Boarding Ladder/Steps

The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
P

PCoch

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2013
Messages
63
My wife, who I just talked into owning a boat, has difficulty boarding and disembarking from our boat while traveling to other ports. I have been shopping both removable stairs and ladders to be attached to either side and find them to be extremely pricey. I've resigned myself to ladders as the stairs start @ around $2k. Does anyone have experience with these? Also, anywhere I can check for alternative sources? New Wave Fabricators (Boat Ladders - Tide Rider Ladders - New Wave Fabrication) is the only one I've found so far with a quality product.

Thanks

Paul
 
I made a 2 step 24 wide by 12 inch deep (top step has a notch cut down to 9" wide so you don't catch your toes) ladder with the Perko ladder catches screwed in under both boarding openings in the rail. It's made of 1x12 oak from Lowes and gets the usual approvals from others.

It's loved by my girlfriend who has trouble with many other steps and where it isn't good...we have the $15 Rubbermaid 2 step stepstool that we put on the dock.

After a couple hundred marinas between New Jersey and Cape Canaveral, both floating and fixed....99% they are perfect...the only problem so far has been the Indian River in Florida is down about a foot or a little more and some of the fixed docks are a giant step up (Titusville Muni being the worst so far)..but with the water low many are just dead level with the lower sides of my 40 Albin.
 
Have you looked at fender steps? We were looking for an occasional use ladder and picked one up similar to the one pictured, although we haven't actually used it yet.

FENDER STEP ®
 
Not a bad idea, that Fender step. Thanks for the link.
 
I'm making one of these... The hardware is available from a couple of different sources.
 

Attachments

  • ladder_1402_529.jpg
    ladder_1402_529.jpg
    128.7 KB · Views: 492
psneeld said:
I made a 2 step 24 wide by 12 inch deep (top step has a notch cut down to 9" wide so you don't catch your toes) ladder with the Perko ladder catches screwed in under both boarding openings in the rail. It's made of 1x12 oak from Lowes and gets the usual approvals from others.

It's loved by my girlfriend who has trouble with many other steps and where it isn't good...we have the $15 Rubbermaid 2 step stepstool that we put on the dock.

After a couple hundred marinas between New Jersey and Cape Canaveral, both floating and fixed....99% they are perfect...the only problem so far has been the Indian River in Florida is down about a foot or a little more and some of the fixed docks are a giant step up (Titusville Muni being the worst so far)..but with the water low many are just dead level with the lower sides of my 40 Albin.
Click to expand...
I like the idea of the sturdy oak steps but I think I'd probably need three steps which would make for a pretty heavy ladder. Are the rails made of oak as well?
I will make some measurements and consider.

Thanks
 
I think for anyone with mobility or coordination problems, a step hung by ropes that can move around is probably not the best solution.

Marine catalogs are full of steps for boarding boats or docks. Something made of stainless steel should be lighter than wood for the same strength.

Here's a start:

boarding ladder | Overton’s
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

L
  • Locked
For Sale: Marquipt boarding stair
Replies
8
Views
2K
libertas
L
C
Flybridge ladder
Replies
14
Views
2K
Pete Meisinger
Pete Meisinger
Adopo
Stability and righting ability
Replies
19
Views
3K
Hippocampus
H
jointcustody
Alternator charging dual purpose lithium bank
Replies
25
Views
2K
Iggy
I
mvweebles
Dear Diary - Weebles will splash soon.
8 9 10
Replies
288
Views
24K
Bmarler
B

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom