Build a Swim Ladder    

By Wayne Lennox

Let’s face it: If you have a dock or a swim raft at your cottage, it’s pretty much a given that you need a ladder. I know your daughter’s skinny 18-year-old boyfriend can exit the water gracefully unaided, but those of us who can barely remember being 18 need a little more help. You can, of course, purchase perfectly good metal and plastic swim ladders at any hardware/building store in cottage country, but if you’ve invested in a good dock or swim raft – or you just like having fun with cottage projects – then you may want to consider a sturdier and more attractive alternative.

Designing a top-notch swim ladder can be a tricky business, but there is one thing to be thankful for: Unlike your dock and swim raft, this project requires no permits.

Project Tool Box
  • tape measure
  • framing square
  • stair gauge clamps (optional)
  • hammer
  • chisel
  • good quality jig saw (capable of cutting 1 1/2" material)
  • drill, drivers, and drill bits
  • circular saw
  • hand saw
  • router (with a round-over bit and a straight bit)
  • compass
  • waterproof glue
Materials

I recommend clear cedar lumber for the project. It’s beautiful and naturally rot-resistant. Even though clear cedar is the equivalent of gold in the lumber industry, you don’t need much; the materials cost for this ladder is only about $65, while a five-rung, plastic-and-metal model will set you back about $165. (This is a cottage project, so your labour costs don’t count!)

Use deck screws or stainless-steel screws and outdoor glue for assembly. Outdoor glue makes for a stronger project but typically it must set for several days before you can expose it to water.

Design

Most ladders require the swimmer/skier/boarder to exit vertically from the water, which can be difficult for older cottagers who may not be able to overcome gravity as easily as they once did. So, the first design consideration is to give the ladder a slight incline (more like a set of stairs than a straight ladder). And because some of us may have become a tad broader over the years, it’s a good idea to make the rungs a little wider, too.

The legs on the ladder we wrote about in the July/August 1998 issue of Cottage Life magazine have a 3/12 pitch: For each vertical foot, the ladder is tilted 3" horizontally. Since the overall length of the ladder is about 6', the total tilt is about 18". In addition, the rungs are dadoed into the legs for strength, so you when you lay out the cuts, remember that the dado joints are opposed like mirror images. To mark the angled dadoes accurately, stair gauge clamps – adjustable guides that attach to a standard framing square – are incredibly handy. Set your framing square for the first cut and secure the stair gauge clamps to the square and subsequent lines will all have the same pitch.

Slots in the handrails will give swimmers a fingerhold. When you lay out the handrails, try to avoid larger knots at the top and bottom outside terminus of each slot. The knots may weaken the handrails making them more susceptible to splitting away from the leg frame.

Finally, to cut the rounded ends of the legs I used a router and a shop-made jig. This method is trickier and takes longer to perform, but I still maintain that it results in a better finish. If you don’t have a router and the correct bit, my advice is to invest in (or rent) a quality jig saw, one capable of cutting through 1 1/2" material. This makes cutting the curves very straightforward and fast, even though it will require more sanding than the perfect cut you get from a router.

Finish

I generally avoid finishes on outdoor projects; wood such as cedar and pressure-treated lumber will generally take care of itself. However, if you have already applied a stain or preservative to the dock or swim raft, finish your ladder the same way to match. We applied three coats of marine-grade varnish to our ladder. Keep in mind that any wood, no matter how it has been finished, tends to get slippery underwater. For this reason, try adding some strips of adhesive-backed non-slip material to each rung before you christen your ladder or add some sand to the finish coats on the rungs.

Complete plans and instructions for building the Cottage Life swim ladder are available in the July/August 1998 issue of Cottage Life magazine. Or click here to buy the plans from our website.