So as the snow fly's and I am stuck inside... I am thinking about getting going on this swim step. I have a few questions on what others did and if they have a better way around the tree.
I think I am going to build a buck to follow. It's about 8" out in 12'. I am unsure if I will need to steam the pices to get them to hold shape, or if I will just shallow screw the first strip to the buck and clamp them together as I go. What kind of glue/epoxy do you recommend? How often should I add screws? and what size should they be?
Mine was originally built with the boat, but was much too narrow, so I added 13" between the transom and the Swimgrid, cut to be the same thickness and spacing as the original. That is 5 full length strips and 5 sets of spacers, each 1.3" x 1.3". My SG grew from ~20" deep to ~33".
I bought a 14' length of rough 2" teak for the full length pieces and a shorter length for the spacers. Since I had the existing SG for the curvature, I cut the strips to size and simply bent and epoxied them in place. No steaming required. One spacer and strip at a time.
Once the epoxy cured, I could move on to adding subsequent pieces.
The curvature of my transom is the same as most others, so likely the same as yours.
Lots of clamps. The ones I already had were all pipe clamps, but not enough. I bought another 1/2 dozen long bar clamps and a few shorter bar clamps, till I had enough to clamp every 8" to 12".
Using 1" material, in order to get a strong finished SG, I would go at least 1.25" thick, so you will have more strips (12/ft or more if your material is planed to less than 1") and thinner spacing than mine, though once finished, not likely noticeable.
Once finished, I had also to build deeper supports, which I had welded of 1/4" SS bar stock, ~2.5" wide, on 1.5" SS pipe. When I pulled the old supports off the transom I found the SS 5/16"bolts were corroded down to as little as 1/16", so my timing was good. I also flipped the old SG in order to present a new looking surface to the sun, so the whole unit would age at the same rate after installation. Flipping put the support location a little off where they had been originally, which was an advantage, as I wanted to fill the old holes and drill new in any event. I also refrained from drilling any of the new holes below the waterline, as that part of the new supports is in compression, so didn't need bolts. The ones above the WL are more than enough to hold the whole unit in place.
All this was done roughly 15 yrs ago, so has had enough time to think about what I might have done better.
1 I get the dinghy painter caught between the transom and the SG from time to time, so I would have preferred another piece of teak at the outboard ends, against the transom to prevent that, instead of the empty space that I now have.
2 The outboard ends and across the stern edge (part of the original SG) is weak, and I have had to add 12" long lag bolts to help support it, so maybe a thicker SG, up to 2", in those locations would have been better.
Good luck with yours.
Don't skimp on depth. My 33" is adequate, but most boats of this vintage come with 20" or less. Building from scratch, you can build whatever you want, so definitely, Size Matters.
