Attwood 76000 Shur-Loc Ladder Catch, Stainless, 2-Pack

If you've ever wrestled with a boarding ladder that won't stay put, the Attwood Shur-Loc catch is the answer. It's a stamped stainless steel bracket sold as a set of two, and its job is simple. It gives a latch-type boarding ladder or a set of cockpit steps a solid, self-locking home on your boat. You mount the pair, drop the ladder in, and it clicks and holds. When you're done for the day, lift the ladder back out and stow it.

Each catch measures 2-1/2 inches high by 1-3/4 inches wide, so it tucks into a tight spot on a transom, gunwale, or cockpit sole without eating up real estate. The bracket mounts to the hull or the deck, and it works for permanent or temporary setups. Want the ladder bolted on all season? Fine. Prefer to pull it off and lock the boat down clean for a run offshore? That works too. The self-locking design is what keeps the ladder from popping loose in a chop or when someone climbs aboard with weight on one arm.

This is the kind of hardware you don't think about until it fails. A ladder that shifts under you at the waterline is how people get hurt, so the catch does the quiet, important work of holding everything in line. It suits swim ladders on runabouts, dive ladders on center consoles, and the fold-away cockpit steps you see on cruisers and sailboats. Anywhere a latch-type ladder or step needs a fixed mounting point, a pair of these does the job.

A few words on installing them, because a catch is only as strong as what it's screwed into. If you're mounting to a solid fiberglass or aluminum surface, stainless fasteners bite fine. But on a cored transom or a thin deck, back the fasteners with a plate or large fender washers on the inside. That spreads the load and stops the screws from working loose over time. Bed the base in a marine sealant to keep water out of the holes, and you'll thank yourself later.

Alignment matters more than people expect. Because the ladder drops into both catches at once, the two brackets need to sit level and square to each other. Mount one, hold the ladder in place, mark the second off the ladder itself rather than off a tape measure, and you'll avoid the bind that comes from catches that aren't parallel. Take your time with the layout. Drilling a second set of holes to fix a crooked install is nobody's idea of a good afternoon.

Stainless holds up well in salt air, but it isn't maintenance free. Give the catches a freshwater rinse when you rinse the rest of the boat, and a wipe with a stainless polish once a season keeps them bright and slows any staining near the stamped edges. Check the fasteners at haul-out and snug anything that's backed off. Do that and a set of these will outlast a lot of the gear around it.

One more thing worth knowing. These catches don't come with the ladder or the steps. They're the mounting half of the system, so you match them to a latch-type boarding ladder or cockpit step you already have or plan to buy. If your ladder uses this style of catch, the pair drops right in. If you're not sure what latch your ladder uses, measure the tang on the ladder and compare it to the catch opening before you drill. A dry fit on the bench takes five minutes and saves you the headache of a mismatch. For a part you trust with your footing at the waterline, that's time well spent.