Swingup Ladder 26m, here it is...

[kurz]

Hello
I finally are in constructing a swing up ladder for the

I tooke a normal folding ladder



it gives to the folding function. The ladder must be folded to swing up. The swing up position is for security that nobody from the cockpit falls inside the boat when the ladder is away.

Finally I'm half ready:



At the end I will put bigger wooden steps to make it more comfortable and also it shall give a better look.

What I'm not sure at the moment:
The ladder is structural watch here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=27483#p339276

I think the fold up ladder will not be as strong to hold big pull from the traveler. The alu angles are way not at the perfect point to hold too much upward stress I think. I can do this alu angles in 6mm or 9mm.

So I have to know if I just have to worry about sustain the traveler.
In this case I could install a ss wire rope connected directly at the big bolt from the traveler and go vertical down to connect.
OR must it be a pole that can take loads in both direction? Actually I think the boat can easily hold the people in the cockpit without a pole under the traveler. But who knows?

What are you guys thinking about?

The locks twice big when this *ucking ladder is out of the way...

Hope it will work out finally.

[Inquisitor]

Hello
I finally are in constructing a swing up ladder for the

I tooke a normal folding ladder



it gives to the folding function. The ladder must be folded to swing up. The swing up position is for security that nobody from the cockpit falls inside the boat when the ladder is away.

Finally I'm half ready:



At the end I will put bigger wooden steps to make it more comfortable and also it shall give a better look.

What I'm not sure at the moment:
The ladder is structural watch here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=27483#p339276

I think the fold up ladder will not be as strong to hold big pull from the traveler. The alu angles are way not at the perfect point to hold too much upward stress I think. I can do this alu angles in 6mm or 9mm.

So I have to know if I just have to worry about sustain the traveler.
In this case I could install a ss wire rope connected directly at the big bolt from the traveler and go vertical down to connect.
OR must it be a pole that can take loads in both direction? Actually I think the boat can easily hold the people in the cockpit without a pole under the traveler. But who knows?

What are you guys thinking about?

The locks twice big when this *ucking ladder is out of the way...

Hope it will work out finally.

I think I've seen that the X's had versions where the ladder doesn't exist and this might lead you to believe you can remove it. I'm sure it is not what you want to hear, but on the M, it is way too significantly mounted for me to assume you can just remove it. It is rigidly mounted on the bottom to a quite significant amount of fiberglassed structure and as you pointed out, on top, it is fastened to the traveler track which would not be able to support that large span without the intermediate supports of the the two ladder arms. As far as your referenced link, his side walls are hopefully taking the place for that load transfer. I bet if he was available to ask, that he'd say they are structural.


It's not a very good picture that shows all the changes, but...

• I kept the two SS arms
• Removed the teak steps
• Swapped the sides, so the SS tabs point outward.
• Positioned the Port one, one bolt hole outward on the traveler. Now, there is 47 cm between the arms to crawl through.
• The bottom step is mounted to the bottom.
• The top two steps swing up and have a gas piston to keep them in the top position. As you noted it blocks the gangway so people can't accidentally fall into the boat.
• Has long step tread type boat steps so coming down is as easy as a home stair case.

[Idiotfool]

I think I've seen that the X's had versions where the ladder doesn't exist and this might lead you to believe you can remove it. I'm sure it is not what you want to hear, but on the M, it is way too significantly mounted for me to assume you can just remove it. It is rigidly mounted on the bottom to a quite significant amount of fiberglassed structure and as you pointed out, on top, it is fastened to the traveler track which would not be able to support that large span without the intermediate supports of the the two ladder arms. As far as your referenced link, his side walls are hopefully taking the place for that load transfer. I bet if he was available to ask, that he'd say they are structural.


It's not a very good picture that shows all the changes, but...

• I kept the two SS arms
• Removed the teak steps
• Swapped the sides, so the SS tabs point outward.
• Positioned the Port one, one bolt hole outward on the traveler. Now, there is 47 cm between the arms to crawl through.
• The bottom step is mounted to the bottom.
• The top two steps swing up and have a gas piston to keep them in the top position. As you noted it blocks the gangway so people can't accidentally fall into the boat.
• Has long step tread type boat steps so coming down is as easy as a home stair case.

