How Do You Board a RIB from the water?

[MASATS]

Any ideas on the proper swim ladders or platforms would be appreciated. Also any other methods which would be convenient and cost effective.

[Nasher]

The two attached images show my 'cut and shut' folding ladder solution.

Most ladders are too wide for the transom of even a large RIB due to the lack of transom space, so I sourced a Stainless one off ebay, cut several inches out of it through the middle, and welded it back together so its just wide enough for a foot.

The Smaller Nashers use it all the time whilst anchored off the beach.
One of the images is them and a friend using it to climb on board time and time again to use the boat as a diving platform.

Davybuoy has been known to use the cavitation plate of his outboard and the hydraulics as an improvised 'Stana Diver Lift' after a particularly tiresome dive!
He also has a very neat folding ladder on his SR5.4 that is shaped and fits over the tubes.
You can just see it on the third image.

Nasher

[limeydal]

Nasher,
love that cut down job ! Excellent
Damn, why didn't I think of that.
I have a similar fold down setup(but original width )
Does just about squeeze in on my XS 550 but, you have got me thinking to change it now
Thanks for the great idea.

Masats, got a fold down from West Marine and works well after modifying the attachment to the transom.Cut off the mounting brackets/ cut and rotated the tube and joined in the middle. So formed a solid top rung ,which I U bolted to the transom. Has standoff feet against the transom, so no pinched fingers
Good for my little monsters coming back from the deep
cheers Dal

[fred bolton]

This one's free, lie on your back in the water place both legs as far as possible over the tubes and then a hand to hand pull from someone in the boat will get you back aboard

[Nasher]

Limey

Kids (and Dads) the same the world over eh?

Fred

How do you decide who stays in the boat whilst the rest of you brew up on the beach?

Nasher.

[chewy]

A strop clipped between lifelines works well as a step.

[jyasaki]

I find rope ladders pretty useless on inflatables. They swing up under the boat when you put weight on them.

I had a bit of an advantage when fitting a ladder, as I've got a motor pod that doubles as sort of a swim step. I fitted a fishbone ladder for reboarding divers (works fully kitted up less fins.) Had a friend weld up the ladder from 1" aluminum box tubing, then pounded a 3/4 solid aluminum rod down the top center rib for strength. The bracket is stainless (two ears with a hole drilled through.) A trailer hitch pin holds the ladder in place.

Best pic I have of the setup...

jky

[solos60]

After a lot of trial and error I found that a piece of webbing connected to the base of my A-Frame with a loop at the other end didn't harm the tubes and allows me to get a step up into my RIB.
The short piece of aluminium flat bar zap strapped in the loop provides enough weight to sink the webbing and holds the loop open to put your foot into it.
When not in use it's just a soft pile of webbing out of the way in the area behind the rear seat.

[Trickdog]

The 'Folding Ladder for Inflatable Dinghy' at the bottom of this page http://www.compass24.com/web/catalog...arding_ladders is contoured to hange over the tubes. Don't know what the quality is like but might be worth considering?

[Jeff]

This is the same principle - a lot more $ $ $ but very good quality. Bought one a few years ago when the £:$ was much better
Really strong and well made. Even the caribiner to clip to a fixing/U bolt is tops ! ........ and it does fit over wide tubes


http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?...92384&id=97882

Jeff