Make a boat step from salvaged wood and ropes

Mark Prior

Mark Prior makes a step using £10-worth of material (which could be salvaged free)

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Even the leggiest of us can struggle getting on deck from a low pontoon or a dinghy when at anchor. The solution is often an expensive, commercially-made boat step or steps, which can break after very little use, exposure to sun and exposure to people living with largeness.

Here is a one-step DIY method that costs anything from:

  • Nothing, if you are a marina bin surfer.
  • Around £10 to buy new wood and rope. It should not take more than a morning to make, or all day if your splicing skills are as dodgy as mine.

Extensive and detailed research was carried out to ensure suitable thicknesses of wood and rope, which involved checking that the step didn’t flex much when I stood on it.

You may need to adjust the size of wood and rope depending on the weight of you and crew, and must ensure it is well maintained to prevent accidental breakages.

There was a spare piece of 17mm ply in the cockpit locker, so that was the step. Rather than estimate the step size, I stood on the ply with both feet well planted and drew around them, then allowed space for rope holes.

The result was more platform than step at 31cm x 20cm.

A woman stepping onto a yacht from a pontoon using a boat step

Crew Louise Taylor tests the finished DIY boat step. Credit: Mark Prior

The spare rope hanging around the boat was 12mm. Holes 15mm wide are drilled on the four corners, allowing about 15mm clearance from the edges.

You need two pieces of rope. Mine are each 2m in length to allow plenty of spare for tying on to the boat. Important to note is that you should thread the two lengths diagonally across the bottom of the step and back up through the opposite hole. This distributes weight more evenly and if the wood should break, there is still support.

I carefully measured and marked the lengths between the step hole and the point where the splice will start. Both should be the same length. Then I spliced the ends, with five tucks.

After this, I seized the rope ends and, after sanding the ply, I coated it with floor varnish.

One refinement I made was to screw two plastic chair feet to one side as spacers to prevent damage to the hull. I’m delighted with the finished piece.

This step may be more of a platform, but it’s firm and comfortable and makes life easier, as well as making getting aboard a little more graceful.

How to make a DIY platform-style boat step

A piece of wood being used to make a boat step

Credit: Mark Prior

1. To get the ideal size for his step, Mark found a piece of 17mm plywood, drew around his feet, and allowed a little extra space for holes to attach rope.

A hole in a piece of wood

Credit: Mark Prior

2. Holes of 15mm wide are drilled on the four corners, allowing about 15mm clearance from the edges.

Rope being used to make a boat step

Credit: Mark Prior

3. When rigging the step, run the ropes underneath diagonally across each other for safety and stability.

Spliced rope being threaded through a hole in a piece of wood

Credit: Mark Prior

4. Measure the rope ends carefully so both sides are the same, and make the strands long enough for five tucks when splicing.

spliced rope on a boat step

Credit: Mark Prior

5. Splicing completed on one side of the step.

Plastic chair feet being used to provided cushioning for a boat step on a yacht

Credit: Mark Prior

6. Plastic chair feet screwed on the back edge prevent damage to the hull.

A person stepping on a boat step

Credit: Mark Prior

7. The completed boat step lashed on and being tested.

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