DaySailer.org Forum

Anyone found a swim ladder/rescue ladder which works well with the DS II?

Rakozy

jeadstx has fitted one he's happy with.

I put a three rung extendable ladder on the stern of my boat. When not extended, it folds up against the transom. I hold in place with a bungee cord that can be released from outside of the boat if needed.

John

I went with this one:

http://duckworksbbs.com/gear/ladder/bt-lad.htm

I hang it off a stern cleat, and I made a Sunbrella cover for it, basically a tube with one end closed and the other end with shock cord in it to hold it mostly closed. I put a loop of webbing on the bottom of the closed end to act as a handle to pull it off the ladder. It just sits on the seat near the cleat. First time out with it, I hove the boat to and over the side I went. Found it very easy to reach, pull the cover off with the handle, deploy the ladder, and climb back in. Does take a bit of balancing, but you really only need to get a foot on the bottom rung in order to hoist yourself up far enough to get a leg over the gunwale and climb in. Definitely not a worst case scenario test, but better than nothing ...

I used one of those ladders that hook over the transom. the standoffs were too low, so I moved them up. This works good for my boat.

SD

Attached is a picture of my ladder. I got the ladder from the Sailboat Shop in Austin, Texas.

John

I went with a 3 rung sport/dive ladder from Overtons. Because of the way the seats are molded into the boat there did not seem to be enough room on the transom for the fold up ladder to be attached thru the inside of the boat. The dive ladder has a very small attachment.. a wedge about 5'x3" and the ladder can be detached and put in the boat. Not as good as the fold-up for safety ( I keep mine attached if I am out alone) but it's sturdy and angled, so it's easy to climb up.

Not sure from your description which model you ended up selecting. Also, does the ladder extend into the water while you are under way? I see from a different post that you mostly motor while waiting for your mast. Dragging a ladder through the water is no fun when sailing.

GreenLake wrote:Not sure from your description which model you ended up selecting. Also, does the ladder extend into the water while you are under way? I see from a different post that you mostly motor while waiting for your mast. Dragging a ladder through the water is no fun when sailing.

It says sport/dive ladder at overtons. Sorry I don't link. yes I do drag it while sailing alone. The boat is fast enough so I don't care. I cannot get back into the boat w/o it should I fall oveboard--so I don't care about the drag. I didn't appear to interfere much with handling--but I'm not too fussy yet. I get there and back --I'm good!

Linking something isn't that hard.

See: viewtopic.php?f=41&t=5346

You might also want to check out the topic on Partial Quotes in Replies

Thanks jeadstx! This upgrade was easy. Hardest part was finding some deep throat clamps to hold the ladder while I checked that the rudder could swing fully, the top step was low enough for your foot to fit under the stern, but high enough so I didn't have to use an inspection port for the bolts. And again thanks jeadstx for making me aware of getting as close to centerline of the boat as possible so the boat would not be so tippey while using the ladder.

You're welcome.

John