This blog is devoted to my John Welsford designed 15' Navigator yawl Ellie. I built her in my garage over a period of 18 months and launched her in 2011. She sports a sliding gunter main, roller furled jib and sprit-boomed mizzen. Her construction is glued-lapstrake over permanent bulkheads and stringers. This blog is a record of her construction and her voyages here in the Puget Sound area and (hopefully) a useful resource for fellow Navigator builders.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Boarding Straps

I finally got around to adding Boarding Straps to Ellie.  This was long overdue, and I fully admit that sailing around without them for the past 3 years was a serious act of negligence on my part.

Especially considering how easy they were to make, and how well they appear to work.

I made my boarding straps from 1" nylon webbing.  The same stuff that cargo tie-down straps use.  I have a big bag full of tie-down straps, way more than I ever need, so I recycled two of them.

After doing some research, I found that 20" below the waterline is where they work best.  I formed the webbing into a big loop, ran the ends through two holes that I have in bulkheads 5 and 6, and tied the ends together.  That's all there was to it.


I like the bright yellow color of the webbing.  I think it will be easy to see under water and in an emergency.  I will simply bunch the webbing under the side deck.  In the event of a capsize, the webbing will spill out onto the seat tops and should be easy to find.

I added one on each side of the boat.  I tested them in my driveway and was very pleased with how they worked.  It was much easier to get on board the boat than I thought, after only one attempt.  Here's a video.  Try not to laugh.  This is serious business.


While at anchor at Fossil Bay, a friend of mine dove into the water and used them to get back onboard.  He said they worked just fine.