Where to install my ladder?

[SSBN506]

Where to install my ladder?

I have this type of ladder but this is not exactly it. I can’t find my exact one.

My boat is a 1978 challenger 7.4 that is about 25.5 ft long. Here are the specks.
Challenger 7.4 - Used Sailboat Market in Canada
This is a picture of my boat.

I know how to install the ladder bolt it to a backing plate etc but what I can’t decide on is where to attach it.
The ladder is a five rung ladder. If I attach it the top of the transom with the bracket connected like the Stanchion I can fold and lift the ladder up so it can be ties to the lifelines and completely off the transom. But if I do that the bottom rung is completely under water and the next up in level with the water. Will this be enough for someone to climb on after swimming without struggling a lot?

My other thought is to bolt it on so when the bottom part is folded up and the boat is still it is just above the water. When the bottom is rungs are swing down two rungs are completely submerged with the third on the surface. But with this configuration I can swivel the latter up to be parallel the lifelines on the back. So other than the lower folding point when moving if the boat sites deeper men moving or heals it may be in the water? I haven’t looked at the transom and where the water is when under way.

So my question is what would be best. What do most people do who have this type of ladder?

[LittleWingCA]

SSBN506:

I have a swing down ladder off the stern of my sailboat, which more experienced people have told me is great when at anchor and swimming, but if someone falls overboard and you are sailing, a ladder on the side of the boat is easier and safer to use due to concerns about the prop and water flow around the boat.

If you mount it such that you have to swing part of it down to use it, make sure you have some type of release mechanism that can be activated from the water in case you are the one trying to climb back in and no one else is on the boat.

[timebandit]

Originally Posted by SSBN506

Where to install my ladder?

But if I do that the bottom rung is completely under water and the next up in level with the water. Will this be enough for someone to climb on after swimming without struggling a lot?

So my question is what would be best. What do most people do who have this type of ladder?

In the water you are at chin level and with that first step just one foot below you chin that is a big step.

Mine has the third step just above water level.

The big thing for me is to make some sort of step that is easier on the feet than the tubes are.

Rick

[camaraderie]

SSBN...I would have the "fold" just above the waterline unless you have only very athletic and in-shape people aboard!

[SSBN506]

Thanks for all your advice everyone I will install it so the fold is just above the water line.

[sailingdog]

You definitely want at least two steps below the water's surface. The major danger with using a transom mounted ladder is in any kind of seas, the transom will be moving up and down, and becomes much more dangerous than trying to mount a ladder mounted amidships.