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One thing no one has mentioned yet... Verify that your swim ladder can be deployed while you are in the water!
A friend was loading provisions in his boat prior to a weekend out, slipped and fell in at the marina. It was 8:00 at night and no one was around. Pacific Northwest, very cold water. That's when he discovered that his swim step ladder was mounted to the hull at the stern and he could not reach it from the water. In desperation he untied his dock line, put several looped knots in it and managed to get himself out of the water.
Last month I saw a boat that had just added staples to their swim step. One staple was directly in front of the swim step ladder. From the water there would be no way to deploy the ladder.
Last note: most power boaters use self-inflating life vests without crotch straps. Whenever someone on my boat uses one I show them how to clamp their arms down over the straps and I advise them to wait a couple of seconds for the vest to inflate and float them to the surface. A guy in Greater Seattle got knocked overboard when sailing, was flailing underwater when the vest inflated and went right up over his outstretched arms. He ended up dying...
Stay safe out there.
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