One of the winter jobs was fitting a removable step on the bow. Coming ashore is normally OK-but once in a while it's tricky for the crew to come ashore without a great leap of faith.
The IF-båt is not that well suited for a step though - the bow is quite swept under which means that the strut from the step doesn't transfer all that much of the load to the hull... Most of the weight seems to be on the deck fittings. The strut length makes a difference and the strut is adjustable - but not to any degree of finesse. I tried drilling it but cutting a large hole in a curved tube without a pillar drill didn't really work. So as a last resort I've added packing to the end, both to protect the hull and to lengthen it just a little.
Back on the boat it all seems to work in the marina - although the packing tends to move a bit under load so it is only partly doing it's job. We''ll see how it goes when we get out to sea.....
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