Swim Platform with folding ladder

Even if your are a fresh water only boater, I would stick to at least the SS (Stainless Steel). Here is an example of what could happen. The donor boat I bought had a really great swim platform ladder on the back of it. I think it came pretty standard on all the Somerset boats as I have seen quite a few for sale and all seem to have this great feature.

 

 

 

I liked it so much I want to reapply it to my build boat. New models of this same ladder run about $150. All the hardware is in pretty good shape and very sturdy despite having the steps dry rot.
In doing the tear down I noticed the manufacturer stainless screws come right out and look almost like new; not bad considering the boat is a 1982 model.
However, the nuts and bolts anchoring it to the boat are not stainless. May have been galvanized of some sort but are completely rusted out. Easy enough to remove as when you go to remove the nut, if you jerk it hard enough quickly the bolt will shear off. I think I will invest in some better fasteners since this part of the boat will always be in or nearest the water.

 

The plan is to replace all the wood. I will use the current wood for templates and cut each new piece, fair the edges like the current one, and reassemble with a better set of fasteners. All the aluminum will get polished and a good buffing.
I am not real sure what type of wood is the original, but I think for the time being I plan on making it out of white oak for now. If that means redoing it again down the road I will try something else next time. For now though, I think the oak will work.

 

 Here it is disassembled. I will number each piece accordingly. The entire step tapers; wider at the stern and narrower as it gets to the ladder. As each piece is cut it will be numbered to make for easier assembly.

 

All the slats and spacers cut from White Oak. Not sure how that will hold up over the long haul but if I get a few years out of it before replacing the wood with something else, it will have been worth it.

Still have some fine sanding to do around the edges and will round over all the edges. Then I plan on coating it down with a good sealer after staining it to match the deck of the boat. Pretty sweet extra that came on the donor parts boat. Savings:... around $140 bucks online.

 

Temp mounting of the ladder. Will need to pick up about 10 more stainless steel bolts, nuts, washers to properly mount the ladder and the whole assembly to the new boat. I may find that hardware on the donor as well; it seems everything from the factory was mounted with SS, so I've been plucking as many fasteners as I can from it.



 

 

Bottom Rung step with original stabilizing rod. Still needs a good sanding but for now will do.

 

 

 

One Good Looking Swim Platform Ladder!

Steering Mechanicals

Donor boat yields another part!

 

I had hoped that the entire Steering system would be reusable on this boat. However, I found that the steering cable was completely locked up. I researched the interwebs and found that it was just plain easier to replace the cable system, as they do tend to go out eventually.

 

Replacing the cable is find but how about the other parts? I opted to remove the under dash portion when I was removing the gauges anyway. I was only a matter of removing the two bolts at the bottom of this picture that release the cable stay barrel, and then four bolts that retain the steering gear housing. That released the internal box gear set and the steering cable came right out. Not sure if I will reuse the plastic housing that runs through the dash to the steering wheel but I will keep it just in case I cannot fabricate anything to serve the purpose.

 

I plan on building wheel versus reusing that plastic wheel that came on this boat. That thing was hideous! Looking more into doing a wooden three spoke wheel.

 

Frame #4

About 80% done on Frame #4. I still need to attach the Deck Timber to the lower portion of the Frame. This is done with bolts. Notice my mistake? I didn't cut the floor timbers 100% correctly. This frame actually butts up to the breast hook. So one floor timber should have a cut through the center to receive that member. I plan on running the circular saw up through the timber to get a nice tight fit on both side of the breast hook. This wasn't intentional but I think it may help keep it tight. Of course it may deviate from the plans a little... but I don't think it will sink the boat.

Looking at it today the epoxy has set up great! I couldn't be happier. I think I nailed the mix on Filler to epoxy this time just right. I think the tendency will be to put too little filler to epoxy ratio.

I've watched a few videos on this thus far and the most common quote before doing this is, "ok now the messy part," I kid you not! Get yourself plenty of wax paper anytime you are doing epoxy. I have found that wax paper will protect your projects better than anything. Don't settle for that baking paper... if it doesn't say waxed, don't buy it! My only source for waxed paper was paper that was only about 14 inches wide, but if I need wider I can tape it together. I presume nothing could be worse than building a frame only to have it permanently affixed to a table.

Frame #2 and part of breasthook

Today I wanted to finish up on Frame #2 and start putting the breast hook assemble together. I had a slight incident though. I wet out both surfaces with the epoxy before adding my filler to the mix for final gluing. However when I separated the breast hook frames I forgot to flip the opposing side. Thus I wet out the outer side! Ah if it could… it would.

Anyway I made another small batch of the epoxy and wet out the correct side. Not an easy feat considering I was already sticky wet on the outer side. Just proves the fact that preparation is key. I need to take more precautions in the future to make sure everything is set up and maybe do a dry run before I even mix the epoxy.

I have a few other tidbits to accomplish today on the build. After running a few errands today I will come back and finish cutting wood for a couple more frames hopefully. By then these should at least be in the gel state. I don't think we'll rush into getting any more frames in epoxy tonight (give me a break it's superbowl sunday!).

I may pull the ladder off the donor boat today and start cutting the wood to replace on it. I like the looks of it and think it will be a great addition to the Mimi. Still waiting on the tool to come so I can take the Gimble and housing off the donor.

I feel like I have wasted a lot of time going over the donor boat (last weekend pickup and minor work to prepare for this weekend tear out). It has some good parts on it that will save me some money in the long run but I don’t want to get too caught up in it. Also it takes a bit to warm up the garage for epoxy. This morning it was 50 degrees in the garage and I try to wait till I can get it to at least 60 to 65 before any epoxy can start, and even then ideal temps are supposed to be in the 70’s. I probably should invest in a better heater I suppose.