boarding ladder reality check
Somebody has mentioned it.
Ariels and Commanders probably all have an OB or an inboard.
The issue is: Don't think of mounting the boarding ladder on the stern!
At least don't end there with your thinking.
It'll never happen. But there will come a time when a leg or foot will get chewed up by a propeller.
Of course it won't happen when you're in control.
Tell yourself you're always in charge
and put your soft, or hard, boarding ladder where Scott has it, at the forward end of the cockpit.
Reread Ed's and Bill's original posts here, #9, #10.
A strong stanchion, or two, some kind of strong point always there, a handle above the coaming, will enable the person climbing aboard to haul herself onto the deck.
Ed says, do a MOB practice EVERY SEASON. Practice using the ladder as a safety device. But also to get out of the water.
Make it something you are very familiar with.
On a calm sunny Sunday morning. In the cold dark dead of night.:eek:
If you use an auto inflatable PFD as part of your regular sailing gear, simply
JUMP in with ALL your gear on. Shoes/boots, pants, jacket/parka, hat - EVERYTHING.
With that pfd bladder on your chest, inflated in your face.... see how you do....
Getting the ladder deployed , getting into the ladder, hauling yourslf up, grabbing whatever to get a leg on the boat, the whole 900 pounds.
Don't do it alone, you'll probably need help.
Then rearm the PFD with a new CO2 cylinder and seltzer pill. You should rearm the PFD EVERY SEASON, at least once a year.
Yourbody's life depends on it.
MUSTANG PFD RECALL
U.S.Coast Guard issued a recall (11/29/11) for some 22lb Mustang PFDs, look it up! They are MD2010 and MD2012 models that do not have next generation MIT logos on them. The CO2 bottles are not at fault, but the 'inflator assembly', something the factory has to test and fix. The Mustang site says there are no shipping costs there or back again.
It also looks like Mustang was aware of the problem before the USCG got involved and BOTH initiated the recall.
Fixed location boarding ladder locations
I've been thinking for a while now where I will put my boarding ladder. I want a permanently mounted ladder that will allow access to the boat from the water even if it is not deployed prior to getting into the water. On my previous boat I had a line that secured the ladder in the up position that hung low enough that it could be reached from the water. By simply pulling on this line I was able to release the knot that secured it and also pull it down to board. I would like to do something similar on Destiny.
As the saying goes with real estate it's all about "location, location, location" and if I don't want to go on the stern (and I don't) I have very limited choices. I plan on installing a genoa track on the toe rail that goes from just behind the aft lower shroud back approx 9 feet. So this entire area is off limits. So my current thought on location is just forward of the lower forward shroud. As you climb aboard you have the shroud to hang onto to assist in boarding. And on my boat once you get up a ways you will be able to reach my extra long handrail to step aboard.I plan to install a ring in the shroud that the line securing the ladder will be tied to.
So do any of you see any problems with this location that I am not seeing? Or have suggestions for other options?
telescoping ladder on transom
Hello! Boarding ladders are not an optional piece of gear to be stored in a locker, in my opinion. This is especially true if you do any single handing, even for an hour sail in good weather.
They need to be deployable from the water, and ready at a moment's notice. I have mounted a 4-step telescoping ss ladder on the deck at the transom that straddles the backstay. When sailing, it is in the "stowed" position, vertical, resting against the backstay (not secured!). It is stable there in any weather because it is "over center". I tie a length of light line to the bottom rung..and the line has a practice golf ball on the end that dangles a few inches above the water over the transom. If you stumble overboard, you can swim to the transom and give the golf ball a yank...down comes the ladder.
The companion gear that makes it foolproof is a lifeline running fore and aft in the cockpit 6 " above the cockpit floor, and secured at both ends by a bow eye attached to the bridgedeck bulkhead and the aft cockpit bulkhead. Clip your harness onto that lifeline and you can move forward past the mast (I have a roller furling jib), down below for a cold one, on the afterdeck, etc. If you go over, even with the autopilot humming and you're going 5 knots...the boat passes you by and the tether swings you back right behind the transom....where the ladder is. It works, I've used it underway, and fortunately it was there. The biggest problem I experienced was moving around with my inflated inflatable. I'll try to post pics.
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Cockpit lifeline (jackline)
Jerry,
The line running the length of the cockpit is crucial to the function of the ladder as a "rescue' device. Without the tether to pull you next to the ladder, you won't catch it if you're underway.
The line is fore and aft, about 8 inches from the cockpit floor and about 3 inces from one side or the other. I use a line about the size of a dockline for the boat, pulled tight with a trucker's hitch on one end and an spliced eye on the other. It doesn't get in the way when you're sailing and it seems you never know it's there in good weather.
I also added full length cabintop handrails, replacing the short ones that were original. I don't have lifelines forward so the handrails are welcomed and don't seem obtrusive to my eye.
The original lifelines, forward, terminated at pad eyes on the deck about 30% of the way forward from the fwd lowers to the bow pulpit....meaning that you don't have lifelines forward as a practical matter, even with the boat equipped with them. This free space over the toe rail is so that the genoa can clear the foredeck when tacking.
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And I thought I had the only Commander that...
was going to have handrails full length of the cabin top!! I built these a while back.