"WaIIy" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 02 Nov 2004 01:28:44 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

The same summer, I bought this stupid f**king rope ladder for my 14'
aluminum yacht, intended to help swimmers out of the water. Dumb ladder.
It
took two people *in* the boat to pull a swimmer out of the water. The
yacht
listed, the gunwale came within inches of the water, but the boat refused
to
go any further (not that we wanted it to). This was with me stepping on
the
stupid f**king rope ladder, and the other two right at the gunwale
offering
assistance.

I'm glad to see you could finally vent about that rope ladder.

I am thinking about getting a rope ladder for my boat.

What do you think?

The kind I bought has hard plastic steps, with ropes running vertically
through holes in the steps. The main problem is that when you try to climb,
the ladder (which isn't rigid, obviously) wants to go under the boat, which
leaves you leaning backwards. Pretty comical, actually, except that when
you're on just the right step to try and haul your leg over the gunwale, the
other kneecap's located exactly at the gunwale, threatening to get smacked
as you flop away from and back toward the boat.

I bought it for two reasons. First, my boat's too small for a rigid ladder,
and this rope thing collapses into a package the size of maybe a loaf of
Wonder bread. And, I don't have enough flat, vertical area beneath the
gunwales to be able to use the rigid ladders with those little feet that
fold out and brace against the side. If YOUR boat will work with a rigid
ladder, forget the rope version, unless you just want to have it stashed
someplace for emergencies.

To its credit, though, the rope ladder has some potential in terms of
dealing with an unruly guest who needs a tuneup and a lesson in humility.