Dinghy Boarding Step Design and Build

[John Stone]

We have found getting from the dinghy up to the Far Reach is not always so easy. True enough that a CD 36 has higher freeboard than a CD 30. Not to mention we added a 6” high bulwark to the FR making the step up even more difficult. But I think many cruisers find climbing from the dinghy to the mothership a challenge, especially as we get older.

We generally managed boarding when we used the inflatable though it was dicy in an anchorage with a significant swell. Forget it in the Fatty Knees with abswell or chop running because a hard dinghy generally requires you to exit from the center of the dinghy. We tried incorporating our swim ladder into the boarding process but it’s long length often resulted in the dinghy crashing into the ladder and that caused the ladder to jump around and added to the excitement.

After thinking about it a long time we got an idea from Lin and Larry Pardey’s book The Cost Concious Crusier. They wrote about a removable dinghy step design though it required fixed pad eyes added to the bulwark or deck of the mothership which to attach the step. I did not want a permanent location. After to more thinking and sketching we developed a design that incorporated bronze brackets, with welded eyes, padded with leather, that fit over the bulwark wherever we wanted. It seemed a good solution.

I made a mock-up of the bulwarks from some scrap pine and gave it along with a diagram of the brackets to my my best friend, along with some scraps of silicon bronze I had left over from when we built the bulwarks brackets. He heated the bronze and bent the shape very accurately and then welded on the rings. I polished them up and added the leather.

Next I cut a scrap plank of home deck-board and tested out the design on the Far Reach. Looked good.
Then it was time to build the step itself. I incorporated some teak off-cuts left over from building the dorades along with the scrap (Iroko I think) from from the cockpit lockers I replaced during the rebuild. The only new purchases required were the 40 inches of “Gunwale-Guard” and some #6 bronze screws and finish washers I purchased from Jamestown Distributors.

The step is built in two parts: a frame from the old Iroko Far Reach cockpit frame and two teak slats that form the top surface of the step. I drilled a hole in each corner of the step. I’ll form a bridal from 3/8” Dacron three strand and splice it into the rings on the brackets. I’ll use figure eights to set the length of the lines to make the step height above water adjustable.

I think this will solve our dinghy step requirement.

[John Stone]

Got a chance to try out the step at the marina today. We will play with the length of the lines before we cut and splice but it looks like it will work well.

[Sea Hunt Video]

John:

That looks really nice, especially the bronze brackets.

It looks like the boards are 2"x4"s. If so, and if the boarding step is still in "the design and development stage" of production, have you given thought to adding a third board so that a person's entire foot can rest on/stand on the boarding step I ask only because I saw something similar on a sailboat at the sailing club. The more "foot" you can put onto the boarding step the more secure you feel - especially those who classify themselves as "old geezers"

P.S. Boston Red Sox 12-2 (.857) as of this post. I know it probably won't last but it's a nice ride

I've been so busy I have not been able to check on the Cardinals. Are they above .500

[John Stone]

Roberto
The steps are 3/4” teak on top of a 1.5” wide 3/4” thick iroko frame. It’s about 9” wide. I hear ya though. We thought about making it wider but we felt like it would get too heavy and awkward to handle. I would have kept it 3/4” to 1” thick if I could have but the narrowest gunwhale guard is 1.5”. So the thickness of the step needed to match for it to fit right. Ultimately, it was a compromise. The picture below is the underside during the glue up.

That’s the final product for now. The only experimenting left is to get the height right. We don’t have a lifeline gate so it’s up and over the life lines, under the lifelines, or release the life line when boarding...which is probably what we will do when old geezers come aboard. LOL.

We can position it wherever we want but I think that’s about the best place. It allows one to grab the gallows frame which is a great hand-hold and where the d do is wide and clear. It feels wider underfoot than it looks.

Regarding the W/L stats. There are still more than 150 games to go. Plenty of time for our teams to blow it.

[mkaplan]

John, Your boarding step looks great. Do you still use it? Question: If the outer lines extended downward as a rope ladder with wooden steps, do you think it would work as a swim ladder also? What do you use for a swim ladder? I'm looking for a swim ladder for my CD 26 - it has a windvane installed on stern.

[John Stone]

John, Your boarding step looks great. Do you still use it? Question: If the outer lines extended downward as a rope ladder with wooden steps, do you think it would work as a swim ladder also? What do you use for a swim ladder? I'm looking for a swim ladder for my CD 26 - it has a windvane installed on stern.

Yes. Use it all the time. See photo below. I guess you could add a step or two below but steps in the water would float so it would not be my preference. I think it would be awkward.

I use a folding SS swim ladder I modified to collapse flat. I can send a couple photos if you are interested. We have been happy with it. We don’t use the swim ladder for a dinghy step because the dinghy would crash into it while the dinghy step stays above the dinghy if that makes sense.