed to aid climbing out.

We have an TREM one (octopus logo), bought at sibs a few years back. Handy as it folds, we get about 1¾ rungs in the water when it is pulled down. Other good point is the wooden steps, these allow us to use it with bare feet.

chandler link

That is around double what I paid 7 years ago.

 

[alahol2]

Another vote for the telescopic route. It could be stowed vertically if space dictates, you would just need a dangling rope to swing it down from the water.
View attachment 6675

With a transom hung rudder, I have also seen a step cut into the trailing edge to give a 'boost' up to someone in the water.

 

[VicS]

With a transom hung rudder, I have also seen a step cut into the trailing edge to give a 'boost' up to someone in the water.

its a good idea , but it would not have helped me. I don't leave the rudder on the transom because it's on a drying mooring and the rudder can lift off and float away. Also been known for them to be stolen!
On the day in question I had already removed the rudder!

 

[Quidi Vidi]

Thanks Vics, i can see you know where i'm coming from. I learnt a valuable lesson, one which i think every boat owner should experience. It is virtually impossible to get back on board unless your a trained athlete and most boardin ladders are just that, for boarding from a tender or dinghy. They are next to useless if you are in the water.
As i was working on my mooring lines i had some ropes hanging down, i tied a bowline in one of them but couldn't see past my inflated life jacket to get my foot into it. I ended up floating on my back trying to lasoo my foot whilst hanging on with one hand so i didn't drift away, when i finally managed to get my foot through it i found i had tied it too long and it only lifted me 6 inches. Honestly you couldn't make it up and it seems funny now.
By this time i had grown very tired so decided to swim for it.
It took three people to pull me out of the water as my 3 layers of clothes and sailing boot were full of water.
I'm just glad i was only moored up Fareham creek and not out in the harbour or the Solent.
I cannot beleive there are no long boarding/rescue ladders on the market for boats with small transoms other than rope ladders which are extemely difficult to climb, a good opportunity for the Dragons Den i think

 

[Quidi Vidi]

I like the look of that one, any idea of size/measurements or make/model so i can Google it

 

[Quidi Vidi]

I agree about the notch in the rudder, i had thought about putting some form of steps down the rudder as it goes well below the water line and is straight up and down but these would have an adverse effect on speed. Another thought is to put a rope ladder on top of the rudder, when deployed it would sit against the rudder and be stable so climbing it would be much easier
Any comments/thoughts?

 

[alahol2]

I like the look of that one, any idea of size/measurements or make/model so i can Google it

If you are asking about my telescopic ladder then I can't tell you the make as I got it at a boat jumble. It is, however, very like the Plastimo 4 step telescopic ladder (here... http://www.force4.co.uk/3814/Plastimo--S-S-Telescopic-4-Step-Boarding-Ladder.html). It reaches well down into the water and we (well, the wife anyway) use it as a swim ladder with no problem. At a quess, I would say it's about 350mm when closed and a metre when open.

 

[Graham_Wright]

You are right to avoid a rope ladder. A few years ago an emergency boarding ladder hit the chandleries, it is a closed tube with a lid that can be fitted via a flange to a hole drilled through the transom. Inside the tube are four rungs with fairly light line holding them together. I bought one and fitted it and tried it out at anchor in Italy. It was incredibly difficult to get my feet into it and climbing it took a lot of strength and effort, on perfectly flat water. Jill couldn't manage it at all. I wrote a pretty scathing review of it for a web magazine and it seemed to disappear from the shelves shortly afterwards.

Isn't that the one by Plastimo on the Force 4 website?

 

[vyv_cox]

Isn't that the one by Plastimo on the Force 4 website?

You're right, it is. I have looked out for it a few times but evidently missed it on the Force 4 site.

The biggest problem with it is that it rotates beneath the transom as soon as you put any load on the step. Getting a second foot on the step above is extremely awkward, even on my boat with a fairly upright transom and plenty of hand holds. A young, agile, fit person might well not find it too difficult but I no longer qualify for any of those criteria.

 

[VicS]

Thanks Vics, i can see you know where i'm coming from. .........
As i was working on my mooring lines i had some ropes hanging down, i tied a bowline in one of them but couldn't see past my inflated life jacket to get my foot into it. I ended up floating on my back trying to lasoo my foot

Fortunately. I had chosen a fine warm day so i was only wearing light clothing. No waterproofs or boots or LJ.
I actually don't have any automatic ones but I think if I'd been wearing one I'd have stabbed it with a knife to deflate it!

Plenty of other boats around that I could have swum to and there was someone on his boat half a dozen or so moorings down the creek. I think I would have swum down to him if I had not managed to get back on board.

As a result of the incident I lost a lot of confidence in climbing in and out of the dinghy. So I also bought one of these.

Not perfect but it does making climbing on board a lot easier, esp with a Seagull engine in one hand. Main outboard on the transom more or less rules out using the stern ladder.

Good job I didn't fall in a little earlier.... autopilot in command!

 

[Boo2]

After I had bought my ladder I came across what might have been ideal on an Australian website. A short top section with a much longer folding section. Made by Trem IIRC but I did not come across it while searching UK websites.

Like these or these ? The second type has oval rungs which seems to meet your point about round ones being uncomfortable.

Boo2