Boarding ladders

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randall330
Just Enlisted
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:05 am
Sailboat: MacGregor 26X

Boarding ladders

Post by randall330 »

The Admiral and I like to beach our boat bow first on sandbars on the shores of our home lake. The problem is when we re-board unless we want to swim we need a different boarding ladder that can work on the bow.

Does anyone have any suggestions.

thanks
:macx:
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NiceAft
Admiral
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Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Upper Dublin,PA, USA: 2005M 50hp.Honda4strk.,1979 Phantom Sport Sailboat, 9'Achilles 6HP Merc 4strk

Re: Boarding ladders

Post by NiceAft »

Since i don’t beach Nice Aft, I never really thought about this.

It would seem that you would need something like this.
Image

A rope ladder can prove challenging to climb. Especially climbing over the bow rail.

Ray
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dlandersson
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Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
Location: Michigan City

Re: Boarding ladders

Post by dlandersson »

I have good luck with this. You might want to look at 5, 6 steps also 8)

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-mar ... gL4kvD_BwE
randall330 wrote:The Admiral and I like to beach our boat bow first on sandbars on the shores of our home lake. The problem is when we re-board unless we want to swim we need a different boarding ladder that can work on the bow.

Does anyone have any suggestions.

thanks
:macx:
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Chinook
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Location: LeavenworthWA 2002 26x, Suzuki DF60A

Re: Boarding ladders

Post by Chinook »

I tried a boarding ladder early on, and decided it wasn't a good option. With the curve of the hull in the bow area, your weight sways the ladder in toward the boat, leaving you hanging awkwardly backwards. The rigid ladder shown on the second post would be a better bet, however, I much prefer setting the anchor and dinghying in.
C Buchs
Captain
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Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
Location: Camas, WA 98607

Re: Boarding ladders

Post by C Buchs »

We've got an over-sized bow line that we tie to the rail to use as a foot hold to climb up the bow rail. Sorry, I don't have a picture of anyone climbing, but in this picture you can see how we have the lines tied on our bow.

Image

Jeff
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Russ
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Re: Boarding ladders

Post by Russ »

Boarding from the bow has always been a challenge. We tried bringing a step ladder. That helped. But then you have to retrieve the ladder and store it.

The best I found is dropping a bow anchor and drifting stern to the beach and hopping off with a stern "beach" anchor. The problem I have is my transducer hangs off the back transom and if the boat touches the beach it could rip the thing off. So I keep the boat just a bit off the beach. We can hop on and off with only feet wet.

Image
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Herschel
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Re: Boarding ladders

Post by Herschel »

dlandersson wrote:I have good luck with this. You might want to look at 5, 6 steps also 8)

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-mar ... gL4kvD_BwE
randall330 wrote:The Admiral and I like to beach our boat bow first on sandbars on the shores of our home lake. The problem is when we re-board unless we want to swim we need a different boarding ladder that can work on the bow.

Does anyone have any suggestions.

thanks
:macx:
I use this four step gunwhale ladder which works wonderfully for boardering from a swim, too, at the cockpit, and especially for MOB boarding. At the bow, it takes a little creativity to get it stable and hooked over the pulpit/lifelines, but is doable.
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Starscream
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Location: Montreal, Quebec. 2002 26X - Suzi DF90A

Re: Boarding ladders

Post by Starscream »

RussMT wrote:Boarding from the bow has always been a challenge. We tried bringing a step ladder. That helped. But then you have to retrieve the ladder and store it.

The best I found is dropping a bow anchor and drifting stern to the beach and hopping off with a stern "beach" anchor. The problem I have is my transducer hangs off the back transom and if the boat touches the beach it could rip the thing off. So I keep the boat just a bit off the beach. We can hop on and off with only feet wet.
Ditto
Image

A stern anchor onto the beach helps keep things in place. And with the stern anchor you can let the boat float out a bit, and bring it back in when you want.
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NiceAft
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Re: Boarding ladders

Post by NiceAft »

Just be aware if a land anchor is allowed.

There is a popular bay in the lake I sail on for two weeks every summer where any sort of anchoring a boat to the land is not allowed. Just be aware.

The lake is thirty-two miles long with many bays and islands, but this one bay is extremely popular. Very shallow and calm with a sand bottom.

Ray
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tewharaunz
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Location: Charteris Bay, New Zealand

Re: Boarding ladders

Post by tewharaunz »

Hi,

We launch/retrieve at a shallow boat ramp without a jetty so we needed an easy way to pick up and drop off the car/trailer driver from the bow. I found a folding stainless ladder and welded on some "wings" at the top so it fits (and sort of locks in place) over the bow rail. If we're doing a day sail and don't use the spinnaker, we just leave it there. It's also very handy if we need to secure a backup rope from a swing mooring to the D-ring. I found a blurry picture from Motueka marina but if you are interested, I can take more.

We also use it off the side of the cockpit when we are "camping" so we can leave the LPG fridge/freezer under the helm seat. The second photo (frenchman bay) also shows our anchor and two ground lines that we tie to trees or buried logs when we are in tidal lagoons for a few days.

Motueka Marina
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vY7ZXGqX6wzNzFpD8

Frenchman Bay
https://photos.app.goo.gl/UGJnLsj7xoEvERQv9

Cheers, David
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