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 Swim Ladder Extension - photos		  New Topic  Topic Locked
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lcharlot
Master Marine Consultant

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Antigua and Barbuda
1301 Posts
Initially Posted - 07/14/2004 :  22:45:40  Show Profile
I have finished extending the transom ladder on the boat. It was a Catalina factory-installed ladder, made by Railmakers Inc in Los Angeles, same as most Catalina 22's and 25's have. The problem I had with it is that the bottom rung seemed like it was only a few scant inches below the waterline, making it pretty difficult to use, and impossible when diving with the added load of SCUBA gear. I spliced in an additional 12" of tubing on each side, and added another rung at the same spacing, so the ladder is now 5 rungs and the bottom is about 20" under water. Still not as deep as I'd like, but way better than it was. I also added hand-made step pads to each of the 5 rungs to make it less painful on bare feet. The steps are made of G-10 Fiberglass, 5/8" thick x 3-1/2" wide x 10" long, and they are held in place by 14-gauge stainless steel strip clamps and #10 machine screws, as you can see in the photos. The ready-made steps you buy at West Marine are not as wide as these, and they don't clamp as securely as my set-up. It took a full weekend to fabricate and install all of the pieces, and cost about $55. The biggest cost was $25 for the additional stainless steel tubing, $15 for the G-10 fiberglass, and about another $15 for the stainless steel strips and machine screws. I wanted to give the epoxy plenty of time to cure, so will wait until next weekend to try it out. The new side tube pieces are spliced into the existing tubes with SS inserts epoxied in. The new rung is lashed into the side tubes with 30 or 40 wraps of stainless steel seizing wire, then the wire bundle embedded in epoxy to make sure it cant't slip. Not elegant, but the budget necessitated this approach. Welding this kind of stainless tubing is a job for experts, which I am not, and the cost for a professional welder to do it was prohibitive - more than buying a whole new ladder in fact. Epoxied splice joints aren't as pretty, but the ladder will do what I need it to do until I can find the time and money to replace it with a new 5 or 6 rung Garhauer ladder.
Larry Charlot
Catalina 25WK/TR Mk. IV #5857 "Quiet Time"
Folsom Lake, CA

"You might get there faster in a powerboat, but in a sailboat, you're already there"
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Douglas
Master Marine Consultant

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1595 Posts
Response Posted - 07/16/2004 :  00:00:53  Show Profile  Visit Douglas's Homepage
I have a nice stainless swim lader in the garage. I will let it go for a resonable price if anyone wants to install one.
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Mark Maxwell
Captain

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USA
329 Posts
Response Posted - 07/16/2004 :  02:23:03  Show Profile
Doug I am very interested in that ladder. Is it still available?
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Mark Maxwell
Captain

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USA
329 Posts
Response Posted - 07/16/2004 :  02:27:46  Show Profile
Doug I'm going to be in the Seattle area (Monroe and Everett) all next week from the 18th to the 24th. My daughter is playing in the NSA softball world series. If you still have the ladder I can pick it up then.
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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.