Question: My boat is equipped with a nice retractable boarding ladder that is fitted into a cavity in the transom of my boat. The problem is that my grandchildren have trouble pulling the ladder out of its cavity so that they can use it when they are swimming around the boat.

Some boarding ladders can be difficult to deploy from the water, especially for kids.

Some boarding ladders can be difficult to deploy from the water. Put the ladder overboard before the kids start swimming.



Are there any standards that are applied to these devices like there are for other pieces of safety equipment? It seems like they should be able to get the ladder set up from the water when they are swimming.

Answer: Great question! The answer is yes, there are standards that dictate that the swim ladder should be deployable from the water. ABYC Standard H-41 addresses this issue. The problem in my view, though, is that the standard really doesn’t address the issue of what size person should be able to deploy the ladder. The standard reads this way: “Means of unassisted reboarding shall be provided on all boats. The reboarding means shall be accessible to, and deployable by the person in the water.”

A child, or someone who is frail, might not have the strength necessary to actually perform this task, depending upon the design of the ladder arrangement. So, in many cases, and I suspect yours is a good example, the ladder should be deployed before the kids jump overboard.

Incidently, please make sure you aren’t letting anyone jump in the water around your boat while in a slip at a marina or plugged into shore power, especially if your boat is berthed at a freshwater marina. Shore power electrical leakage into the water at and around marinas is all too common and can be the cause of electric-shock drowning.

Written by: Ed Sherman
Ed Sherman is a regular contributor to boats.com, as well as to Professional Boatbuilder and Cruising World, where he previously was electronics editor. He also is the curriculum director for the American Boat and Yacht Council. Previously, Ed was chairman of the Marine Technology Department at the New England Institute of Technology. Ed’s blog posts appear courtesy of his website, EdsBoatTips.