Swim ladder solutions & SS welding

[discoverer37]

I am planning the installation of a Capehorn windvane steering system on my C37, and will be broadly following Dave Dias's excellent installation example. However, the wrinkle is that I have a stern mounted swim ladder as shown in the attached photo's.
I definitely have to have a ladder somewhere (ultimatum from the crew), and would really like to use/reuse the existing one if possible as they seem to be very expensive to replace.
So, how does everyone else implement their swim ladders (if you have one), and does anyone have any ideas on how I could proceed?

I have had a few hair brained ideas, but most of them involve modifications to the pulpit. Does anyone have experience with modifying (ie cutting chunks out,welding chunks in, and generally rearranging) the pulpit without removing it from the boat?

Paul
Discoverer PSC37 #135

[jrd22]

Nice ladder, shame to have to move it but if you need a vane it's got to go. As far as welding goes, any good stainless fab shop that does mobile work could redo the railing for you. Re-mounting/locating the ladder might be difficult because you only have the sides of the boat to use unless you could position it near the stern on either side. A good fab shop should be able to help you decide where the most logical location would be. There is an excellent shop near me in Anacortes, if you happen to be around these parts. PM me if you want the name/number.

[DMD]

Paul
There is a PSC 37 with a Cape Horn gear installed listed on Boats.Com that appears to have a similar aft pulpit to yours. From what I can tell in the pictures, they appear to have simply moved the ladder to one side, while retaining the gate in the center. To use the ladder would require stepping around the railing, but maybe its workable? It does appear that the aft pulpit rail was not modified. Worth a peek anyway.

http://www.boats.com/boat-details/Pa...alock/20660391

Dave Dias
Crealock 37 #151
"Eowyn"

[teejayevans]

You can get a swim ladder to hang off the side:
[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/tjevans/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG]
Tom

[SEMIJim]

Abracadabra has a fixed-length swim ladder similar to the OP's, but w/o the nice, wide steps. Very hard on the feet. Plus we don't like the way it looks when it's up. Last summer we bought a little stink-boat and her swim ladder is a telescoping deal, kind of like these that, when it's pivoted-up, slides into rails on each side, into a compact area under the swim platform. I'm going to look into replacing Abracadabra's swim ladder with something like this, if I can find one that mounts on the same centers. (Definitely won't be putting new holes in the transom for this purpose.)

Jim

[discoverer37]

Thanks to everyone for their help.
Dave, I checked out the pointer you gave, and that is the sort of thing I was hoping to make work. The top rail flairs out quite a bit on the aft most point, and it also makes a triangular loop with the raked stanchion, that would intrude on the gate access from the side. Hence my question about bending and welding.
Another wacky idea I had was to move the Cape Horn a few inches off center, and slide the ladder a little in the other direction, maybe even narrow the ladder down a bit. If I did this I would restrict swinging the steering gear oar up on one side only, but I don't see why that would be an issue.
Pointers to any other pictures would be most welcome.

Paul
Discoverer PSC37 #135

[JohnRPollard]

Paul,

It sounds like you really want to re-use your current ladder. But if your thinking evolves on that, you might consider something like Mystic Marine's Foldaway, which would work especially well on our boats given the port and starboard boarding gates that we have.

[discoverer37]

John,
I did look at these and I think they are a great idea. Having the ladder at the gate seems like a good solution. There are a couple of issues on my boat however.
One is cost, but if I start having custom work done on the rail, that could quickly become a wash.
Next, I don't have the cap rail mounted track, but it looks like they have a cap rail mount available.
Most difficult is that my jib sheets lead to the cars on the deck mounted track through the middle of the gate on both sides, which would mean they would now have to go through the ladder, and they already rub on the life lines so I'm not sure how that would work out.

Thanks for the ideas

Paul
Discoverer PSC37 #135

[JohnRPollard]

Okay Paul, I wasn't aware of those complications with the jib sheet -- good to know.

Say, did Doug from Kindred Spirit (PSC 37) ever post photos of his off-set Sail-o-mat installation? He kept his swim ladder, but may have moved it over somewhat, along the lines of what you're talking about.

[discoverer37]

I have not seen any pictures of Kindred Spirit's set up, but would be very interested.

Paul
Discoverer PSC37 #135