Ladder update

I got the ladder fitted to the opening.  Easier than I thought.  The underside of the lip is curved.  I made a template of that curve and fitted it to the ladder.  I cut the tip of the ladder to fit and it went in first time.  I have attachment points on order but the store I order them from is closed for winter break.  Guess that's what you do when you sell boat parts during the winter...

I'm also trying to refinish the cabin sole.  The teak is like iron.  I've gone thru two 60 grit belts on my favorite tool.  The belt sander.  Edges and corners get done with a multi tool.  Works great.  I'll keep hammering at this until I see better results.

Companian way ladder

I got the ladder stripped of all the accumulated gunk on it and it's looking good.  I temporally put it together just to see if just replacing the screws would suffice.  I had thought about using epoxy to glue it all back together but that would make any future refinishing almost impossible so I'm just going to do it like it was and that was screws.  Next step is to fit it in the boat.  I'm going to get some SS square U bolts and hope that will act as the upper pivot.  I'll have to manufacture some face plates to fit on the boat to accept the bolts.  More on that later.

It's later...  I made a test bracket using two small regular ubolts.  I could not find a small enough square bolt.  Smallest one was 2 inches.  I got the ladder rigged so the next step is to get over to the boat.  Weather is not cooperating right now so that may take some time.  The last pix shows the temp bracket.  If that works in the boat I'll make one from teak.

                                                   Ladder in the folded up position.