Transporting a canoe, kayak, or a small skiff on a pair of car roof racks is a convenient way to get to the water, but once the boat is on the racks, access to it is not at all convenient. I’ve seen some boaters bring ladders to the launch site, but they are bulky things to pack in a car with all the other gear brought along for an outing.

Photographs by the author

The Tooenjoy (above) and Ekepin (below) car-door steps are compact enough to stow easily in a glove compartment or car-door pocket.

Rodney Lewis of Santa Barbara, California, realized that cars didn’t need ladders, they just need a step. Coming up with a step was easy; how to support it was the hard part. The genius of his solution was recognizing that vehicles already had built into them the place to attach the step: the door striker plate. The striker is attached to the vehicle frame and anchors the door latch. It’s strong enough, as required by federal regulations, to keep a door from flying open in the event of a crash, so it can easily support a person’s weight. The cast-metal step Lewis created has a horizontal platform to stand on and a vertical hook that engages the striker and hangs from it.

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