Amarine Made 4 Step Stainless Steel Telescoping Boat Ladder Swim Step

Bought this for my Catalina 22 sailboat transom. Ladder is quite heavy and has a well made appearance. The stainless is bright and shiny giving the appearance of a more expensive ladder. How well the finish will hold up long term remains to be seen. Welds are neat and professional. Steps are covered with a plastic covering that is flat on top and has a modest embedded tread pattern. Easier on your feet than those round rungs. They hurt! The brackets for bolting fast are a solid feeling 1/16" thick stainless. Brackets are really set up for "over the top mounting" in my view. In my case the ladder will hang on the brackets. I did not like the hole positioning for the hanging use. Holes are too close to the bottom of the bracket so I drilled an additional hole higher up and will mount it there. The provided holes don't provide enough support towards the top. No hardware is provided. You must buy your own stainless bolts. Four are required. Brackets are pre-drilled with two holes as 5/16 ths inch. Initially the collapse feature seems a bit sticky. Will salt water make it worse?? Don't know ... Maybe it will loosen up in time. If you are doing a transom mount as I am, the provided brackets provide almost no "toe room" on a near vertical transom. I am installing 3/4" Starboard spacers under my brackets to create just a bit of stand off from the transom. Thicker might be required but 3/4 is what I have on hand. Inch or even inch and a quarter would probably be better. Consider if your transom is vertical, angled in or angled back. In the hanging mode the ladder is free to clunk and swing. Some sort of stop or bumper may have to be made. The brackets could also be squeezed some. If you have a stern rail you could tie it up but it might not be pretty. I'll be making a bumper as necessary. This is a very nice ladder over all from outward appearances. You'll have to make it work for you as I have. UPDATE: After mounting the ladder on my Catalina 22 I have found that the ladder tends to swing in towards the transom with weight on it. This happens with the boat on the trailer. The result is a reduction in "toe room" despite the addition of the 3/4" spacers. Something will need to be added to stop the ladder from swinging in against the transom. How it will act with the boat floating I'm not sure.

Although this doesn't come with bolts and washers (these are cheap anyway and most any hardware store has them), it's very easy to install on a pontoon boat to make it easier and more enjoyable swimming in deep water. It folds all the way up and goes onto the deck platform in a very compact way. I've made light jumps (low power) off of it to quickly immerse myself to adjust to the water temperature and I'm about 170 pounds. It holds very well and is very sturdy. After a while of swimming in water 50 feet deep, it's easy enough to just hold onto the ladder to rest before swimming out again. I love this ladder (and, of course, swimming) and if you love swimming and have a pontoon (or similar) boat, this is perfect! I do, on occasion, step down too far and end up falling, going under, but that's a minor issue, especially if you're a good swimmer. Just be careful and feel downward before making that next step down.

Very sturdy- you might need to go get some hardware (screws, bolts and loctite) but the ladder itself is going to do us wonders

For the aging boaters in the family we needed an easier way to board our ski boat. This seems to fill the bill. Time will tell. The ladder is built well, nice finish but wish it were a little wider. It's difficult to put two feet on one step. The steps are held up with a bungee cord so the ladder is not adjustable. Overall, I believe that this ladder will be a good replacement for the original.

This seems to be made well and a very good value for what It cost. I should get a lot of use out of it.

This is a pretty high quality ladder. Heavy and sturdy and definitely worth the money. Our older boat was missing the swim ladder from the platform and I was unable to find one that matched the existing brackets, so I fabricated some stainless brackets to attach to it and the swim deck. Works perfectly, and having the extra step in the water makes for an easy time getting back on the boat from the deep water we normally boat in. Highly recommend this option, especially if you are looking to replace a missing or broken OEM ladder.

I used this ladder for my truck, because the ones that are made for my truck are alot more expensive, and more bulky. This ladder may be made for a boat, but it works perfectly when mounted to my tailgate. It is very well made, with compact construction, and stainless steel. It telescopes out for use, and in for storage, so it takes up less room when mounted in the stored position on my tailgate, than the ones that are made for trucks. It looks like it will last a long time, I hope it does.

It performs well as stated but giving this product a 3 stars. You have to strong to use this ladder. I may yet return it.... 1) As your weight is put on ladder it will swing away from you. Unless you have something to block that sway, the ladder swings past vertical. That makes the climb out difficult. I am using a pvc pipe under the top mount to limit the sway. 2) Not included are grab bars. Ah but, you have to have something to grab at the top to get onto the deck. My option is to add a stainless steel shower grab bar. That’s $25 or more. 3) Unless your deck mount is less than 16” above the water then half of the 4 steps will be out of the water. Only 2 steps in the water adds to the difficulty. If buying this style then you should consider 5 or 6 steps. 4) I am not a large man (5-9 and 180 lbs) but this ladder is narrow. Hindsight is to buy 16” wide or more. Cheers!