Bow Ladder for Revenge

A conversation among Whalers
floater
Posts: 172
Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2015 3:55 pm

Bow Ladder for Revenge

Postby floater » Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:26 pm

I will be using my 1998 Revenge 20 W-T for some cruising this coming summer. I plan on anchoring in remote bays up in the Georgian Bay area. My concerns are beaching the boat and being able to get off the front onto the beach.

Has anyone installed a Bow Ladder on a REVENGE?

Has anyone overcome this problem with another approach?

I prefer not to go in stern first as I don't want to damage the propeller.

I will be installing a Keel Guard as well.

[Moved to THE GAM for discussion of methods of getting ashore and for survey question to REVENGE owners--Moderator]

jimh
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Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
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Re: Bow Ladder for Revenge

Postby jimh » Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:57 pm

Having spent many summers cruising in Georgian Bay, I can tell you there are not many sandy beaches up there. I have literally never beached my Boston Whaler on a beach up there. Unless you have a special spot in mind that you have scouted out, do not expect to find a lot a sandy shoreline.

floater wrote:Has anyone installed a Bow Ladder on a REVENGE?

To participate in your survey of REVENGE owners, I can tell you, No, I have not installed a bow ladder

floater wrote:Has anyone overcome this problem with another approach?


Yes. On the REVENGE 22 W-T WD we have a nice five-rung boarding ladder that installs on the starboard gunwale in mid-cockpit. That's how we get back aboard. We always anchor out, sometimes taking a line to shore to tie to a tree. Then we dinghy to shore or swim to shore or just wade into shore if shallow enough. But we are usually in the extreme northern end of the Georgian Bay. At the extreme southern end, there is more civilization and maybe more sandy beaches.

floater wrote:I prefer not to go in stern first as I don't want to damage the propeller.

We have anchored stern-to-shore in shallow water. We tilt up the engine and then haul the stern around to the shore with a long line from shore.

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Don McIntyre - MI
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Re: Bow Ladder for Revenge

Postby Don McIntyre - MI » Wed Jan 13, 2021 6:08 pm

In the North Channel area there are three easily accessible beaches:
  • On the south side of South Benjamin Island at the end of the large cove,
  • by the Clara & Turnbull Island group, and
  • at the extreme east end of Bayfield Sound, at the south end of Campbell Bay is probably the largest and longest sand beach.

For five decades of cruising in that area, I have been using a dozen nuts and carabiners of various sizes, that are normally the must-have for rock climbing.

Many first-timers up there will drop someone off the bow with an anchor and a bunch of line. The smart ones will attach the line to the boat first.

The crew ashore with an anchor will spend a bunch of time attempting to wedge the anchor into pile of rocks or locating a tree, shrub, large pile of rocks or just one boulder to wrap the line and anchor around ii--about a dozen times. "That ought to hold" --until it doesn't. And find out that they need three extra feet of line.

Instead, attach a nut or a climbing nut or a odd shaped of very soft metal with a braided metal line, looped through it. In the early climbing days, the device was actually made with various sized metal nuts, probably scrounged from car junk yards.

The carabiner is used to attach the nut wire to a looped end of your line, instead of attaching the looped end to a cleat. If we're in certain anchorages, we use one off the bow, and two anchors off the stern at about a 45 degree angle.

You will want both Danforth and plow-type anchors. Much of the North Channel small anchorages are muddy. I have done little traveling in Georgian Bay.

floater
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Re: Bow Ladder for Revenge

Postby floater » Thu Jan 14, 2021 7:42 am

I will be in the southeastern part of Georgian Bay south of Parry Sound. I have fished that area for over ten years and have found many sandy beaches to bump into. My primary concern is getting off the front of the boat.

jimh
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Re: Bow Ladder for Revenge

Postby jimh » Thu Jan 14, 2021 10:22 am

How about a step ladder? I am not kidding. I use a step ladder to get onto the bow of my Revenge all the time when the boat is on the trailer. If you are agile, the step ladder can be a rather short one. I am not very agile these days, so I use a five-foot ladder.

I infer you don’t want to wade ashore from the cockpit. Any shoreline with a sandy beach is inherently a shallow slope, and from cockpit to shore I would not expect the water to be very deep. At the time of year we are up there, the water temperature in shallow shoreline areas is not too cold, and we would just wade into shore if we had run the bow aground on the shoreline.