Rear roof ladder

[wafarmtrk]

Hey all as a new guy here I have a question on my rear roof ladder. When I purchased my 99 Southwind the previous owner had apparantly hit something with the ladder and damaged one of he verticle rails. I would think that this is not an uncommon thing and a boat repair place that works on boat railings could repair the damage. Does anybody have any information on this repair or has anybody ever had similiar issues?

[Ottawa]

I have done the same to my 99 Southwind. Broke the two vertical rails. I have a temporary fix using aluminum tubes, which you can get the same diameter. Main problem is attaching the new tube section to the old rails. I made two brackets which I attached to the tubes and rails with blind rivets. At this point works well, but does not look great. I am in the process of trying to expand the ends of the tubes so they fit over the rails and then blind rivet them together. Waiting till it warms up here before I try it. Always interested in easier solutions.

[lthrnk]

The thing you have to be careful about is the rating on the attached ladder. Just like any commercially available ladder, all have a weight rating. Any new components, ie. tubes, rivets etc. should have equal or higher strengths than the original.

[Noelj]

Had my entire latter replaced as attaching bolds were failing due to rust. Cost was a lot less than I expected, under $150 installed.

[John-D]

Well.. I just removed it and replaced it with a pair of "J" hooks bolted on near the roof line and a stainless steel "Grab Bar at a lower level.. I hang a convertable (Extension/Step) ladder on the "J" hooks and strap it to the grab handle

That 300 Pound capacity Extension ladder reaches the roof no trouble, and feels very solid beneath my feet, the original ladder did not give me any where near the same level of confidence (I'm 330 pounds)

ANd when I use it in Extension ladder mode I can reach any place on the sides for the wash & Wax part of the vehicle maintenance

[Doggy Daddy]

My father was able to repair his ladder by inserting an aluminum sleeve inside the hollow tube and secured the repair with rivets. It works and serves as a reminder every time he looks at it.
I learned from my father's mistakes and have a color rear camera that tilts up and down, and pans left & right, along with side and nose cameras.
No blind spots for me, thank you.