Fitting a boarding ladder

[johnsti]

I've decided to fit a fixed boarding ladder after managing for some time with the aluminium hook over type.

The ladder I have bought has fittings to attach to the transom but I would appreciate advice from anyone who has fitted one /has one fitted

The gap between the skins in the back locker is pretty thin but I assume a plate of 5mm ply and a penny washer would spread the load sufficiently and there is no need to pass through both skins so that bringing the fixing in the boat rather than the locker is unneccessary but some reassurance would be welcome.

Ian

[yoty]

Hi, I'd go for 13mm (½ inch) ply at least with a 3" overlap around the fixings.

Cheers

Barry

[johnsti]

Thanks. Is that just through the outer skin and bolted up through the ply in the locker ? a pretty tight squeeze ?

[mikeprojectboat]

Hi, When I fixed mine, I ended up doing the following......... Nut &Bolt instead of s/s self tapers, the nut, tack welded onto a s/s small back plate(size of a matchbox2mmthick) then a bit of thin ply(same size) glued to back of s/s plate ,secure this lightly with a bit of tape to a short thin stick. Then stick some glue on the back of this(the ply) Then with TWO PEOPLE,one with their head/shoulder/stick upside in the locker rear cavity,and the other outside by the stern, position the back plate and tighten....then pull of the stick.!! The nut is fixed so no need for spanners, the whole thing is fixed inside the cavity ,and you can re-tighten the ladder bolts (Which you WILL have to do) WITHOUT the hassle of snanners,back ache and major contortions.....I made my boarding ladder quite narrow so I made my back plate, a single strip/plate that did both fixings.This was in case the bonding/glue failed to secure it to the inside of the boat.! If you use this method make sure you do a dry run first, (USE TAPE ONLY) and make sure the nut and back plate run up/down the thread of the bolt,as welding can make the nut shrink.!! All the best..!!! Mike