Boats with Swim Platforms

[MooreVOLS]

When did swim platforms start showing up on sailboats? Do any other current manufacturers have them besides Cats, Bene's, and Hunters?

[treilley]

I think mainly in the late 80s and early 90s. Many current production boats have swim platforms. My Caliber 40lrc has one.

[olson34]

Early 70's for the Cascade 36's. The factory had/has a mold for a transom extension that incorporates steps. Quite a few were subsequently ordered that way and lots of them have been retrofitted.

In the 80's the Farr 1020 performance cruiser was quite a novelty at the Seattle in-water show with its open transom and cockpit floor flat all the way to the end...

Later came loads of performance boats with open transoms and that accelerated the trend a lot, too.

There seems to be little reason not to want one. For the 99% of the buyers that will use their boats as day sailing condo's it's great for boarding dinghies. For the 1% that are going off shore it's the perfect answer to dewatering a cockpit quickly from green water that wanders in from any direction.

(I know of several owners of older offshore boats that spent considerable time and money to put in additional 2" or 3" cockpit drains, augmenting the standard sole thruhulls.)

LB

[Cruisingdad]

Yes, other boats have them. You can even order a new Sabre with them (though it is not much of a plaform). It is a HUGE benefot for cruising and LA. Getting on/off with one, tying the tendor to it and launching the tender, sitting there and watching the kids swim off the back, and potentially pulling someone out from the water are all great reasons to have it.

Brian

[BarryL]

Hey,

The first swim platforms that I am aware of showed up in the mid 80's. In 1986 O'day added a swim platform that added 1' to each boat. So the 30 went to the 31, the 34 became the 35 and the 39 turned into the 40. Newport had a 33' model that was available with the swim platform in 1985 or so.

Today just about every boat comes with a swim platform. Some (many) also have open transoms. Lastly, it seems that the trend today on bigger (40+) is to have open transoms and dual wheels.

I specifically bought my boat because of the swim platform. I keep her on a mooring and the platform makes getting on / off so much easier. My next boat will have a walk through transom for the same reason.

Barry

Originally Posted by MooreVOLS

When did swim platforms start showing up on sailboats? Do any other current manufacturers have them besides Cats, Bene's, and Hunters?

[eherlihy]

My 1986 built (1987 model year) O'day 35 has one.

The Pearson 33 from 1988 on has one. The Pearson 36 evolved into the Pearson 38 in 1988. Part of that metamorphosis was the addition of a swim platform.

[jordanship]

Almost all sailboats have swim platforms (aka sugar scoop sterns) these days. A better avenue might be to list the ones that don't. Although some of them as CD says are not that much of a platform -- just a ridge glassed on to the transom.

I have read a couple posts here or elsewhere with people saying that center cockpits somehow less commonly have swim platforms. This is totally not true.

[kulokoo]

Anybody cross an ocean with an open transom? Would you?

Seems like there'd be nothing to lean back on, and I'm not sure how you'd fix a wind vane. They sure do look cool, and obviously drain well

[lagoon380]

I read a story once about 2 couples that charter a boat in the Med. and all jumped in the water to take a swim. They all died because they forgot to put a ladder out and the boat had NO swim platform. I wouldn't have a boat without a way to board it from the water.

[Faster]

Originally Posted by lagoon380

I read a story once about 2 couples that charter a boat in the Med. and all jumped in the water to take a swim. They all died because they forgot to put a ladder out and the boat had NO swim platform. I wouldn't have a boat without a way to board it from the water.

That's the premise of a recent movie "Open Water 2" - not exactly a classic but it's far too easy to see something like this happening. It was a bit disconcerting to watch.