Love a Sundeck But...

I'm targeting a sundeck style trawler as my next boat but don't like the "climb" from the swim platform to the sundeck. Are there any solutions on the market to install something like an accommodation ladder/stairs so that you don' have such a vertical climb?

The big thing about buying boats, like any major purchase I suppose, is compromise. I have seen a couple of Yachtworld listings where owners have done various modifications that added steps to swim platforms. A few were nice (and looked expensive) others just looked bad. Remember that there can be a lot going on in and around a swim platform. to take up a lot of space with a staircase of some kind might be more of a pain in the ass later on.

There are cockpit sundeck trawlers out there. Defever, Tollycraft, and Carver (or was it Bayliner) make them, however, you often will still have to climb a ladder to get to the sundeck. There is no easy solution I don't think. Sundeck trawlers are what they are. We loved ours (so did everyone else... party central).

We always just carried a lightweight plastic ladder with us and boarded from the side.

Tom B.. thanks. Agree on all accounts... I'm familiar with the CPMY style and I think you are correct, it is Carver. My concern was not so much dockside but while at anchor. For me a 40' sundeck is the way to go... the CPMY's tend to be a 40' plus 4' to allow for the aft cockpit.

BTW, I went to Cary HS and spend my summers on the Neuse at our river house between Oriental and Minnesott Beach. Small world

Good point Tom, I guess it's more about is it for boarding or getting to the dink. Our slip is fixed piers, but luckily fall perfect at most tide levels to board from the side. When we were on floating piers we did as you and used lightweight 3 step plastic steps to access the side. I had drilled a hole and had a line attached to it so it wouldn't blow away at night.
Sundecks are great for entertaining, but hard on the knees!!


1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's

There are sundecks that have stairs instead of a ladder going from the swimstep to the sundeck. I think Carver or Bayliner has them.

Fishheadbarandgrill said:

Tom B.. thanks. Agree on all accounts... I'm familiar with the CPMY style and I think you are correct, it is Carver. My concern was not so much dockside but while at anchor. For me a 40' sundeck is the way to go... the CPMY's tend to be a 40' plus 4' to allow for the aft cockpit.

BTW, I went to Cary HS and spend my summers on the Neuse at our river house between Oriental and Minnesott Beach. Small world

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Take a look at the Bayliner 4087- I believe it might just meet your requirements. A good sized cockpit, molded stairs to access the sundeck and flybridge, and 3 cabins. The 4087 is the 3587 with the addition of the cockpit.

We loved ours!

mahal said:

There are sundecks that have stairs instead of a ladder going from the swimstep to the sundeck. I think Carver or Bayliner has them.

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plus it seems some/many the newer boats tend towards steps as the ladders have been a complaint...some people have custom steps made that do take up room but the tradeoff is worth it to them.

Not so hard to have some stairs fabricated. Seen these done, btw spiral and straight. A few old Hatteras MYs have these, as it is a pretty long climb, almost 6 feet on mine.

This option is very common for people who are unpaid captain and crew for a dog.

We were sure when we bought the boat we would install something back there, as we are very frequent anchorers and mooring users (lived full time on moorings for months at a time in FL and MA, and anchoring out is our SOP) and were concerned about not-so-able friends. But after living with the ladder, we never did get around to it after thousands of ascents and descents.

There was a recent thread on Yachtforums about a guy doing a small spiral on an old Carver.

The only problem I see about adding steps (and specifically but not exclusively spiral steps as George suggested) would be what direction they would land on a swim platform. Unless there is enough space to walk around the steps (and that would make for a very large swim platform), let's pretend they face to port (meaning you walk from port to starboard to ascend to the sundeck). They become way more of an obstacle should you be moored in a starboard-side tie. Does that make sense?

The ladder, while sometimes inconvenient, works from both sides

Just something to think about.

Good points Tom.