So, I've looked and looked and all I can find is the same photo and a similar description, but I need to see more. Do you have any additional photos of this lovely ladder in action?

[Inquisitor]

So, I've looked and looked and all I can find is the same photo and a similar description, but I need to see more. Do you have any additional photos of this lovely ladder in action?

Thank you for the complement, but I'm so sorry... I'm hip deep in my Inqism-05 The Throne Room viewtopic.php?f=8&t=28093 project and that ladder will no longer fit and it's sitting next to the house never to be used again. I'll be using the same design, but making it a little narrower and a little lighter (color and build). In my 2010 build, I moved both the port and starboard SS post out one bolt hole on the traveler track. In this build because the new Head extends out, I moved the starboard post back to its original position. The gangway is now 47 cm wide and no longer centered... since the port side is still one bolt hole over. Those pictures were just before I took it out and it has ten years of use on it. It was so sturdy, it never creeks or squeaks. It was easy to lift with one finger and stayed firmly pressed up in front of the gangway. The car gas strut was only on the port side and you can just barely see it in that picture if you zoom in. I probably had a lot of pictures of it when I built it, but three moves later, I couldn't put my hands on them to save my life. And it was never published. Maybe... I can answer your questions.

[Inquisitor]

I feel bad and I didn't mean to squelch your idea. Obviously, I like the idea of a swing up ladder. And actually, I had not considered the pull-up load of the sail/boom/track. I always felt the compressive load of people in the cockpit to be the far higher load. If you consider that potentially three large people could be standing/sitting just above that track area, you could potentially have 600 pounds pressing down. On the other hand, I have never needed to pull more 50 pounds on the main sheet. Multiplying by 4 only gets 200 pounds in tension. I'm sure not having those posts below are not going to have some immediate cracking event, but conservatively, I do think the fatigue caused by many years of up and down loads and vibration of seas and/or road travel will add up and you'll start seeing stress cracking in the gelcoat in the corners that are now required to take all the bending load of the track/seating area.

[kurz]

Hi all
finally I finished my "swing up ladder" project. Here it is:




You can see:
a) there is a permanent pipe. It is screwed directly to screws from the traveller. So it can take all the pull and push forces.
If you really need you can take it away for additional room. Put it back when sailing.

b) is the swing up ladder (down position).



Here you can see the ladder in up position folded and fixed. You can close the boat completely an it will stay folded up. If you are in the cockpit the folded up ladder will prevent you from falling down (dark night).





Here the ladder is in up-position and fixed. The ladder is unfolded and the hatch need to be open. Again if you are in the cockpit the ladder helps you not to fall down (black night...).



After using one season I can say it is one of my "best mods".
MUCH easier to get all the things behind the ladder.

By the way: One good benefit compared to the original ladder: My new one is maybe 2 inches smaller. So already this makes many things to get easier stored. And the ladder is still big enough.



here connection detail

[adudinsk]

I thought the ladder in the 26M was a structural component? Did you add any bracing elsewhere?

[Jimmyt]

Hi all
finally I finished my "swing up ladder" project. Here it is:

Wow! What a neat idea! Great workmanship! I am very impressed with your mod, Kurz..

[Russ]

I thought the ladder in the 26M was a structural component? Did you add any bracing elsewhere?

If you look on the LEFT side of his ladder, there is a fixed pole for bracing and support.

WoW! This is a very nice mod.

Kurz, what did you use for components? Did you cut up a folding ladder?

[kurz]

As you can see in the pic I started with a normal foldable ladder. I cutt in in parts, and step by step it got a ladder...

[NiceAft]

Very ingenious mod Kurz.

Toutes nos félicitations, Herzliche Glückwünsche, Congratulazioni; I’m not certain what is the Nationaly accepted language of the Swiss Congratulations

[OverEasy]

Hi Kurt!

Fantastic, functional and well thought out mod!!!
Congratulations!
Well done!

Best Regards
Over Easy