Marquipt boarding ladder installation?

[wndsr]

I have a 4 step ladder to install on our 53' MY. I mounted the brackets just above the air intakes because that was the only area I could through bolt them and gain acess. I am now realizing that the support that is to rest against the hull to keep the steps level falls right at the air intake louvers. I have seen a lot of these stairs used on Hatteras' but never paid attention to the installation. What is the correct installation? Any help or better yet pics would be appreciated. Feel free to email to wndsr366@aol.com.
Thanks
Ben

 

[MikeP]

Obviously, you have to mount the brackets so that the ladder will align with the railing "gate." Therefore, the brackets must lie above the air intakes. The marquipt brackets on our 53 are only an inch or two below the rub rail. With the brackets in that position, the support bracket for the ladder lies against the hull well above the air intake. It sounds as if your brackets are mounted too far down the side of the hull. The closer to the rub rail, the better.

As an aside, we almost never use the Marquipt- it's too much of a pain to bother with. The air intakes provide a natural step so I mounted a white rubber step pad on both. We usually enter the boat that way or via the swim platform/ladder. Of course, the agility and height of the "boarders" must be considered. We have a friend who is around 5'2" - she can't get on via the intake step. And when I had my 88 year old parents on board, I set up the boarding ladder!

 

[JLR]

You do not need to through bolt the mounting plates. Use 5200 and and 4 good screws and it will work fine. That's what I did.

 

[Pascal]

my brackets are right under the rub rail (within an inch) and that places the support right on the edge of the air intakes.

because the finger pier is about a foot too short for the ladder, i board from the stern at my home slip. we dont' have much tides down here so i have the lines set with little slack and the stern very close to the dock. Otherwise, the ladder is a pain to setup and i only use it at other docks when i really have too (guests, etc...)

 

[MikeP]

We have the same problem with the finger at our marina. It's too narrow to actually allow the ladder to be used as a normal method of boarding. The ladder extends beyond the other side of the finger, into the boat next door. It would also block anyone from walking past it on the finger. Even if the finger was wide enough, I wouldn't normally use the ladder because of the effort involved in stowing/unstowing every time we use the boat.

We did use it earlier this year when we stayed several nights at Mystic, CT. The slip was on the end of the dock and had ton's of room for the ladder. I'll admit it felt very civilized!

 

[Pascal]

i wish there was a way to hinge one of the fittings (on the ladder) so that only one could be disconencted and the ladder flipped sideways on the hinge (or maybe a ball joint) and stored along the railing...

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I believe Marquipt does make a "sideways" unit, or maybe it is an adapter of some kind to run it parallel to the length of the boat instead of straight out from the side.

I have used my stairs on the finger dock, but only for my 80+ year old guests. I really have fun with that since I have to tie the boat quite a ways away from the dock to be able to use it.

I have brackets to store it along the rail, but it blocks my galley window, so I just store it behind the sofa in the salon.