Gangplank For Pontoon

[jiju1943]

It is surprising how little there is about a gangplank for a pontoon online. My wife and I are at the age we have problems boarding our pontoon unless we are at a dock. The really good fishing is below a dam here and there is no dock so we are looking at building a slide under deck gangplank. Anyone else done this or have any ideas that won't break the bank?

 

[Reel Kahuna]

I just googled and this came up. A little pricey http://www.boardingramp.com/doc/pontoon plank.html

 

[jiju1943]

Thanks RK, that is on the principal of what we want but that is a little beyond our reach. I want to build one myself if I can come up with a way. I do appreciate your time and effort to look that up for me, I couldn't even find that.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Get one of these and add some metal to the center for a ramp.

 

[Water logged]

Were you planning on using the ramp to board from the beach? I would think a ladder would be easier than walking up the ramp. That ramp would work great at a dock which was almost the same level as your deck, but you said you were ok there. Steps with a handrail would be better.

Glenn

 

[mpilot]

Get one of these and add some metal to the center for a ramp.

From the pictures on the actual ramp it looks like that's all they did to make it one. Get some diamond plate and non skid paint and you will be good to go, or you could go cheaper and just mount a board with some strips across it. You could also make the plank portion detachable so that you can actually use it like a ladder as well.

 

[jiju1943]

Thanks fellows, that ladder would work great if it were a little longer but that is a perfect way to do it. My wife and I are really over the hill and her knees will not allow her to walk up steps or a ladder. We both love to fish more than a fat kid likes chocolate cake and the place we know the fishing is really good has no dock and we have to board from the ramp. So the less the incline the better for my better half. I really do appreciate all your help, boat folks are the best people.

 

[Cat nip]

You could mount a couple pieces of c channel under the deck to stoe and support a ramp of aluminum or wood with grip tape for traction. Although im not sure of the best way to deploy or retract it?

 

[jiju1943]

You could mount a couple pieces of c channel under the deck to stoe and support a ramp of aluminum or wood with grip tape for traction. Although im not sure of the best way to deploy or retract it?

Thanks CN, I appreciate your suggestion, that is probably the way I will go. When I do get it done I will post here how I did it.

 

[Cat nip]

Ok sounds good. I was thinking of something similar for my toon also. Can't decide on the retractable one or just a long ramp that lays on top of the deck attached with eye bolts to the front that I could just flip down. But I think that would be in the way on deck and someone would trip over it.

 

[jiju1943]

Ok sounds good. I was thinking of something similar for my toon also. Can't decide on the retractable one or just a long ramp that lays on top of the deck attached with eye bolts to the front that I could just flip down. But I think that would be in the way on deck and someone would trip over it.

Cat, I thought about doing that also but we being ole cusses would not be fun to fall. I also thought about a ramp that I could pull in and hang over the outside of the rails. I still like the idea of it sliding back under the deck, totally out of the way though.

Another thing I have to consider is at this moment I am making our trolling motor a through the floor instead of mounted on the front like normal. Last week when we went fishing we tied up and the trolling motor took one heck of a beating bumping into a concrete wall. I have the parts made now and all I need to do is bolt it all together and mount it through the floor. I have to take into consideration that the slide in ramp will be under there so I need to mount the trolling motor out of the way of that.

Please post what you came up with, when you do it.

 

[Cat nip]

That trolling motor idea sounds pretty cool. Could make for a skinny ramp. How about off the side? Do you have a gap in the supports from the toons under the side door?

 

[redneck joe]

How about those lawnmower ramps for a pickup. I picked up a pair on amazon for 40 bucks. Going to use on my tounge for a catwalk. Should be bretty light for you.

 

[jiju1943]

That trolling motor idea sounds pretty cool. Could make for a skinny ramp. How about off the side? Do you have a gap in the supports from the toons under the side door?

I checked and by offsetting the trolling motor it should work.

Joe, I didn't think about those ramps, I will check them out, thanks for the suggestion.

Jim

 

[Silver Eagle]

Last year I bought a boarding ladder that fits on the front of my trailer.I got it from Sun Tracker.But being an old Fart my self,We both have trouble getting in the boat if we want to get into the water so I took one of my six foot alum. ladders and cut the rear part off. I left the top on and it works great.Our pontoon boat is 24 feet long so I just lay the ladder on the floor or across the rear lounge.

 

[jiju1943]

Last year I bought a boarding ladder that fits on the front of my trailer.I got it from Sun Tracker.But being an old Fart my self,We both have trouble getting in the boat if we want to get into the water so I took one of my six foot alum. ladders and cut the rear part off. I left the top on and it works great.Our pontoon boat is 24 feet long so I just lay the ladder on the floor or across the rear lounge.

I thought I was going to have to do like you are doing, pull the walk board on board and lay it on the floor.

But I went to Northern Tools and bought a 7 foot walk board that is made for a scaffold, it weights about 35 pounds so it shouldn't be too bad to handle. I thought every which way I could to make it work under the deck, without someone being on the shore to pull it out, and I finally came up with a way that I hope will work for us.

The main problem was getting the walk board to slide all the way out, without someone having to be on shore to pull it out. The further out the walk board gets, the more pressure and friction there will be on the front of the housing and back end of the walk board, making it hard to get the walk board all the way out to the point that it will pivot down to the ground.

I solved this by using a piece of conduit that I can use as a sliding fulcrum to hold the front end of the walk board up, while pushing outwith the conduit pipe and take the pressure off, so it will slide all the way out. I haven't built this yet, but this is what I plan to do. I plan to use PVC pipe as rollers in the housing and hopefully that will work.

I have thought of several ways instead of the PVC pipe rollers, such as using small wheels. I still haven't ruled that out yet, I am open for suggestions.

 

[Cat nip]

Do you have any drawings of this fulcrum idea? I cant picture it yet. As for wheels how about garage door wheels in c channel or I guess garage door track?

 

[jiju1943]

Cat, that is a dern good idea, I didn't think about a garage door hardware, that will work. I will let you know how that works out.

As for the sliding fulcrum pole, it is just a 1 inch conduit with a hook on the end. I will have a rope loop in the walk board about 3 feet from the front end. I will use the front rail that goes around the pontoon to rest the fulcrum pole on. I will hook the loop with the pole, rest it on the rail while holding the walk board up and push it out at the same time. I don't have a sketch, I wish I knew how to do that here.

Cat I really do appreciate the suggestion on the garage hardware, that is genius.

 

[Cat nip]

Your welcome. I have heard that someone makes nylon wheels for garage doors and if so they would probably hold up longer and better. I understand the fulcrum pole idea now. You might want to think about some sort of groved pulley wheel to set the pole in so it slides easy and wont scratch the railing. I wish you were closer to me, we could have this project hammered out on both boats in a weekend

 

[Cat nip]

Do you think adding some weight to the back of the ramp might help the front not feel as heavy at full extension?