Plastimo Ladder Fender

[Bull City]

For the past few years, I have been using a West Marine swim ladder, which has hooked tops which go over the cockpit coamings, but really needs a line that wraps around the winch, because the "hooks" over the coaming just don't do the job.

So, I have to arrange a towel over the coaming to protect the $million Awlgrip from the "hooks" and then tie a line from one side of the ladder around a winch to the other side of the ladder, and then make sure the the "stand-off" legs are engaged. It's tedious.

The Plastimo Ladder Fender looks like a nice alternative. Just tie a line from one side to the other and hook it over the winch. The free board along my cockpit is about 24". I think the 3 or 4 step would work well.

Does anyone have any experience with these?

 

[Orion Jim]

I tried one but found that with the lack of stand off legs that it was not practical as the rungs are only about four inches deep. You never get your foot into the steps, you end up climbing with only the ball of your foot. In addition, you also need a spot where there is little or no curve to the hull.

 

[blurocketsmate]

^^^ They may not have the design right, but the idea is good.

 

[silent bob]

^^^ They may not have the design right, but the idea is good.

It’s poor at both of its objectives!

 

[caius]

Does anyone have any experience with these?

Yes, been using one of the smaller ones for 10 years or so. It's worked well enough for getting out of a tender on to the boat on a swinging mooring. I don't know how well it would work as a swim ladder because it would tend to float and it wouldn't be particularly easy to get your foot into. It spends the majority of the time in the open air as it's just lifted over the side and sits in the cockpit when we are away from the boat. It developed a split a few years ago so now it has some expanding foam in it - it doesn't get used as a fender, only as a boarding ladder so that's not a problem. One of the tie on points for the rope at the top is starting to split now so it will probably get replaced with something similar at some point soon.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Not the Plastimo, but I’ve liked my Fender2Step

FenderStep™ & Fender2step™- the safe way to get on and off boats

Unique, patented boarding step,inflated PVC construction, allows crew to safely and easily step ashore without resorting to leaping!

www.fenderstep.com

 

[Bull City]

Not the Plastimo, but I’ve liked my Fender2Step

FenderStep™ & Fender2step™- the safe way to get on and off boats

Unique, patented boarding step,inflated PVC construction, allows crew to safely and easily step ashore without resorting to leaping!

www.fenderstep.com

Nice, but I need something for swimming.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Nice, but I need something for swimming.

I don’t know how well the thing will float, actually. However I would expect that once you put your foot on the ‘rung’ it would then push down and you’d step up

 

[10thTonner]

Problem with these things is that they don’t have these "stand-off" legs that keep them from sliding under the boat once you step a foot on them. I don’t know how to better describe this… Think of using a rope ladder as a swim ladder - it works but it is quite inconvenient.

 

[Bull City]

Problem with these things is that they don’t have these "stand-off" legs that keep them from sliding under the boat once you step a foot on them. I don’t know how to better describe this… Think of using a rope ladder as a swim ladder - it works but it is quite inconvenient.

Yeah, I've thought about that. TONIC's hull curves inward like most hulls. I was thinking of lashing a fender across the ladder, without blocking the step opening as a stand-off.

 

[10thTonner]

With my old boat, I had developed a technique to use a rope ladder as a swimming ladder. It takes quite a bit of abs and back musculature coordination to bring your feet aft instead of under the boat but it could be done…. most of the times.