August 16, 2005
 
Back in April or May you asked me to to take some pictures of my boarding ladder for 
posting on the FTP Web Site.
 
To the best of my knowledge this ladder was original factory equipment on our 1990 
Vancouver 42 PH Cutter, however a good stainless shop should be able to fabricate a 
similar ladder fairly easily.
 
We love the ladder as it's always ready to deploy, is extremely simple to deploy and 
store, is rock solid, and has three stable underwater rungs for easy boarding from the 
water.
 
Following are some descriptive captions to accompany the photos.
 
Thanks in advance for your assistance in posting.
 
Bill
 
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Ladder Parked:  Shows how the ladder stores horizontally on the stanchions.  Note how it 
swings from the plate welded into the stanchion and brace at the boarding gate, and how 
it parks on a simple hook welded into the next stanchion forward.
 
Ladder Deploy:  To deploy we simply remove a safety shock chord (for offshore 
passages a more substantial lashing would be appropriate), pulling the ladder out of the 
forward hook, swinging it out a bit, and dropping.  Storing is equally simple.
 
Ladder Lock:  To lock in place for use, simply insert a fast pin as shown.
 
Ladder Ready:  The only slight negative is that the rungs are not centered on the gate 
opening.  That said, they are centered on the forward gate stanchion and brace, providing 
a solid brace as a hand hold while on the upper rungs.  Note, also how the lower rungs are 
deep enough below the surface for easy boarding from a swim.  Plus they're stable (no 
hinged sections that want to fold under the boat).
 
Ladder Perspective:  Picture of ladder in perspective relative to the overall boat.  Note the 
PH ... Jubilee is the only Van 42 PH in the world, a custom original factory 
construction modification to the standard aft cockpit Van 42 deck mold.  Ta 
Yang retained the PH mold, and we went as far as receiving a quote for having 
them building a new one in 1999 when we located the original on the used market. 

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2013 Update: 
 
I hope the attached more detailed shots are helpful.
 
The one design thing I’d change would be to turn the welded-on flat steps inward rather than outward. They would still provide identical traction and comfort that way, but the outside of the ladder (e.g. facing docks) would be smooth instead of having protrusions (the flat steps) to potentially catch on pilings.  This has been a very minor, almost nonexistent, issue, but one that could be easily eliminated by turning those welded-on flat steps around.
 
The other thing I might mention is that some folks who aren’t very agile or who are a little tentative around the boat and water can find the ladder being offset from the gate opening (off to the side of the the opening on the forward gate stanchion) a little hard to get used to.