Imagine a warm Saturday evening at your local sailing club. Three boats motor out to the middle of the moonlit lake and raft up. The one in the middle drops its anchor to keep the raft in place. Everyone puts on a swimsuit and jumps over the side. The lake is fed by a river and you can feel the cool stream of water as it moves past your body. Once you are sufficiently cooled off, you swim up to the boat to get back in board and, looking up, see that the top of the transom looks as high as the Eifel Tower.

How in the world are you going to pull yourself out of the water, over the side, and on board? No problem, you say. Well, if you haven't tried it you have no idea just how hard that act can be. This is particularly true for young children, and for older folks. And just to scare you some more, entire crews have succumbed to hypothermia after jumping over the side of a sailboat that drifted in a total calm in the middle of the ocean, just because no-body thought about a  boarding ladder or at least dropping a line over the side.
 
Boarding or swim ladders should be listed as necessities, not just to climb back on board after taking a dip, but also to have as means of getting crew back on board after getting in involuntarily. The issue is a bit less pressing on modern boats with built-in transom steps, but it is still a good idea to have at least a collapsible, removable ladder on board.

Swim ladders come in a wide variety of styles but there are a few designs features to consider for usability and practicality, especially on a trailerable boat.

• Use ladders with hull stand-offs that provide more stability.
• There should be at least a couple of rungs extended down below the water surface, which makes it easier to get a foot on the bottom rung, to push the body weight up, especially for a fully clothed person who fell in the water.
• Many boats have folding boarding ladders attached to the transom. A folding ladder is an excellent solution to both routine and emergency re-boarding.
• Every high-sided boat should have grab rails or steps located at the transom. This will allow a person to hang on while re-boarding.

If you thought this blog post was helpful or informative, stay tuned for more content on everything boat related. If you are looking for supplies for your boat, head over CLR Marine's product page for a list of high-quality boat supplies.