Sportster Ladder replacement

[twcanuck]

Greetings fellow boaters! I have a 04 sportster 150 and I purchased a ladder from our good friends at west marine. My original plan was to use the existing mount on my boat to secure the ladder. No dice, of course it will not fit with it being square and an inch or so thicker. Is it possible to get the under swim platform bracket for this ladder and replace the factory one? Im scared to drill holes in the bottom of my boat and am not sure how to patch the old ones. Has anyone else had experience replacing their factory ladder? Thank you as allways for your help!

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Eclipse1701d]

Did you check and see if the added thickness will interfere with your bucket movement when up? It might be easier to return the ladder and purchase an OEM through the forum...

 

[twcanuck]

Thats what I was afraid of hearing I just cringe at the $400 price tag for an oem part.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

 

[xintersecty]

I have done this before. It's not bad.

1) Put your bucked in neutral to get at the bolts.
2) remove your old bracket.
3) Test fit the new bracket and ladder to see if it will even work with your retaining rubber thingies.
4) Test fit the ladder with the bucket if you can get the ladder to stay up. Put it forward, neutral and reverse
5) examine if there are studs holding the existing ladder, if so go to welding shop with the old bracket and have them fabricate a new bracket by welding a flat stainless onto your new bracket.
6) Install and your done

 

[NEATman]

Thats what I was afraid of hearing I just cringe at the $400 price tag for an oem part.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

I have a 2004 Sportster, same problem. I bought it last summer, and I have been searching for a replacement ladder for a while. No one has them in stock anywhere that I can find. I did find the plastic step, and plan to try and fabricate the metal parts from scratch.

 

[JPass]

I believe they're made by Windline. You should find something similar HERE

 

[NEATman]

Thanks JPass, I contacted Windline yesterday. You are correct, they were made by Windline, but they stopped working with SeaDoo 6 years ago, and no longer make or carry these ladders. It'll be ebay or DIY.

 

[DJEZ4U]

Hey NEATman do you know the windline part number for the sportster ladder?

 

[NEATman]

I'm not sure of their part number. I e-mailed Windline, but they weren't much help. They simply replied that they haven't made them in 6+ years. However, this website may help:
2004 Sea-Doo Sportster 4-TEC Rear Ladder | Fox Powersports Sea-Doo Partshouse

I'm almost done with my DIY version. I found the plastic step (Seadoo #291001279) and I'm machining and welding up the stainless steel parts.

 

[NEATman]

I also have been working on a better method to support the new cover I purchased recently. The original plastic post toppers and nylon straps were in really bad shape, so I designed & 3D printed these:

I used new 1" wide strapping, and welded stainless steel rings. All of the strap tension goes through the ring, and the large rounded top helps prevent stressing the fabric of the cover. Plus, they rings simply lift off the yellow plastic parts, making it easier to stow. I have another design tweak to make to adjust the angles between the strap reliefs, and I plan on posting them to a free to download 3D printing site, such as Thingiverse once I have them perfected. I only took top view pics to get the angles of the straps, but it shows the design - (please excuse the dirty floor):

Also, on the port (passenger) side I noticed a puddle was forming in the cover, so I am adding a third pole in that area to make sure that doesn't happen again.

 

[DJEZ4U]

I'm not sure of their part number. I e-mailed Windline, but they weren't much help. They simply replied that they haven't made them in 6+ years. However, this website may help:


I'm almost done with my DIY version. I found the plastic step (Seadoo #291001279) and I'm machining and welding up the stainless steel parts. View attachment 36194

I gave them the number from seadoo but they are still asking for their part number, calling seadoo aint much help either.