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Front boarding ladder for triple pontoon ?

Radioactive

Radioactive

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We have a 2006 Bennington triple pontoon boat on a large lake. This model has a front center gate in addition to the port and stern gates. I think the model number is 2075GSi, but that is from memory.

It would be very useful to us to be able to use the front center gate when beaching the front of the boat on the small islands in the lake. However, at that point, the foreward deck is a considerable distance above the beach. This makes an exit ungainly, and reboarding very difficult. We've suffered some scratches and bruises when doing this.

Is there a Bennington or third-party product that can provide a simple boarding ladder that can be permanently affixed to the front of the boat? (There is a substantial lug unused on the center pontoon that could be a good anchor point for a ladder).

I have seen 'fold under' ladders, but those are only useful on dual pontoon boats. The central pontoon on our craft blocks use of those.

Thanks!
 
This one fits ...... http://www.savvyboater.com/jif-under-deck-pontoon-ladder.aspx

crone-pontoon-ladder.jpg
 
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The slide in ladders are made by Crone Manufacturing in Heber Springs, AR. You can buy them from several different on-line dealers. I have paid as little as $150. Crone would not sell me one that cheap even if I picked it up locally. You could add a solid ramp over the ladder rungs to use in your application and it will fit a tri-toon with 25" tubes. Steve
 
I forgot to stow the stern ladder a couple times before I figured out not to forget about it. Surprised the water didn't pull it off the boat.

I don't think you'd want to forget to stow this bow ladder even once though. Good news is if it broke off, your prop would probably catch it.
 
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Thanks for the responses. However, the problem that I see from these for the triple pontoon is that you have to have some deck space forward of the safety rail to stand since these ladders are mounted off-center. My model Bennington vessel has absolutely no deck forward of the safety rail to stand to get to the ladder. The safety rail base is even with the edge of the deck. The safety rail goes all the way to the sides, too, so no step room their, either.

The only accessible area is where the front gate opens (inward), which is dead center atop the center pontoon. The ladder must be mounted directly in front of the gate to make it usable. I'm thinking at this time that there is no solution other than to bolt a short custom fabricated ladder / steps to the front of the boat / middle pontoon. I've not seen any other solutions that are workable (so far).

So, I'm still searching.
 
nv48024_2_400.jpg


Just for reference, my Bennington looks sort of like this, but has a third pontoon in the middle. So, no deck to stand on to get to the ladder unless the ladder is right in front of the front gate.

RadioActive
 
Does the middle toon stick out beyond the deck? They do make a swing away that might work. When you flip it up, you, then swing it to the side. It might work if your tube does not stick out, but the tip may still "stick out" through the ladder ?

http://www.garelick.com/Swinger-Pontoon-Boarding-Ladder
 
Hate to get all retro, but how about stowing a plank aboard? :ph34r: (Closest I could find to a Pirate smiley)
 
That emotion gave me another idea. If you are a ninja and practice parkour you should be able to flip onto the boat, no ladder needed.
 
Ok, just remembered the side gate ladder on my old Ercoa pontoon. It had a long tube mounted to the to the outside of the toon at deck level. This tube had a slit at the top, with appropriate cutouts. The ladder attached with bolts to 'plugs' that ran inside the tube. The way it worked was when stowed it would be off to the side raised vertically, and snapped into holders. One would pull it out of the holders, slide it in front of the gate, then swing it down. Worked very well, but not certain how it would look on the front of a pontoon.
 
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How about a milk crate and a rope??? At least until you find something better?
 
The flush front does make it more difficult. What about the front slide in ladder,made where it will come out completely but with a secure way to stow it when not in use, and a bracket system to attach it to the front deck. If this is a direction you want to try, everyone can submit bracket designs. Steve
 
My dock ladder has 'J' brackets on the ladder, and standoffs mounted to the dock that the J brackets hook into. The ladder is held horizontally to allow the J brackets to get under the standoffs, then the ladder is swung down. It is very secure, and neither the J Brackets or standoffs protrude much. If a removable ladder arrangement is desired, this type of configuration would work well.
 
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I was thumbing through the new Overton's catalogue yesterday and saw a pic of the arrangement I described above. I'm thinking that this could be adapted to a straight ladder for use in your front gate area.

2013-04-23_12-07-11_403_zpsed9bee30.jpg


The footman loops would be mounted as close to the edge of the deck as possible. Again, a straight ladder should work opposed to one with the rails as pictured. Maybe even fabricate a ladder out of wood with wider angled steps appropriate to 'beached' height.
 
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I have recently purchased a 2013 GCW (after having a 24' bow rider) here on Siesta Key, Florida. On two pontoons I had before in Ohio and in Michigan, I had an 'under deck ladder' installed. They are terrific for boarding on/off. The ladder is mounted/stored under the deck and then pulls out when you need it so it is out of sight/out of the way when you don't. What is also great it can be on an angle from the deck when you want it to be so you don't even have to get your feet wet when you pull into a beach. I found and ordered this from Overton's part # 39289 $249.00. My local Bennington dealer never heard of this and said they would consider using it as a standard front ladder. I do not have triple 'toons' so I would suggest measuring the distance between, but I would be surprised if it doesn't fit. Hope this helps.
 
This might be a dumb question, but what do you grab onto to pull yourself up?
 
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