Outer steps for a long stay?

Bubba Bill wrote:
We Winter on the Gulf Coast and I'm thinking of ways to build some take-apart steps to make getting in and out easier for us. The retract steps are too severe for many trips up and down each day. O.k., we're old! My knees are shot and the wife has a bad hip. Just wondering if someone else has come up with something similar? Bill

I have those. I build my own out of a sheet of 3/4" plywood and 3 piano hinges and some screws to attach the hinges. Figure what rise and tread width you want and lay it out on the plywood and cut out the pieces with a sabre saw. There will be two sides and they will have 3/4" slots about 5" long (deep) cut vertically at the end of each tread area. The slot width needs to be closely held to size as this is where the steps are going to slide together. Measure the width of the coach factory step. Cut the number of treads you will need ( in my case 3) to the same length PLUS the thickness of your plywood X2. THis way the coach step holds the fabbed step rigidly so there is no wobble making a user feel unstable. The piano hinges are used to fasten 6" or so plywood pieces to the treads. Corresponding 3/4" slots need to be cut into these so that they slide into the slots on the sides and lock themselves to the sides as well as locking the sides to the treads. Once built give'm a coat of paint and if you want some non skid tread material or like on mine I used indoor/outdoor carpet and went around the tread with 1/2" aluminum angle screwed down so a toe cannot catch the carpet and trip someone.
This whole mess assembles and disassembles in seconds. It all folds flat via the piano hinges and stores in a compartment underneath one of the pullout trays. Normally unusable space. Again the main thing is to hold the sizes of the 3/4" slots as close to 3/4" as you can as this contributes to the steps stability. The fit over the extended coach step is very important as well for stability. Also be aware that on the top step you will need to cut the slot back 2-3" and then locate the top step and locking board and piano hinge accordingly.