Our 30 year old swim platform had gotten rather worn, so we decided it was time for a new one. We chose PlasTeak (www.plasteak.com) for the new platform. We anticpate the new deck will look new longer, wear better than teak, and was much less expensive. They base the cost on square inches so for me that was about $1,500. Cost estimates for teak ranged from $3,000 to $5,000.
The first step was measuring the existing platform:
It is very critical to accurately measure the curve of the platform as it meets the hull, which they call the "camber", in my case 7.5 inches (highlighted in yellow):
Once the order was placed delivery was in about 3 weeks. I decided to install the platform so I had the shipment going to the marina. My plan was to use the marina's dinghy launch crane to lift and place the new platform on the boat. This approach was reasonable, until I figured out that the trucking company required me to lift the 330 pound crated platform off the flatbed truck! So, plans changed and I picked up the platform at the truck terminal where they loaded it into the bed of a pickup truck for me:
It fit into the truck well, but did hang over about a foot with the lift gate down. I was able to drive the truck up the crane and easily lift it off the truck. The process required us to "med tie" to the crane and adjust the lines to align the center of the transom to the crane.
We were able to lift the platform (weight 170 pounds) onto the stern struts:
The difficult part for me was aligning, drilling and installing the bolts. This took some effort and was greatly improved by the wood drill guides I prepared for each strut prior to lifting the new platform onto the deck.
I elected to use carriage bolts so the top of the bolt is a smooth curved surface:
The main disadvantage I found of these bolts is that the hole must not be too large or the bolt will turn and cannot be tightened.
Another change we made was to replace the standard GB boarding ladder with an under the platform ladder so the deck can be easily accessed from either side without stepping over the ladder:
The ladder we selected was:
Marinebaby 3-Step Ladder Under Platform Slide Mount Boat Boarding Ladder
So, after some difficulty installing the bolts and boarding ladder, our new platform is complete!
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