Walking On Water

ADDING A SUBMERSIBLE SWIM PLATFORM TO YOUR BOAT HAS MANY BENEFITS, ONE OF THEM BEING QUITE MIRACULOUS.

- Mike Smith

Folks enjoying the summer of 2017 around the picturesque Connecticut River hamlet of Essex were shocked to see Power & Motoryacht Editor-In-Chief Dan Harding walking on water. Magazine editors typically claim omnipotence—was Harding the first one to actually demonstrate it? Or is he just unnaturally buoyant? Or was it maybe a French thing? After all, Beneteau loaned the magazine a slick Monte Carlo 5 for the summer, and Harding’s seeming miracle took place in the vicinity of the boat’s swim platform—a submersible swim platform, in fact.

OK, OK, yes: It was Beneteau that was behind, or rather below, Harding’s aquatic perambulations. He explains, “One of the standout features [of the Monte Carlo 5] was the submersible swim platform. Standing at the grill and cooking up hot dogs while cooling my feet in the clear water … is a memory I’m missing now that winter is upon us. Of course, it also made launching the tender or kayak a welcome chore.”

The submersible swim platform—or hydraulic stern platform, or hydraulic lift, or platform lift—is much in vogue today and makes the swim ladder redundant. Rather than haul one’s mass up three or four stainless-steel rungs onto dry fiberglass, with the platform lowered to water level one can slither back aboard like a sea lion at Marineland. Or stand, toes awash, and cook some burgers, as did Harding. Submerge the platform all the way and even a kid can drive a jet-powered RIB or PWC right into the chocks, touch a button, and lift it out of the water. (Outboard-powered tenders demand more caution; the prop of even a 10-horse motor can do a number on a fiberglass platform.)