I did not like the plastic and aluminum swim ladder we had aboard, it takes up too much clunky space in the lazarette, the standoffs always collapse, and it does not really fit on the side of a sailboat...
http://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-mari ... 58_001_525
At the end of the 2014 season, I bought this one from Ali Baba:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/4-STEP-O ... 51568.html
It is no longer available there, and I have not searched around, but if anyone happens to find it for sale again, let me know. There is a 3-rung version on West Marine...
When it came, I liked it!
Very compact, but extends to a useful length:
The problem with being so far from our boat is the cycle time on my projects. In the summer of 2015, I got to the boat and mocked up a configuration that I thought would work.
imgl]http://www.public.iastate.edu/~grluecke ... C02221.jpg[/img]
I had to swap around the folding mounting brackets and drill a couple of new holes, but with the addition of some wood blocks, it fits over the rail very well:
Back in Iowa for the Winter OF 2016, I bought some teak, and put together some more formal parts:
No boat around, but trying it out looks promising (my daughter helped!)
Finally, just last month on a quick visit to get the boat ready, I was able to see how it fit!
I had meant to make the stand-offs too long, but I may have over-done it:
Again, it fits nicely over the rail.
I have not yet tried climbing up from the water onto the boat with it (I did with the 2x4's but not with the new teak parts...), but it is very nice and compact!
