"Hoges in WA" wrote:

Does anyone have a really truly brilliant system for getting into the water
and out of the water from their boat.

I'm particularly curious about canoe sterns etc but I'm interested in how
anyone manages to exit in particular.

Clip lines? Small davits?

Since we have a swim ladder on the stern and no platform (which even
if we had a platform I really could not manage without steps), we
usually get the dinghy down off the davits. I put my stuff in the
dinghy and then climb the ladder. Then we can pull the dinghy back up
to the davits and get the stuff from inside. If you are not certain
of your ability to pull the dinghy up evenly so things don't spill
out, it would be wise to attach the stuff somehow to the dinghy.

We also have a cloth ladder (made from tapes or straps) which goes
from one side of the dinghy at about the oarlock level across the top
of the tubes (this isn't the portabote), and goes down into the water.
I can put my feet into the rungs (without fins) and hold onto the part
that is over the top of the dinghy. I pull with my arms and push with
my feet and I can get into the dinghy from the water.

I have to have some kind of rung to step on that is in the water.

When I've tried to get into the portabote from the water, I swamp it.
So I'm in it, but it is floating (with me sitting in it) just below
the surface of the water.

Explanation of systems would be most illuminating also ie how do you go
about it - what sequence.

I've just come back from a night dive onto a new-to-the-dive-industry
charter boat which has a platform at the rear but he hasn't put a ladder on.
It was difficult in the dark to take everything off and hand it up then
(with fins still on) make a seal-like burst onto the back. Lucky it was
very calm tonight, with only a little surface chop and no swell.

It got me to thinking a bit about future exits when I get my boat.

For those who are interested, this was where I was tonight:

http://www.scubaonline.com.au/showdivesite.asp?intID=22

thanks

Hoges in WA