Yeah the compulsory ladder, while important, does have a tendency to pop open unless it's been packed away perfectly.
The wooden boarding ladder is something I knocked up in a hurry as a temporary fix until I can make a super light one. We decided on the boat when C was 4 months pregnant. So we got the kids and the boat at the same time, pretty much. a little difficult, but hopefully it will be worth it when we're making family holidays when the kids a little older. But it came at the cost of not buying a house...