Boat Ladders

[steveo32]

Hi, I am looking for a good cheap boat ladder. I have a 15' trihull with 70hp outboard. I have been looking at the portable hook ladders and the cleat rope ladders. Does anyone have any expierence with either, I think the cleat ladder seems a little dangerous, not sure if a cleat can hold that much weight. I am leaning toward the hook ladder that goes over the gunwhale found them at ovetons.com for $30. Also do I need a 4ft or 3ft ladder. Thanks

 

[ziggy]

Re: Boat Ladders

i've got one of the hook over the gunnel versions.... works good enough. will say that overweight folks will have trouble with it probalby. or folks that have never used one either...... geting into a boat from deep water is troublesome at best for the unexperienced. my self, i climb up the vent plate on my drive..... don't know about the leangth, 3 or 4'. i reckon mines 3' roundabouts. ya do have to lift one foot high to start. so i'd think 4' would be easier to use. i barely get my 3' one stored though. a 4' one on my boat would probably not find a happy home for lack of space...

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Boat Ladders

i had a very heavy friend, we used the hook ladder, when he would get in the boat, he would start to put his weight on the bottom rung, we would count to 3, everyone in the boat would move to the opposite side to give him a boost, and keep the boat level. worked very well. he finally decided to loose some weight.

 

[arboldt]

Re: Boat Ladders

We've got a small jetboat, so we don't have the 'obstacle' of an outboard like you do. I made a 3' rope ladder that we double-loop over the tow ring on the back transom. I used 1"x15" wood dowels for the steps. Because it's on the boat's center of gravity, we don't have issues with the boat tipping. The tow ring is built to take all kinds of force, so some at 90* to normal pull doesn't seem to bother it. And, yes, I'm overweight, so I guess I'd be a good test. The biggest challenge for us is that the 'steps' float, so we've got to find the lower steps and push them down with a foot before we start getting out of the water.