Access Issues To Flybridge On GB36

We're buying a Grand Banks 36 and the small steps from the port side deck up to the aft cabin roof will be difficult with my wife's knee issues. Have any GB 36 owners in the Forum with similar issues come up with a solution?

Greetings,
Welcome aboard. Buy a different boat maybe?

Thanks for your kind welcome.
The forum seems like a great site with a wealth of information available.
Prior to the last 15 yrs. we sailed RI and ME for 25 yrs. and are now looking forward to getting back Downeast.

Welcome aboard! Been a long time since I was on a GB36 so not much help on your question.

you would be best to take that question to the GB owner's site. You will likely find an answer there. I bought a 32 because despite the larger size of the 36, I couldn't abide the outside areas. Welcome to here and good luck!

Bruce Lundgren said:

We're buying a Grand Banks 36 and the small steps from the port side deck up to the aft cabin roof will be difficult with my wife's knee issues. Have any GB 36 owners in the Forum with similar issues come up with a solution?

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There are people who have put stairs in or more substantial steps. I don't think though you should buy a boat and then try to figure it out. That should be an absolute necessity that she can use the access to the bridge. If there is a boat you're both in love with then find some stairs or someone who can quote you a price for putting some in before you commit. I would also make sure the stairs I put in could potentially accommodate a chair lift if she needs it. There are outdoor chair lifts available.

Why ant a good ships carpenter make a three step unit resting against cabin side so she could take smaller rise on a wider step.

A new wife will be cheaper in the long run

Ron T said:

Why ant a good ships carpenter make a three step unit resting against cabin side so she could take smaller rise on a wider step.

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One can or you might even find prefab or custom manufactured that work. Just measure your space.

There are many ladders to flybridges out there that I wouldn't live with. I'd immediately have changed. One says they're no problem, and they aren't until someone gets hurt.

Thanks all for your comments. We love the boat and will see if there's a shallow ladder with shorter steps or have one fabricated. The height is maybe 3 ' from the deck to the aft cabin top. With this she feels that she can negotiate it. From there the ladder and hand rail are OK to get to the bridge.

Bruce Lundgren said:

We're buying a Grand Banks 36 and the small steps from the port side deck up to the aft cabin roof will be difficult with my wife's knee issues. Have any GB 36 owners in the Forum with similar issues come up with a solution?

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Honestly, please don't take this the wrong way, but having wanted a tri-cabin, but been convinced by my wife to wait for a sedan or Europa type with nice roomy aft cockpit and minimal steps, I have to say, my wife was right, and we are both able bodied. So with all due respect to your passion for this boat, and we all understand that, I back RTF's suggestion. No fancy fiddling with steps or ladders is likely to change the challenge your wife will face clambering round a tri-cabin boat, I'm afraid.

Try not to hate me too much, but...if your wife has bad knees now, they are not likely to improve with age, (I'm a doc, so know a bit about these things), and in spite of what many say on here, a flybridge is not a prerequisite to enjoy boating.

I strongly advise you go for a sedan type and basically ignore the flybridge, if it has one, other than maybe for certain specific manoeuvring purposes, as I doubt your wife will ever want to spend much time up there, even with two modified ladders. The added room in the saloon with a sedan style boat would be much appreciated, as it is then all on one level, other than 2-3 proper steps down to the for'd cabin. In a 36 ft boat the for'd cabin can usually house a decent double, or be modified to take one. Just a suggestion, but one based on experience. However, if you have already gone past the point of no return, then best of luck, and I'll keep my fingers crossed it all turns out ok.

Bruce,

Building a set if steps would pretty straightforward. Might want to also consider a sturdy grab rail and some type of non-skid on the treads.

Regards,
Bob

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Welcome aboard. Buy a different boat maybe?

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What RT said Plenty of workarounds salons out there

gaston said:

What RT said Plenty of workarounds salons out there

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Gaston, I think you meant walk-around..? And yes, I agree - see post above.
I won't get into the salon v's saloon argument though. Let's just call them day cabins..?

By the way. Where are you up to re that nice Selene 47..?

If you like the boat eith the exception of ghose steps, go for it.

I bought a trunk cabin model specifically because after decades of scrambing around boats, I know it is easier for perople to make a few even difficult steps, then a landing, then a few more. You can reanch each level from the next and set stuff down in your hands if necessary. Often less so because it isnt a 7 foot ladder or staircase.

Bottom line is, getting from the deck up isnt a boat redesign or buying a design that you might not like either.

Permanent steps, portable steps or folding steps could solve this....assuming your wife can do steps, just not the tiny ones that are OEM.


