Greencoachdog

All joking aside Dara, this is not an expensive ladder and I'm not sure how it would stand up to heavy use. Cabelas has a much more durable looking ladder with a greater weight capacity... but it's 3 times what I payed for this one. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...&hasJS=true The amount of freeboard is a good consideration, but I think more important considerations are the age and health of the boat owner and passengers... and the most important consideration being whether the owner fishes alone over cold water and/or cold weather! Given these considerations, you and I and a lot of members on this board should have installed a ladder on our boats a long time ago!!! I've got mine!... and expect you to have yours installed before open water season, and hope other members on this board will do the same. Mine is held in the up position with springs, but I'm sure that with extended use they would probably weaken and need replacing or need the velcro or bungee. The good thing about the springs is that if you forget to put it up before you put the boat under power it will automatically flip up into the stowed position. No one ever plans on having an accident like falling into the water when they're fishing alone... but we should all be prepared wear your PFD) and have a plan in case we do!

Jealousy is such an ugly emotion eh Stinker?

How do you plan to get back into the boat should you accidently go overboard... especially if you're alone and have been weakened by the shock of cold water immersion? Taking for granted that you were wearing your PFD and didn't drown on your initial plunge when you gasped for breath and were under water when it happened because you weren't wearing a PFD. I got to thinking about this the other day, and yes my plan was to enter the boat by standing on the cavitation plate of the motor and using the trim button on the motor to get back into the boat... but I thought "what if I had someone with me that couldn't do that?" or maybe it didn't work like I planned. My boat is a Deep V and the gunwales are a lot higher than a bass boat's off the water... like a lot of Canadians own. So I got to looking around at different boarding ladders and was quite surprised to see how expensive they were, but I found this one at BPS. Folding Ladder - Universal Mount The reviews weren't so good, but after reading them I decided that the writers didn't know diddley squat about installation or the internal structure of a boat... so I bought it. The reviewers stated that it was either hard or impossible to install this ladder correctly on an aluminum boat... I don't agree. I know that almost nearly all aluminum boats have a wooden stiffener in the transom between 1 1/2-2" thick, mine is 2" thick. I used 2 #14x2" stainless steel sheet metal screws with stainless lock washers for each of the 4 brackets. The installation is stout!, grab the side rails and shake and it shakes the whole boat... I could pull a water skier or a tube with no problem with a single side rail. The ladder will break 10 times before the mounting brackets pull off. Here's a couple pics of the installation: Folded in the up postion Unfolded and down. I don't intend to use this ladder except for emergencies (I'm not a swimmer or skier)... but it will always be at the ready if I should ever take a dive!

If you're sweating while out in the cold, stay away from cotton clothing!!! Cotton absorbs moisture! Polypropylene and wool are your best friends when it comes to sweating out in the cold, both "wick away" moisture!

Did y'all ever see the pic of the Catfish Ray Charles caught? .. no? ... neither did he!

You've got to let folks know you're in there by starting a Chat thread on the main board. I like to start my own chat thread or will reply to someone elses so folks know what to expect before they go in there.

I like it because I rarely ever get to do it (only been a half dozen times), but it is really fun when I get to do it!

What the heck is going on??? ... not the first blipping bleep in either one of those vids!... I don't like it!!! except the parts about the fish... and the ice and snow. Great report, vids, and fish as always Simon!!! ... even if they were G rated.

... said the Hoser that can't even drill and 8 inch hole in the ice!... that's actually laughable!!!

You should stop in some time... we'll put something on you that Preparation H won't cure!!! I'm sure you'll love it!

To a civilized human being... yes. To an OFC mod... I wouldn't count on it. They don't have a rubber duckie and a 5 gallon bucket of white lithium grease beside the hot tub just for decoration yanno!

... as I remember the story being told back then, douG claimed he was just getting "sloppy seconds"!

I really don't consider kicking back in the hot tub with a pina colada as "giving it your all"... Month(s) definition: 1. A unit of time corresponding approximately to one cycle of the moon's phases, or about 30 days or 4 weeks. 2. Abbr. mo. One of the 12 divisions of a year as determined by a calendar, especially the Gregorian calendar. Also called calendar month. 3. A period extending from a date in one calendar month to the corresponding date in the following month. 4. A sidereal month. 5. A lunar month. 6. A solar month. Idiom: month of Sundays Informal An indefinitely long period of time: It has taken y'all a month of Sundays to get the "New Board" online!

Now, now.. ... "Careful with that Ax Eugene!"

New bands give me crotch rash! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHDdqubE7zQ

Take a trip and never leave the farm! Tie that sting to your toe Bubba, they're more sensitive yanno! Things got fuzzy and things got blurry... then everything was gone! .. just wandering around behind the little animals!

3/4 ton and 4x4 and ya ain't gotta worry aboot squat eh Paul!

The Dunder Bay boy has been very mean to me! May the noctournal emissions of a thousand Camels fester upon his bed pillow for a fortnight!!! Suck it up Buttercup!!!... take a shot of Screech and 2 shots of Ny-Quil... and don't call me in the morning!!! The more you suffer, the more it shows you really care eh! They won't let us intercourse!... socially, or otherwise!

Ya gotta pay if yer gonna play... too bad you haven't figured that one out yet. If you have enough money to afford a Ranger boat, you have enough money for a full size towing vehicle with a V8 engine. Sure you can get away with towing with a 1/2 vehicle fo a while... but sooner or later it will catch up to you!!! Do you really want to be the "Boat Launch Bozo" that can't pull his expensive boat up the ramp because he scrimped on the tow vehicle???

Just how dang long is this ramp?... seems like I've been hearing aboot the "New Board" for months now! As I understand it, the "New Board" will have lots of new "Bells and Whistles" for us to play with... I haven't seen the first new "Bell" or even a tarnished "Whistle"!!! I say "BRING BACK CHAT"!!!... until the "New Board" is ready to go up!!! Tom has an extremely urgent date with Sarah Palin yanno!

It sounds like Fluffy drinks more than I do!

Cigarette smoking is good for fishing! It calms me down and relaxes me. ... if I run out of cigarettes while fishing, I slit the throat of everything I catch and throw it back in for the Gulls and Turtles... then laugh like a fiend about it! ... as opposed to releasing 95% of my catch when I don't run out of smokes.

That's great Splashy and Botbot!!! If she sticks with the sport until adulthood, I feel sorry for her husband if her marriage goes like this one. A man identified in China's Chongqing Evening News in November as Mr. Zhang, 32, admitted he is competitive with his wife and "never wants to lose an argument," but inevitably his contentiousness leaves him with "bruises and scars all over" because Mrs. Zhang is a kung fu master. After negotiations led by Mrs. Zhang's parents, she agreed by contract to limit any beatings to no more than once a week, with a parent-administered penalty for exceeding that. [Daily Telegraph (London), 12-2-09]

Truth to be known, he's prolly only making 10-$15 an hour on these lures.