Depends on how big the platform is and how agile the user is. I tried a few spirals and found them less easy to use than a ladder. It was easy on our boat to take stuff off the dinghy and put it over the top of the ladder, rather than schlep it up some stairs, especially a spiral. Not so much an issue I guess when the deck above has no sideboards or netting around it. The solution I liked best was an open metal stairway where the last two or three steps folded to free up more space when loading and unloading the dinghy or merely swimming or fishing off the platform.

The Ocean Alexander 42-44 sundeck with cockpit fill the bill.

Skidgear... that's a nice looking boat. I prefer a dinghy on the hard top but I see this design probably doesn't allow for that kind of weight up there.

Fishheadbarandgrill said:

Skidgear... that's a nice looking boat. I prefer a dinghy on the hard top but I see this design probably doesn't allow for that kind of weight up there.

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Absolutely no reason the dink can't go on the sunroof. Many OA owners do exactly that. Ours just happened to have a Nick Jackson stern davit...which by the way makes launch of the dink infinitely easier, safer, and more flexible than roof top mounted location. Many roof located dinks must be launched to the side...and if you're in a slip, there's no way. A couple shots of salon...

This would also work....

Can you fully enclose the sundeck on the OA?

I think older grand banks had steps diagonally across the transom.

We have the same thing. Sundeck (some call them California Decks) with a cockpit. Our stairs are very wide and easy to get on and off the boat.

The Heritage East 36' sun deck had a molded stairway from the swim platform to the deck. This was the newer model around the early 2000's.

Fishheadbarandgrill said:

Can you fully enclose the sundeck on the OA?

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Sure. You can probably find photos on Yacht world.

Carver 404.

A member of our club had a problem in that his wife has trouble with ladders so this is what he did on his old boat, she no longer had a problem. He is in the process of doing the same on his new boat.......

Great example, Mike. Looks sturdy, expensive too. It demonstrates how much area you'd have left on the platform.

I have a marquipt boarding ladder that I can hook to either side. At my home dock I built a stair case to deck level. We are on a floating dock. At times I do use the swim platform but not very often.

rochepoint said:

A member of our club had a problem in that his wife has trouble with ladders so this is what he did on his old boat, she no longer had a problem. He is in the process of doing the same on his new boat.......

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Unfortunately that limits them to a starboard tie only. It may not always be possible. I do like the robustness of the steps though.

Have never used the swim step/platform. It was an extra option I didn't elect and never paid for. To board the Coot, we just step from the dock directly to the deck midship. ... Perla says she wants to use the step sometime to experience the Delta's fresh waters.

This guy added a spiral staircase to his Carver 3207, and documented the whole process very carefully with lots of photos:

http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating...diy-carver-32-aft-stairs-swim-platform.html#b

In fact just by odd coincidence we bought our aft deck bimini from him, when he replaced it with a hard top on his. A Carver 3207 is a little small for all that additional structure in my opinion, but I think he did as good a job as somebody could do, aesthetically and structurally. My wife hates ladders too and she would really like those spiral stairs. Now that you can pick up those Carver 3207's for around $20k, I'm not sure pouring all that work and time into it is worth it, but he sure did a good job.

Man.....that is one sweet result from quality effort. I can't imagine the factory doing better in design or construction. It does show, however, the limited space on the platform. If one's main concern is access to the sundeck, there's no question about going with this kind of project. If one wants a roomy swim platform, well....

Thanks for sharing that link.

I think y'all have moved into the motor yachts. I think he wants a trawler.

Fishheadbarandgrill said:

I'm targeting a sundeck style trawler as my next boat but don't like the "climb" from the swim platform to the sundeck. Are there any solutions on the market to install something like an accommodation ladder/stairs so that you don' have such a vertical climb?

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I don't think we're too far off the subject since he announced his intention to buy a sundeck trawler, but the question was as posted above:

"Are there any solutions on the market to install something like an accommodation ladder/stairs so that you don' have such a vertical climb?"

The applications as far as style (trawler sundeck or motor yacht sundeck) and solutions are identical.

The Californian 43 has a nice cockpit as well as easy ingress/egress.