"Hoges in WA" wrote in news:gIPEj.1102$n8.468
@news-server.bigpond.net.au:

Hoges in WA



Buy a European boat made to board from being backed up to a quay.

The Amel, for instance, has a nicely engineerred ladder that becomes a
boarding ramp if laid out horizontally, but becomes a step ladder if set
down vertically. It has mahogany (of course) panels that fit in it.

It stores along the rail at sea, starboard side aft. A pin acts as a pivot
and you just pivot it over the stern for stern-to docking or you can drop
it over the stern and the bottom two steps go into the water for swim
boarding or diving.

The really funny one was a friend's Hatteras 56 FBMY. It had a boarding
platform, but that was 30' below the stern of the outdoor aft salon deck
and there was no way to get down to it unless you could step onto it off a
dock alongside. I never found any kind of ladder it may have originally
come with..... It was a great diving platform, though, off the beach. He
had a rope ladder to reboard from in the water over the side like a
ship....

He nearly had a heart attack when I filled the tanks at $1.10/gallon way
back then. He'd be dead if I filled it on his credit card, now!....(c;
As soon as I got all its systems up and running, spending weekends in its
bilge with 32VDC power, engines, 2 gensets, 5 Air conditioners, various
water pumps (2), air compressors (1), hydraulic stabilizers, etc......HE
SOLD IT for $592K...........dammit. I just got where I could take a break
and lay back to enjoy it! They were way tired of hauling everything down
the dock trying to liveaboard it. I would be, too.