Boat Boarding Platform with Handrail, Foldable Dock Boarding Platform with Handle(500LBs Capacity,Silver)

very sturdy well built

This boat platform extension for the most part is solidly built and heavy (that may be the issue)! There are handle mounting holes on both side of the platform, so you can mount the handle on either the right or left side (good feature). But in my situation, one side of the mounting holes were bent, probably during shipping because the original packaging consisted of only 2 small pieces of styrofoam and bubble wrapped in the box. I didn't bother to return it because, (1) I just used the mounting holes on the other side, like I said "good feature", (2) it was a pain to re-package it into the original box and the shipping box and (3) it was heavy.My suggestion to the manufacturer or product designer is to use a heavier gauge steel for the mounting brackets or package it better.

Went with this platform over the aluminum ones because it was 24" long, knowing I might have some rust issues. Very well made product so happy. I'm 195 lbs and when I step out on it, it certainly bends down some, even secured to 2x 2x8 beams that are part of my dock. I also put a 1x4 spacer on the outside of the dock because the top Trex material overlaps the 2x8' support beams over the side by about an inch. This spacer makes the mounting flush to reduce the bending when walking out, and reduces the stress of the bolts pulling on the dock some. I won't be jumping up and down on it! I'm on the Manatee river in FL which is brackish. Within 48hrs I've already started to see rust. What I've done before with metal in situations like this is coat them with clear spray enamel and this all but stops rust from forming.