Slidably attached boat ladder

Abstract

An extendable boat ladder is coupled to elongated slidable brackets on a boat deck through sleeve members which are pivotally attached to about the outer ends of the brackets so that the ladder can be slidably stored on the boat deck and slidably moved to the edge of the boat deck and deployed by being swung downward into or toward the water for use.

1 . A stowable boat ladder, the boat ladder stowed on a generally horizontal supporting surface on the boat and pivotally swung downward over an outer edge of the supporting surface when deployed for use, comprising:
 a) a boat ladder having a pair of laterally-spaced rigid elongated support members with a rung attached between said support members;   b) a pair of laterally spaced parallel elongated brackets mounted on a generally horizontal support surface on a boat, each bracket having a generally flat base atop of said support surface and a pair of parallel sidewalls extending upward from the side edges of said base;   c) a sleeve member pivotally attached between said sidewalls on each of said brackets at about an end of said brackets;   d) each of said elongated support members slidably engaged within a corresponding sleeve member; and   e) a rigid stop member extending radially from each of said elongated support members for contacting an edge of the corresponding sleeve member when the elongated support member is substantially fully extended.   
     
     
         2 . A stowable boat ladder as described in  claim 1 . wherein each of said sleeves is pivotally attached to the bracket sidewalls by pivot pins extending radially outward from each of said sleeves into engagement with the respective bracket sidewalls. 
     
     
         3 . A stowable boat ladder as described in  claim 2 . further including:
 a) an elongated slot in the base of each of said brackets;   b) a rail slidably engaging each of said slots, said rail comprising a rigid rod member passing through the slot fixedly attached at one end to said support surface and a rigid cross member at the other end of said rod member, said cross member resting slidably over said bracket base; and,   c) said bracket slots having stops at each end to prevent disengagement from said rails.   
     
     
         4 . A stowable boat ladder as described in  claim 3 . wherein said brackets are located on the support surface such that the sleeve-attached end of the bracket is located inward of the edge of the support surface when the boat ladder is stowed and the length of said bracket slots is such to allow the brackets to slidably move so that the sleeve-attached end is extended at least to about the end of the support surface for downward deployment of the boat ladder.