I put a bigger step going up on my aft cabin that most appreciated....still working on the other as a window is a complication.

My knees arent great, my crews balance isnt great and I have had many seniors up and down with careful cooperation, no complaints, no injuries, and a lot of nice times up there.

I love cockpits too, but flybridges are great also....

I say it is easier to engineer a couple of steps than to live with a boat you dont like as much. If the steps to the flybridge are OK, replicating a portable or flip up set to the top of yhe trunk cabin is easy enough....not necessarily inexpensive if fancy.

I have a GB36CL & bad knees. The steps are small because anything larger will interfere with walking on the side deck (wide side decks usually being a major reason people buy this type of boat) The issue for bad knees is usually the height of the steps. Many people find it easier to go down those last 2 backwards. Have your wife climb up and down on the bridge a few times. If it's not working for her; buy another boat!

Bob Cofer said:

Bruce,

Building a set if steps would pretty straightforward. Might want to also consider a sturdy grab rail and some type of non-skid on the treads.

Regards,
Bob

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I agree a good grab rail or one on each side should be a big help! Same for aft cabin top to Flybridge

A marine aluminum fabricator should be able to build a set of step/ladder with handrails pretty easily. Put it anywhere you want and leave the original steps there.

Bruce Lundgren said:

We're buying a Grand Banks 36 and the small steps from the port side deck up to the aft cabin roof will be difficult with my wife's knee issues.

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One needs to be very careful with those side steps. I sold my Albin with a similar access to the bridge to a fellow who tended to tip the mug a little too frequently. One day he missed the grab rail while swinging up to the aft deck and fell off the boat. That was his last act on the planet.

Perhaps consider relocating the stairs to the aft deck. They can be wider and more shallow limited only by the space you are willing to give up on the aft deck. They could even fold out of the way if you are an adventurous engineer. You will need the handrails to be extended across the aft cabin top and this may limit your choices of dinghy.

The GB 36 is definitely worth it. Good luck.

Flybridge ladders

This configuration was also used on early Marine Traders. The first pic, not my boat, shows the same tiny step setup as the GB. On my boat, second photo, a PO installed a ladder, grab handle on cabin top, and a railing around the landing area. The Admiral has been known to be something of a klutz but never had a problem negotiating this setup. We never felt the lower ladder impeded access walking aft.

Abosoltely, a little ingenuity is woth its weight in gold...a dying virtue in some areas of America these days.

ARoss said:

View attachment 66367

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That looks like a very good solution. Not only safer and easier, but it looks good as well.

You still have steps inside to both the forward and rear cabin and neither are easily accessible. I have seen stairs set into the cockpit wall, causing a loss of some head (foot?) room in the aft cabin but its now a long journey from the house to the flybridge.

Only you can decide.

My wife can handle the stairs inside. It's just the couple large steps up to the top of the deck house. I'll look for someone in the Portland ME area that can fabricate a wider ladder with hand rails and perhaps install it in the back of the aft cabin in the stern.

This is what I was thinking of but perhaps extend the side rails further up...and curved at the top down to the cabin top..sort of what a swim ladder would be like at a swimming pool.
Thanks very much for the photo!

Just looked a bit closer at the photo and see that I missed the grab rail. That might do the trick! Thanks

I'd pursue the possibility of suggestions you've seen here. However, I'd also be willing to say "this isn't the right boat to purchase" if you can't easily make it work. The last thing you want is a boat that brings her any discomfort, even if she says it's ok. We can live with doing something uncomfortably one time, but ultimately she'll be wanting to do it hundreds of times.

A slight design feature isnt disqualifying.

If your dreamhouse didnt have a handicap ramp to the front door and you were hanicapped...and a simple ramp could be installed, would you bypass it for a different house?

psneeld said:

A slight design feature isnt disqualifying.

If your dreamhouse didnt have a handicap ramp to the front door and you were hanicapped...and a simple ramp could be installed, would you bypass it for a different house?

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Strangely, many would. In houses, easy solution to steps is an elevator and yet many dismiss houses because of the steps.

In looking at anything such as a boat, one should see it's shortcomings and then see how serious and how easily they can be overcome. From what I know of the boat in question, the ability to build much better steps is there and even to use a chair lift if one day necessary. The OP must evaluate the cost and also how well it meets his wife's needs today and in the likely future. I'm healthy and active but for us and guests, I'd be replacing that ladder immediately if I purchased a boat with it as the only way to go up. On a building, that would be called an emergency ladder but would never be for daily use.