Tomcat 24 Steps to Upper Station

C

caracal

New member
Hey guys. Two buddies and I are in the process of rebuilding a C-Dory Tomcat 24. We are going to put an upper station on it. Any creative ideas for steps would be helpful for access to the top station. We are going to build a small platform up there for strength. The best that I have come up with is small aluminum steps coming up from the side of the cabin, individually thru-bolted. It is tough coming up with a small stair set without encroaching into the cockpit area or limiting the ability to walk the gunnel tops to the bow of the boat. Finally, keep in mind that we are trying to keep this boat as light as possible. If you have any pictures or ideas, I sure would appreciate it!

Picture of the boat with the station just sitting up there...
 
Be careful of weight up on top of any of the small boats...As stable as the 24/255 is, two adults up there will change the handling...

If I were trying to get on top of any of the C Dorys I would use folding mast steps. They are light, they fold nearly flat.

41p8sntuwUL.jpg

You can go with cheap from Amazon, or more rugged from Perko.
 
I strongly second the steps Bob suggested. Several years ago I installed one of these on each side of the cabin bulkhead in the cockpit of our Venture to assist my wife getting out of the cockpit. Knee issues limit her ability to make that big step. These steps are rock solid and have a good foot platform, and when folded they are completely out of the way.

Rob
 
thataway":1j6hc4gk said:
Be careful of weight up on top of any of the small boats...As stable as the 24/255 is, two adults up there will change the handling...

If I were trying to get on top of any of the C Dorys I would use folding mast steps. They are light, they fold nearly flat.

41p8sntuwUL.jpg

You can go with cheap from Amazon, or more rugged from Perko.
Click to expand...

I have looked at these for a long time and finally decided to get them. The West Marine store in Portland didn't have in stock, or available on WM online, so I checked with Perko. Not very helpful or good news -- they are not making them anymore so I should call WM and check with them. No further help from the Perko ladies, BUT, I called WM anyway, (1-800-BOATING), asked about a special order. The WM Customer service guy couldn't find them in the WM Online, so he called Perko while I was on the line. Perko (same to ladies) told him they have stock, and he could special order. OK Now, he was able to place the order, and deliver them to my almost local WM store soon.

Thanks for the budge BOB et al.

SSOBOL, I checked you album, nice idea, and thanks for sharing.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Just a "P. S." to my previous post above. The two steps I installed in 2014 (the ones my comments pertain to) are the Perko ones from West Marine.

Rob
 
So, you don't need 24 steps to get to the top of your TomCat, right?

I recall many years ago that someone put a platform on top of their C-Dory "so his wife could sunbathe up there." No, I am not making that up because today is what it is. Anyone else remember that?
 
A few years back I installed an upper station on Big-C. This was back in the early days when I was running a 2-stroke Mariner, as you can see. It too was about 24 steps, 12 on each side. Thanks to Wandering Sagebrush for capturing this photo of Big-C.

Moose_Hunt_Dory.jpg
 
More like 4 steps!

This boat is going to be our vacation trip boat. The idea of the tower is for fishing. I think that I will make all the bathing beauties go to the bow.
 
As I remember, they were using the boat and the ladder to scout for, hunt, and shoot moose.

Did anyone else notice the black tube used to talk between the observer/hunter above and the helmsman below?

Is anybody aboard here old enough to have been on a navy or merchant ship back when that was the standard means of communication aboard ships?

Charlie? Dusty? ??? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Moose_Hunt_Dory.jpg
 
Joe, I remember the talking tubes from someplace. Boats when I was a kid, mabe the small ferries. And, I remember seeing that photo from Alaska, moose hunting IIRC.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
I worked on a NOAA ship in the 1980's that had a speaking tube from the helm to the engine room. The vessel was of the vintage where the captain telephoned the Chief Engineer to tell him "how many turns to put on." The speaking tube was the emergency backup.

It is amazing how well the voice travels through a long length of 2" pipe. I'm not sure how well it would work using 2" flexible shop vac hose.

Mark
 
Marco Flamingo":2gtw7yqr said:
I worked on a NOAA ship in the 1980's that had a speaking tube from the helm to the engine room. The vessel was of the vintage where the captain telephoned the Chief Engineer to tell him "how many turns to put on." The speaking tube was the emergency backup.

It is amazing how well the voice travels through a long length of 2" pipe. I'm not sure how well it would work using 2" flexible shop vac hose.

Mark
Click to expand...

That is old school! We still have sound powered phones, that's about as low tech as we get. I used to mess with out cadets and have them try and replace the batteries in them.
 
cmetzenberg":2vsv17jx said:
That is old school!
Click to expand...

NOAA ships had (and may still have) some oddities. There was a large mounting plate on the foredeck. The Quartermaster told me that (probably to help get funding) the NOAA ships were built to be easily requisitioned by the Navy. The plate fit a WWII vintage gun. The ship would have had to return to port for fitting, however, there was a locker on board so that he could outfit the crew with small arms. That would have been more dangerous than a 12' ladder on top of a C Dory.

Mark
 
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