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 Post subject: dog ramp
PostPosted: 06 Dec 2010 08:09 
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Navigator

Joined: 31 Dec 2006 13:33
Posts: 90
Does anyone have ideas for building a dog ramp from cockpit steps to interior. Have a big hound that cant be carried. Thanks, mawky


 
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 Post subject: Re: dog ramp
PostPosted: 07 Dec 2010 06:56 
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Skipper

Joined: 27 Oct 2006 10:32
Posts: 827
Is this dog getting old where it is too feable to go up and down or just really uncomfortable with the ladder? I have an old lab that I have to carry down in fear that she would break her leg if she fell (she isn't as spry as she once was).
You might be able to rig some sort of hoist that attaches to the boom, but that would preclude using the dodger. Block and tackle from the cabin ceiling somehow? I think a ramp might impede your travel into the cabin since it's so narrow there, unless you remove it right away. How about a hinged ladder that somehow has a platform for the dog to stand on then you raise the lower end, decreasing the angle thus making it easier for the dog to go up??
Keep a nice cozy bed in the cockpit? Good luck


 
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 Post subject: Re: dog ramp
PostPosted: 07 Dec 2010 19:01 
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Rail Meat

Joined: 20 Oct 2006 23:30
Posts: 19
I once designed a ramp to help an older dog get into a dinghy. It could likely be modified to serve for the interior. I don't have it - or the dog - any more, so I'll describe it. I used two 10 foot pieces of 2x10 lumber. I cut them into 5 foot sections. I connected them side-by-side with metal straps and screws on one side, and I screwed pieces of 1x2 across them, on the other side, about 12" apart, to serve as "steps." I then placed a couple of 2x4s vertically on the underside to stiffen each of the two ramp sections.

I then laid the two sections on the floor, walking side down, so the vertical 2x4's butted up against each other. I connected the two sections with long strap hinges screwed into the 2x4s. Finally, I screwed flat metal plates on the meeting ends of the 2x10 sections above the hinges to provide a solid bearing for the sections when the ramp is in use. (If you don't do this, you'll get some localized crushing in the wood.) It folded into a package 5 feet long, 10"deep and 18-1/2" wide. I could wrestle it into the starboard cockpit locker when it was folded.

I had holes in the upper end that accepted two hooks for the toerail, and a rod through the 2x4's about halfway to the outer end. The rod ends could be hooked to a bridle, to hoist the ramp with the main halyard. Pull the dinghy under the ramp, lower the ramp to the gunnel, and the dog could easily walk down to the dinghy or come back aboard.

The same ramp might work fine for interior access if you could secure it to the top companionway step, but it woud be very cumbersome to deal with below when it is unfolded. You'd need someone below to help position it.

My answer since then is to have smaller dogs - not too small but not too big. Our last one was 45 pounds. Our latest will grow to be about the same size.


 
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