Center ladder member apparatus and method

A method of repositioning a ladder attachment from an operational orientation to a stored orientation;

• a) providing a lock member rigidly attached to a structure to be climbed upon,
• b) slideably positioning a base member to the lock member where the lock member's cross sectional area is substantially constant to allow the base member to be slideably attached thereto for a prescribed range of travel,
• c) rotatably and not slideably attaching a rotation mount to the lock member providing a surface defining a lock port, a ladder assembly being rigidly attached to the rotation mount,
• d) pivoting the rotation mount upwardly so the lock port coincides in location along a plane defined by cross-sectional area of the lock member and repositioning the base member and the rotation mount with respect to the lock member so the lock member extends within the lock port of the rotation mount thereby fixing the rotation mount in a vertically raised orientation,
• e) having the ladder assembly be retracted to shorten the overall length of the ladder assembly.

A ladder assembly attached to a water vessel, the ladder assembly comprising:

• a) a base member and a rotation mount rotatably and not slideably attached to the base member,
• b) a lock member fixedly attached to the water vessel, the lock member having a laterally extending surface,
• c) an extendable ladder attached to the rotation mount having a support surface moveably repositioned along the lock member, where the rotation mount is in a stored orientation with the extendable ladder positioned in a substantially horizontal orientation and the surface of the rotation mount is engaged with the lock member to maintain the ladder in the substantially horizontal orientation,
• d) the extendable ladder being comprised of a plurality of ladder sections each comprising a singular central tube, wherein the ladder sections telescopically extend within one another in a single array of telescopically extending members and the plurality of ladder sections do not rotate with respect to one another about a ladder axis positioned at a substantial center of the extendable ladder and the ladder sections will not disengage from one another when in an extended orientation, and
• e) wherein the ladder assembly comprises a pivot stop operably configured to prohibit the rotation of the extendable ladder relative to the base member short of a fully vertical position when the rotation mount is in an operational orientation, wherein the base member is slideably attached to a lock member and the rotation mount is attached to an attachment portion of the base member, the rotation mount having an operational orientation and stored orientation with respect to the base member, the rotation mount having a surface defining a lock port, the lock port being in substantial alignment with a channel portion of the base member when the rotation mount is in the stored orientation and further in the stored orientation the lock port is operatively configured to have a portion of the lock member extend there through to maintain the rotation mount in the stored orientation.