Boarding a RIB from the water

[Pete7]

Turn the engine off and stand on the anti ventilation plate which sticks out the back.

[Alec H]

a worthwhile feature of the ladders made for this purpose is the fact that they attach to a lift ring rather than a strap. The straps are fine for hanging on for a rest while swimming, or boarding in a pinch, but eventually, they will start to separate from the tube. A lift ring will never have this problem. You should also avoid pulling on the front strap to beach the dinghy; use the tow rope (painter) only.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by SteveSadler

Many tenders have a foil on the outboard. Not only does it provide an easy step to board, but it helps the tender get on a plane with more weight, and stay on a plane at slower speeds. This important in rough conditions to reduce pounding and staying drier.

Careful with that... small engine cavitation plates are relatively thin cast aluminum...Ive seen then snapped off that way...esp if they have planing fins added.

Less likely an issue on bigger engines (way bigger than on dinks).

[Bertiesp]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Turn the engine off and stand on the anti ventilation plate which sticks out the back.

I agree with this, or if this is only an issue when one is injured, deflate one of the sponsons if you can reach one of the valves.

[Kenomac]

The St Croix RIB stainless boarding ladder seems like the best, safest option to me. The other ladders just look like something that'll eventually be forgotten and end up tangled in the outboard motor.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Turn the engine off and stand on the anti ventilation plate which sticks out the back.

Carefully! With a small RIB this much weight so far back could be enough to capsize it.

[Lionelsole]

Thanks for all the responses. I have some webbing on board so will get my handy stitcher out for a first attempt, though it won't be as fancy as the one GordMay pictures (is that commercially available?)
I think I'm a bit long in the tooth (and rotund in the middle) to manage the back roll in.
The S/S ladder looks like the best option in the long run but I will have to track one down.
Lionelo

[Don C L]

I haven't seen one of these (the way I imagine it) but if I had a RIB I'd like to have one like this that hangs over the tube but anchors to the tube or floor. For diving this kind of ladder makes life easier. You can climb while wearing fins and doff them as you are standing or pivot and sit on the tube to remove gear. In my own case now I just take off gear and throw it in the dinghy and then hoist myself over the side.

[scending]

Buy ~12 ft 2" webbing. It should cost you about $12.

Double it over and about 1 ft from the fold, loop it to tie a simple knot. This is your step.

Tie the bitter ends to the padeye in the floor of the RIB. The length can be adjusted for people of different heights.

To board, as you hold onto the RIB handles, with your foot in the bottom of the strap in the water, in one motion, STEP on the bottom of the strap and push your leg outboard.

The effect is to automatically launch your chest onto the top of the pontoon and allow you to swing your other leg over.

This solution is inexpensive, weighs little, is easy to carry in your duffle, and is adjustable for different sizes of people/RIBs. You may want to buy >12 ft
webbing depending on the size of your RIB.

I recently bought a 25 ft 2" yellow towing strap from Home Depot for under $9, but I have not tried this material as a boarding strap. The material is a little heavier than the webbing I used for the boarding strap in this video.

[SV Sailfish]

Originally Posted by SteveSadler

Many tenders have a foil on the outboard. Not only does it provide an easy step to board, but it helps the tender get on a plane with more weight, and stay on a plane at slower speeds. This important in rough conditions to reduce pounding and staying drier.

+1

Easy, peasy!

[scending]

I attached a video of how to use the boarding strap, but not sure how attaching a video works (or doesn't work).



Here is a link to an online video:



https://eur02.safelinks.protection.o...%3D&reserved=0

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, scending.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Lionelsole

... so will get my handy stitcher out for a first attempt....

Seriously, a sailmaker's palm is 3 times as fast. The only think I might use the speedy stiticher for is something like leather that is really hard to puncture, though and needle and awl is faster. Webbing is easy to push a needle through.

[Fearless Friend]

Every outboard has a ready made step in the form of the cavitation plate on the engine leg.


Stand on the cavitation plate and pull yourself up using the transom/engine/sponson as a hand grip. It's even easier if there's someone on the rib/tender to give a helping hand.

[bobnlesley]

Originally Posted by Dennis.G

...Would keep a web strap over the side to use as a kind of stirrup to boost up over the side. Works well.

We have a small Walker Bay rib and found the same problem, the cure:
An 10' ish length of rope, one end through the bow lifting eye secured with a stopper knot, the other end through the starboard stern lifting eye, with the bight draped over the port side. One foot into the step created by the rope's bight hands on either side and step/pull yourself up and in.

Be very careful of the 'step on the cavitation plate' idea, particularly if the prop's steel; I've now seen three who 'slipped', one of which I took ashore to the ambulance; he left a lot of blood behind in my dink.