Suggestions for hiking rack?

[DNewbie]

How many rungs do you like?
Any preference on the wood species?
How about the actual dimensions of the stock used to make the rungs? ( height and width )

Also, I noticed some DNs have a rope used as sort of grab handle in the fore of the cockpit which I assume is for the skipper to pull themselves forward as needed. Is this useful or does it get in the way?

Boat is almost ready for its closeup so I will try to post some pics next week.

[Bob Rast DN1313]

2 or 3 is plenty  you want to learn to get down and as far forward as possible.

Mine is 2 pieces of 1/8 ply 1/12" wide  laid on floor along sides  with 1 strip in the center and 3 steps aproximatly 11/2 X 5/8 or 3/4 use some hard wood oak birch or ash as your spikes will chew it up. Round front edge where your heels might hit . If want it removable lay some viscuine under everything and assemble with epoxy. you can then install with a couple of small screws
or double sided tape. otherwise you could just glue the steps across floor permanetly.

here is alink to kent composites check his design http://www.csi-composites.com/hulls.htm
Get out on the ice and look around
rasty
Dn1313

[DNewbie]

Rasty,
Thanks for the suggestions, this is the kind of info I'm looking for.  I did get out on the ice last week and saw a guy with five steps on his rack, not including the top and bottom. This seemed a bit much so I thought I'd see what other skippers liked.

[Geoff Sobering]

My rack is just a pice of 1/8" (3mm) plywood (deck/bottom material) cut to fit in the space in front of the knees.  It just fits (more or less) snugly in place (no screws, tape, etc.).

I used Ash for the rungs (in my case, singular: rung) and supported it with pieces of ash along the sides (and, of course, lots of WEST with fillets).

So far no problems, but I use it almost exclusively for pulling myself down into the boat with my heels so it may not get the same wear-and-tear as other racks.

Cheers,

Geoff S.