Quick & Easy Ladder Installation
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Prime Design AAL Rear Van Door Hook Access Ladder
Why Do You Need One?
You might be asking yourself why you would want to put a ladder on your van. On the other hand you might know exactly why you want a ladder on your van.
It took a while for me to figure out what the benefit would be for us. We don’t store anything up there. We don’t have a roof rack platform that we can put chairs on up there.
Sure there may be a time when I need to fix the air conditioner, change a light bulb or work on the roof fan, but that didn’t seem like enough reason to drill into the van’s sheet metal and install a permanent ladder.
Clean Solar Panels
But then I was alerted to my solar panel being dirty and not charging optimally. When we are out camping I want my solar to be working at full capacity in order to keep the house batteries charged up. In the winter the sun arcs much lower in the sky and sets much earlier. These are times when you need your batteries to charge optimally.
The cleaner your solar panel is, the faster your batteries will get charged. So while this might not be your top concern for being able to access your roof, it seems that most van owners like to be able to access their roof. This is when i started searching for the best van ladder that requires no drilling.
Which Side
Because I wasn’t sure which side I wanted to mount the ladder on, it took me about 90 minutes before it was fully installed. At first I thought I wanted it on the passenger side so it did not interfere with my license plate being visible.
Once I installed it though, I saw that I could put it on the driver’s side without the license plate being blocked at all. As you can see from the pictures, it works and looks great.
Installation
I took the ladder out of the box, laid it on a work bench and put it together ( I advise following the directions as I missed a step the first time and had to remove the two lower brackets). For some reason the company shows the ladder on the passenger side on all of its literature and pictures. It works just as well on the driver’s side.
Once the ladder is together and the hanging brackets are loosely attached, you just hang it on your door. I love that this ladder requires no drilling into your van’s sheet metal. From there you check the clearance of the brackets as you tighten them. Make sure they are not clamping on the door seals. Also pay attention to not over lighten them as this can cause the sheetmetal to bend. I did not find this to be a big worry, but be aware as you tighten them down.
Roof Access Options
- Carry a collapsable ladder with you inside your van. This option takes up precious space inside your van.
- Get a roof rack and attach a side ladder to it. Roof racks are quite expensive. Especially if you don’t really need one. Side ladders also add to the width of your van if this is an issue for where you park it.
- Use the popular rear door ladder and drill 4 to 8 holes in your door to mount it. Personally I don’t want holes in my van’s sheetmetal.
- Buy the Prime Design aluminum ladder that hooks over the top and bottom of your rear door. A one person job with minimal tools that one person can accomplish.
Features
- Lightweight anodized aluminum.
- 551 lb load capacity.
- Comes in black or aluminum color.
- Made for all class B manufacturer’s vans.
- No drilling into your van’s sheet metal required.
- Static tested on all rungs with 441 lb. load.
- As of this review it has a 4.9 star rating.
- Can be mounted on the right or left door.
- Does not interfere with door seals.
- Durable rubber pads protect your van’s paint.
Our Conclusion
This was the perfect choice for us. We did not want to drill holes in our van’s exterior sheetmetal. If we ever needed to get a different style ladder we would be faced with having the holes patched. We wanted the freedom of knowing we could remove the ladder at any time. We also did not want to pay to have a ladder installed. It gets quite expensive in addition to the ladder itself.
We now have easy access to our van’s roof for whatever van life throws at us. We are especially excited knowing we can keep our solar panels super clean and charging at their optimal level. Since we are talking about the rear of the van, check out our rear hitch step
If you have any questions or comments about this product, please submit them in the comments section below.
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