Northwest Dive Club

Can anyone refer me to a shop or a person who has built them a custom aluminum dive ladder?

Thanks...

Jaksonbrown wrote:Can anyone refer me to a shop or a person who has built them a custom aluminum dive ladder?.

Corey,

I had mine built by Zeigler welding in Olympia (and they build a lot of them now). You should be able to find a bunch of shops in your area that can weld and fabricate aluminum. Just tell them what you want and keep the rung spacing down to something easy to climb in dive gear.

Custom aluminium dive ladders are not cheap from what I understand.

This one was built by Three Rivers Marine in Woodinville. They have done a really nice job of adding custom grab bars and installing this on a fiberglass hull fishing boat and using really big aluminum panels on the inside of the hull to mount it.

super sturdy and very well made.

This is one I built for my boat. The ladder portion is a commercial unit with a bayonet mount. The platform and handrails I did from scratch. Works awesome as long as you remember to stow it before taking off. The boat just won't plane with it down for some reason!

Those are some NICE ladders!... sweet... however I personally am particularly fond of the one on Bandito's boat that has the offset rungs as it allows the easiest step ups with fins on IMHO, without making the spacing to far to step in doubles and stages, making the exit a lot less strenuous.

I would second Scott's recommendation for Zeiglers. They
made the ladders on both of my boats and they work well
with doubles and you get to keep your fins on. Follow Scott's
recommendation and space your steps 10-12 inches. Made my
second ladder 5ft long which works a lot better in rougher water.

dalcodiver wrote: space your steps 10-12 inches.

We space the ladder rungs at 9.5 - 10", which is the spacing that I got from Kal Helyar (Porpoise Bay Charters) after he went through about 8 different ladders in dozens of boats. Much more than 10 inches and it's a BIG step up wearing doubles.

Waynne Fowler wrote: I personally am particularly fond of the one on Bandito's boat that has the offset rungs

Hi Waynne,

The ladder on the Dive Bum originally had offset rungs, and I took it back and had the rungs welded on both sides. We found having them on both sides makes it much easier to stand on the ladder at any level and remove stage bottles, weights and fins. In our boat (and most small boats), we find removing fins in the water works best since there isn't a lot of room in the boat to walk around in a pair of fins.

YMMV,

A plea from small people for limiting the rise on the steps, and for GOOD handholds above the ladder for managing the last couple of steps.

I don't think there's a big reason to have offset steps here in Puget Sound. The days that the water is rough enough that you can't take your fins off in the water are days you wouldn't want to have a small boat out, anyway.

I decided to revive this post since I used it to make my decision with the new ladder install on my boat. I had the old one totally removed, and a custom platform and ladder made by 3riversmarine in Woodinville. It was not cheap for sure, but the craftsmanship is superb, and super sturdy. Didn't budge a bit climbing back in with my 119 doubles!

LCF wrote:A plea from small people for limiting the rise on the steps, and for GOOD handholds above the ladder for managing the last couple of steps.

I don't think there's a big reason to have offset steps here in Puget Sound. The days that the water is rough enough that you can't take your fins off in the water are days you wouldn't want to have a small boat out, anyway.

+1 for a good set of handrails above the platform. When the boats a buckin you'll be very glad they are there!

These are some nice ladders indeed.

I never thought that one day I'd be sitting here in my underwear on the computer getting excited while looking at dive ladder porn. Oh wait, did I just say that out loud?

NICE!!

They do really good work!

The same shop who made mine (See pics earlier on the thread)

I can also highly recommend you stick some of that anti-skid tape on there.

it helps a lot for climbing and having sure-footed-ness

great ladder!

I'm going to get a swim platform and ladder made for our new boat. I wanted to have a way to make sure I got the placement and height the way I wanted it so I put together a prototype with some scraps. We gave it a try last weekend and I think I have everything just right but I'm not sure about the angle of the ladder. I set it up 15 degrees from vertical and it seemed great on calm water. Does anyone have any opinions on angles and have you found any difference as things get a bit rougher?

Here's a pic of the prototype. Of course the construction of the real deal will be vastly different.

Gutholmj, unlike a shore-based ladder, a 15 degree angled dive ladder seems a bit much to me. I personally have trouble climbing up a canted dive ladder. More than once I've had to pause on the climb up (fouled deck, old age, or just looking around) and a closer-to-vertical (2-5 degrees) ladder makes the pause easier for me… and movement due to sea state while initially boarding it seems easier to handle too, IMHO. Keep in mind that this is purely subjective on my part, I am not an engineer, nor have I ever played one on TV. Nice boat, by the way.

with heavy doubles or a breather, you'll appreciate less vertical

Jeff Pack wrote:with heavy doubles or a breather, you'll appreciate less vertical

kagey747 wrote:Gutholmj, unlike a shore-based ladder, a 15 degree angled dive ladder seems a bit much to me....

Thanks for the perspectives. I have a couple of weeks before I take the boat in to have the work done so I'm going to try a couple different angles with wood ladder.

One boat I was on, it was adjustable, as had a foot that went against the boat to adjust the angle.