Help mounting boarding ladder

[Disastrous]

I was at a boat jumble recently and impulsively bought a boarding ladder as it was such a bargain.

The thing is, I *think* it's designed to be mounted under a powerboat diving platform, rather than the stern of a sailing boat, but it was too cheap not to take, so I'm hoping I can adapt some sort of fitting for it.

This is the type of ladder, if not the exact model:





And the boat is this one:




Any ideas would be much appreciated-I'm sure this must have been done before!

Edited by Disastrous on Tuesday 1st October 10:15

Edited by Disastrous on Tuesday 1st October 10:16

[dirkgently]

Get rid of that thing stuck on the back and put it there.

[Disastrous]

Well then if have nowhere to put my outboard! Or do you mean the rudder?

I'm meaning more physically how to mount it, given the funny foldy-outy nature of it all. Maybe a bit of wood on the stern just let it hang loose??

[scubadude]

Flog it on fleabay and buy a more suitable sailboat ladder?

[Disastrous]

scubadude said:

Flog it on fleabay and buy a more suitable sailboat ladder?

That's not the pioneering spirit that built an Empire! It can't be that hard it adapt it can it? I could always cut the brackets off and mount it another way I guess.

[Engineer1]

does it lock down enough that you could fold it backwards so rather than folding up under a deck it sticks out from one?

[Disastrous]

Engineer1 said:

does it lock down enough that you could fold it backwards so rather than folding up under a deck it sticks out from one?

It's hard to describe but if you look at the picture, the mounting brackets fold all the way back the other way, and come to rest at about 90 degrees to the ladder, so if the ladder is vertical, you get two horizontal runners, and the ladder is braced that way. That feels like how it's meant to work.

The problem is I don't have anything long and horizontal to mount them on.

Is that what you meant or do I have the wrong end of the stick?

[Boatbuoy]

So, are you saying the ladder can rotate 180 degrees on the brackets?

[Disastrous]

Boatbuoy said:

So, are you saying the ladder can rotate 180 degrees on the brackets?

More like 270 degrees, if that makes sense?

From the picture above, imagine the brackets closed a bit more, so they're flush with the ladder. The ladder then flips round 270 degrees from there and locks.

I imagine that it's designed so the flat side of the bracket we can see, mounts flat on top of a diving platform, so the ladder can swing round and come to rest hanging behind the boat.

[s2kjock]

This looks like the one we have on our Hunter legend 30. (OEM fitment).

Mounts horizontally on sugar scoop stern/aft boarding step and rotates up and back 270 degrees to drop into the water.

Could you not mount it vertically on your transom so it would deploy by only rotating 180 degrees? Would need to bungee or clip it up somehow though.

[Boatbuoy]

s2kjock said:

This looks like the one we have on our Hunter legend 30. (OEM fitment).

Mounts horizontally on sugar scoop stern/aft boarding step and rotates up and back 270 degrees to drop into the water.

Could you not mount it vertically on your transom so it would deploy by only rotating 180 degrees? Would need to bungee or clip it up somehow though.

That's where I was heading!

[zed4]

We had a load of these ladders, you may have bought it from us as we’re clearing out a load of old stock at jumbles etc.

When I’ve seen them as OEM fitments they’re usually mounted flat on a platform and are held in place by a piece of Velcro which is secured to the platform. I’d just mount it on the back and either use a piece of shockcord or a piece of Velcro secured to the back of the boat.

One thought, is it going to be long enough? Those ladders aren’t that long and the back of your boat is quite high. I think you’d struggle to get a leg up onto it and you’d still be far away from the top of the transom!

[zed4]

Some pics I've found of boats that have that sort of ladder fitted:



Here I was photographing the transom of a new model, but you can just see the velcro securing strap on the right of the photo

[Disastrous]

s2kjock said:

This looks like the one we have on our Hunter legend 30. (OEM fitment).

Mounts horizontally on sugar scoop stern/aft boarding step and rotates up and back 270 degrees to drop into the water.

Could you not mount it vertically on your transom so it would deploy by only rotating 180 degrees? Would need to bungee or clip it up somehow though.

That was my default thinking, though I think by doing so, it means that once the ladder is deployed, it won't have reached the 'stop' on the bracket, so would be hanging loose to a degree. Would this make boarding difficult/dangerous? I don't foresee a problem but...

As for the length, that'll be fine. It's a collapsible affair and drops a fair bit. The picture makes the transom look a lot higher too. With the weir of a person in it, it'll be fine-we normally make that step over the rear from a tender no bother but this should make it a bit easier for less athletic parents etc to come aboard...

[Simpo Two]

How are you getting on with this? I was just thinking that a swap might be in order! (I have the more conventional kind)

[Disastrous]

Simpo Two said:

How are you getting on with this? I was just thinking that a swap might be in order! (I have the more conventional kind)

Honestly? It's been sitting below deck under a sail bag since I posted...

What sort of thing do you have? A swap could be good!