Carver Owners Forum

Hello all, I'm looking for ideas to make it easier for the wife to board our boat (405 aft deck). Currently we are using a step ladder but it is not convenient and somewhat dangerous. Our shared dock is only a couple feet wide so I can't build a platform or stairs on the dock without obstructing our neighbour. I would also like to have a portable solution so I can take the steps / ladder with me. Also, we can only bow in on our dock due to limited depth so we can't use the swim platform.

Any ideas anyone? How is everyone else handling this issue? Any input greatly appreciated.

Thanks, KC

Wow if all that's true sounds like your very limited. Any other slip available? I also share a finger, however a bit wider than yours. Do you have issues on both sides of the slip ? I built a dock step to my 405 to take up 1/2 of the walkway which works fine for us. . A step ladder would be pretty sketchy for sure. Have you spoken to your neighbor to try and work out something,most boaters would understand your issue. Maybe some kind of shorter platform that they could step on and over and then you only need a single step etc you could use when your there. I've never seen any premade apx 1ft wide boarding steps like your looking for. If you find some or equivalent please post up your findings.

Post a pic of what you're dealing with. Are you trying to go up or down to the boat?

In one situation, I built a platform that was a wide as the whole finger dock and about 10" high. It helped both us and our dock neighbors get into our boats in the years the water was higher. I had an additional step on my side of that platform to get to our boat because my deck was higher than my dock neighbors.

Thanks for the thoughts guys, I'm thinking of buying a ready made stainless steel boarding ladder from amazon that hinges to the gunwale & modifying it for what I need. It has fold down standoff's with rubber feet to hold the ladder away from the hull. I will flip it up and fasten to the rail when underway. I'll post pics if it works

Cheers KC

Plastimo fender/ladder

We installed a Marquipt step across https://www.marquipt.com/products/step-across/ to assist boarding our 405. We are on a shared skinny finger pier with tides and the step across has been a game changer! We use steps like this with a handrail https://www.westmarine.com/todd-four-st ... 05063.html
so depending on the tide we slide the steps to use the appropriate step height. The handrail on the mounted step across are a huge help when boarding for insecure folks.