Mounting ladder to transom

[Ned Ludd]

Has anyone come up with a magical way of installing backing plates and nuts on the transom where the space between the hull and liner is only 3/4"-1"? There is no way anything but a trained ferret could get in there.
I am mounting a ladder and do not want to bolt through the inner and outer shells because I think one side of the transom or the other will crush. I have considered drilling holes large enough to insert 1/2" pvc conduit into then filling that with epoxy and drilling a second time. Mounting it off center is not an option since the ladder will drag in the water while heeled.

 

[BudGates]

One option is to add an access hatch on either the interior or exterior wall big enough to install backing plate then cover the hole with an access plate. Ideally you'd want the access hole where it will be useful for other projects as well.

 

[capta]

You might want to just cut away whatever is necessary of the liner to do a good job securing the ladder. I'm sure you realize the stress on these bolts and the need for good backing plates to distribute the load. You could then re-afix the liner in a non-permanent way so you can check these bolts and backing plates from time to time.

 

[SailormanDan]

One option is to add an access hatch on either the interior or exterior wall big enough to install backing plate then cover the hole with an access plate. Ideally you'd want the access hole where it will be useful for other projects as well.

This sounds like the cleanest option, there are rectangular ones that might be big enough, or possibly two round ones for each plate. (Now that you've mentioned it, I'll to go look and see how mine were done. They are also back under something somewhere at the aft end of things)

 

[rgranger]

I've used these on several of my boats....

You can buy them right here....


http://shop.sailboatowners.com/prod.php?6123

Edit: For if you choose to cut a hole in your liner to get to the transom