Your swim platform's utility

cardude01 said:

I don't have a flybridge on this boat so I'm good there ! ?

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Hell, you're good until at least 85!

Bonus pair of Deck Cleats

The original Albin transom ladder was mounted on four of the same custom Chrome-plated Bronze fittings used for the three very stylish deck cleats on her bow and stern quarters. I made a new pair of mid-ship cleats with the original ladder fittings.

Larry M said:

We use the dinghy for snorkeling and free diving most days when we're out. When guests are with us, I forget that getting in the dinghy is not that easy for some people. We just pull ourselves up and over the side of our 10.5' Achilles RIB. We do have a permanently attached folding ladder on our swim platform.

In April we were on a friends whaler and one of his guests struggled to get back in it from the water. They stayed home the next day.

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Tell your friend there are nice swim ladders made for Whalers that are easy to deploy from the water. By the way, same thing applies to big boats too, especially those with platforms. Think about it folks.

Miller Time's Platform is about 30" deep. Must have for the kiddos and us as we are in the water often.

Scott Miller

Moby Nick said:

Our ALBIN-25, the DuNORD came to us with an impossible boarding ladder and an outboard bracket mounted on her transom. I replaced them with a swim platform made of 1/2" thick white anti-skid plastic sheet stiffened with a cedar frame. We like the new Up-N-Out folding boarding ladder a lot. The platform was designed just large enough for two to sit upon, yet small enough for minimal interference with docking maneuvers.

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Nice work. I would not have a boat without a swim platform.

We repurposed the holes from the dingy davits with $10 of PVC and made a simple kayak rack. If we are in the water will have the kayaks off too so can still use the swim ladder.

caltexflanc said:

For those of you without a plat form, especially that canoe stern Lowland and the folding jobbie, how does someone in the water get in the boat on their own?

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This is one of my future projects.

Stillwater's swim platform is after market on the canoe stern. It was done quite well and is about 26" deep. I have removed the rails that you can see in this haulout picture since they only seemed to get in the way. There is a stowable swim ladder that could be deployed from the water if I needed to get back on board in an emergency. I haven't used it yet for swimming since the water in the SF Bay is too cold. I hope to make it to the Sacramento Delta this summer and give it a try.

Boarding from the dinghy is achieved through a fold down door in the port side of the canoe stern.



Richard

My boat has a very nice swim platform that is about a foot off the water and a transom door for easy access. Mounted underneath the platform is a telescoping ladder that pulls out and then pivots down. Works well for swimming and is easily self deployed in a man over board situation.



Ted

Any pictures of the dinghy ladders? Links?

Rogerh said:

Any pictures of the dinghy ladders? Links?

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Here's a fairly good selection, depends on what type dinghy you have.

Defender.com Search Results: swim ladders

I had one of those rope type jobs on the Whaler for a little while that could be reached from in the water and pulled over. Got a transom mount telescoping/folding one that is much more useful and easy.

A simple solution if you don't have a swim platform or ladder is to just leave a loop of rope hanging down. You can use that as a foot hold to climb back up.

My swim platform is mounted on the transom ladder. It is fairly high above the water line, so I only need to fold it up in a strong following sea. Another hinged L-shaped section of ladder folds down from the platform into the water.

The swim platform is small, but very functional. I occasionally carry my dinghy on it by tying off a fender board across the platform to give it more width.

My platform is pretty skinny. It's only about 18" deep, and the way the aft seat and storage locker are set up, they eat into that 18 inches. It's no problem when the canvas is down, and you can hang onto the back of the seat, but when the after curtain is up, it starts to feel a bit like walking the ledge outside a skyscraper window.

I do have a pretty decent ladder, which I can deploy from the water, should I ever find myself overboard. One more step would be nice, but It's a lot better than the ones I remember climbing when I was a kid. My platform was also really slippery when wet, which is odd, considering what it's for. I slapped some Seadek on there, and it improved drastically. Looks pretty nice, too.

The transom door is also really handy. I'm a big fan of that.

That does look pretty good, Dave. Looks like you could also square-off or even reverse the angle at the end of the platform to give you another foot or so. Not bad for a frivolous speedster.

healhustler said:

That does look pretty good, Dave. Looks like you could also square-off or even reverse the angle at the end of the platform to give you another foot or so. Not bad for a frivolous speedster.

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Thankee, sir! There's a guy out there with the same boat who installed an extension. It would be nice, but it's pretty low on the priority list. I reckon if I wasn't quite so American (read fat,) I'd have more room. I'll keep trying to work the problem from that angle.

Gentlemen

My swim Platform is 3' deep and lays 18” above the Load Water Line. I still need to build a hand rail to use it as a fishing platform. Eventually, it will be used to place a second dinghy with the proper set of davits. Yet, this project is for next year together with the hand rail

One of the things I love about our Mainship 400 is the big, solidly built swim platform and the transom door. The platform is full width and about 36" deep.

We keep our 11' Rib and it's 20 hp four stroke on trick davit cradles that mount on the platform. the cradles really just guide the dinghy up on the platform and raise it up another 8" or so, the weight is borne by the platform. I couldn't do that if the platform was not so solid.

For the kind of warm water cruising we do where we are in and out of the water all day, and are constantly clambering in out of the dink or the paddleboards with all our dive gear/fly rods/beach chairs/beer coolers plus an 85 lb dog I can't imagine a boat without a platform.

Portuguese said:

Gentlemen

My swim Platform is 3' deep and lays 18” above the Load Water Line.l

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Now there's a swim platform with no apologies!

This is such a good thread because it is speaking about the "utility" of a boat accessory. Here's a shot of my platform, but it's true "utility" was far from its potential best until we decided to do what was necessary to make the platform access as important as the platform itself. You can read about it in the thread "Radical Manatee transom door mod" in the Kadey Krogen section. Slowly but surely, it's gaining in "utility" value.

Dougcole said:

One of the things I love about our Mainship 400 is the big, solidly built swim platform and the transom door. The platform is full width and about 36" deep.

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A large functional swim platform and transom door are in the "Must have" category for our next boat. It's on the same level of importance as walk around decks and separate stall shower for both of us.

I the new name B Y!!

I like swim platforms that can be lowered into the water to launch a dinghy. They have a lot of uses but very pricey.

Portuguese said:

Gentlemen

My swim Platform is 3' deep and lays 18” above the Load Water Line. I still need to build a hand rail to use it as a fishing platform. Eventually, it will be used to place a second dinghy with the proper set of davits. Yet, this project is for next year together with the hand rail

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I love your projects and how you execute them. Your craftsmanship and quality are excellent!

mahal said:

I like swim platforms that can be lowered into the water to launch a dinghy. They have a lot of uses but very pricey.

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Yeah, I could get into that style of.......wait a moment. Isn't that Moonstruck's swim platform?!